diff --git a/sstables/sstables.cc b/sstables/sstables.cc
index 3408bf49fc..cb1ba9c2ff 100644
--- a/sstables/sstables.cc
+++ b/sstables/sstables.cc
@@ -2965,6 +2965,9 @@ sstable::remove_sstable_with_temp_toc(sstring ks, sstring cf, sstring dir, int64
     return seastar::async([ks, cf, dir, generation, v, f] {
         const io_error_handler& error_handler = sstable_write_error_handler;
         auto toc = sstable_io_check(error_handler, file_exists, filename(dir, ks, cf, v, generation, f, component_type::TOC)).get0();
+
+        sstlog.warn("Deleting components of sstable from {}.{} of generation {} that has a temporary TOC", ks, cf, generation);
+
         // assert that toc doesn't exist for sstable with temporary toc.
         assert(toc == false);
 
@@ -2972,8 +2975,6 @@ sstable::remove_sstable_with_temp_toc(sstring ks, sstring cf, sstring dir, int64
         // assert that temporary toc exists for this sstable.
         assert(tmptoc == true);
 
-        sstlog.warn("Deleting components of sstable from {}.{} of generation {} that has a temporary TOC", ks, cf, generation);
-
         for (auto& entry : sstable::_component_map) {
             // Skipping TemporaryTOC because it must be the last component to
             // be deleted, and unordered map doesn't guarantee ordering.