COVINGTON, Ga. — Director Clara Lett stood outside what was left of the Rainbow Community Shelter building Monday morning.

She said she had been in the shelter’s doorway five minutes before a tornado hit the building without warning two days earlier.

“I’d just drove off and got around that corner and they said a tornado had hit,” she said.

The National Weather Service reported a tornado touched down in Covington and ran for about 1.4 miles Saturday, Oct. 10.

Police reported it uprooted some trees but only caused one minor injury — to a volunteer at the homeless shelter when the tornado hit the building off Turner Lake Road about 5:15 p.m., said Covington Police spokesman Capt. Ken Malcom.

The EF-1 tornado was tracked from Washington Street and Walker Bend Parkway to Woodhaven Drive near I-20 in western Covington, according to the National Weather Service.

An EF-1 has estimated wind speeds of 73 to 112 mph, according to the NWS.

The tornado downed trees along its path, including in the area of Brown Bridge Road and Turner Lake Road near the Rainbow shelter, a local official said.

It also did some minor damage to the skirts of some residences in a mobile home park near the homeless shelter, Malcom said.

Downed trees also caused some power outages in western Newton County, Snapping Shoals EMC reported.

However, there was not any significant damage done elsewhere in the county, said Newton County sheriff's spokeswoman Caitlin Jett.

More than 22,000 outages were reported in Georgia Saturday, AccuWeather reported.

At the homeless shelter, the volunteer who was injured was transported to an area hospital, Malcom said.

Lett said the storm also destroyed the volunteer’s vehicle. Shelter officials are asking for a donation of another vehicle to help him continue to assist Rainbow, Lett said.

The volunteer used the shelter’s van to transport residents to medical appointments, among other needs at the nonprofit.

“Maybe someone out there will donate him a vehicle,” Lett said. “He is a real faithful, faithful volunteer.”

About 20 shelter residents were inside the building eating dinner and watching TV when the storm hit, Lett said.

The Covington Housing Authority owns the building and is working with insurance adjustors to determine the extent of damage, Lett said.

She said the American Red Cross was only able to pay to house its 20 male residents until today at an area Hampton Inn motel.

However, she said Monday she expected a contractor from an area church to complete work on a new wall in the building by today to allow its male residents to move back in.

The wall is needed to separate areas housing men and women residents, she said.

Lett, director of the shelter for 18 years, said this incident would be a struggle to overcome but the community was helping it rebuild.

“I’ve had some challenges but I think this tops them all,” she said.

Shelter board chairman Doug Dawson said the board’s main focus is to “get back up and going and taking care of the residents who were in that building.”

“You can’t plan for things like this,” he said.

The nonprofit shelter was asking for donations to keep generators running to provide power to two large commercial-type freezers, Lett said.

It also will need to replace security cameras and fire alarm equipment, Dawson said.

The storm was the remnants of Hurricane Delta that struck the coast of Louisiana and prompted several tornado warnings across Georgia.

Lets said those wanting to make donations to help the shelter rebuild can call 770-787-8519.