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Historic Tornado Outbreak April 27, 2011


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The multiple pieces issue actually occurred in Rainsville, Hackleburg, Ohatchee, and Tuscaloosa, I just didn't want to get too graphic.

Smithville culvert:

Picture+76.png

Also check out 7:50 in this video. Those big square concrete areas are where entire factory warehouses were swept away. This was taken near Pleasant Grove.

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Phil Campbell/Hackleburg/Tanner: A car was wrapped around a tree and pavement was scoured. Countless homes were swept away, some of which actually had their concrete slabs cracked and scoured. Don't read this next park if you are squeamish...the body count for this one was made difficult because a lot of the victims were found in multiple pieces.

Don't forget the storm shelter that had its roof torn off.

Images like this is terrifying. I've been told this is an image of the well anchored, two story brick house that was scoured near Mount Hope. Very little debris remaining, but you can see where all of it went by the ground scarring.

http://tornado.sellersphoto.com/_MG_9922.jpg

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It wouldn't be the asphalt scouring, the EF3 in Americus, GA on March 1st, 2007 scoured the pavement. I remember seeing something in the survey for the Philadelphia tornado that said that a mobile home was thrown 300+ yards without any sign of a ground impact in between, after which it was obliterated, with the fatalities occurring here as well.

I've gone through this thread multiple times since I joined the site and it is always a worthwhile read.

That was a case where the scoured pavement was where the road went over a culvert for a drainage ditch or something similar, providing a structural weakness for the roadway. If it's able to be proven that the pavement was completely flat on the ground below... and in relatively good condition... that can prompt a very high damage scale rating, especially if there is secondary supporting evidence in the area.

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The damage in Phil Campbell was scary. This picture legit scared me the first time I saw it. The thing is despite all of our warnings what do you do when an EF-4 or 5 is barreling down on you? People were being sucked out of basements even

5667457100_f259d8e833_z.jpg

Here's a before picture of that location.

That particular area in Phil Campbell has always sent chills down my spine, from a damage perspective; I know that little intersection very well. That's looking down Pinion Drive from Jackson Hwy (237) - basically ground zero, on the right side of the center of the tornado as it barreled just south of the town. I went through that area a few months after the tornado and it's just ridiculously depressing. In that picture, to the right, a dense forest of mostly pines once stood along with three or four frame homes along the highway; the tornado shredded and debarked every single tree in that grove and swept two of the homes completely and cleanly off their foundations (I can only assume there may have been fatalities in them, as there were 26 deaths in the town, about 2% of the entire population of Phil Campbell) - indeed almost every house in a quarter mile of this location was flattened or swept away. On the left, in this picture, atop that hill, once stood a large brick house with a daylight basement; the tornado swept the entire home into what once was dense forests off further to the left, leaving only a few small pieces of debris on the home site and a huge gaping pit where the basement was dug. All that remains now to suggest a house ever existed there is a few bricks along where the basement used to be, and a mailbox near the driveway. All the forests here are bare ground now. That vehicle there remained in the ditch for many months, a testament to the storm's power amidst bare ground and empty foundations. I haven't been there in several months but the last time I was, the residential area south of Phil Campbell was a stark landscape of numerous empty foundations and occasional mobile homes / new home construction. With Google Earth Street View, it's apparent that the now barren area was once fairly heavily forested. From a before and after perspective, I can easily see how even long-time residents would have been completely lost after the tornado, as every landmark in this particular area was gone. Ironically, though, as if a beacon of hope, amidst the shredded forest off to the right in that photo, a single cabin-like home survived the tornado with apparently minimal damage, and as far as I know still stands, with only debarked fragments of tree stumps where the forest that surrounded it once stood. How it survived is beyond me but it's a small symbol of hope for the future and remembrance of the past - how Phil Campbell once was, and what it will be in the future. The healing process may be slow, but it's definitely occurring.

S of Phil Campbell,

June 2006

July 2011

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One thing that stuck out to me about the Rainsville/DeKalb Co tornado was this part of the damage report: "an anchored liberty safe weighing 800 pounds was pulled off its anchorage and thrown into a wooded area 600 feet away. When found, the safe`s door had been ripped open and completely off"

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The morning derecho that preceded the outbreak was pretty insane as well.

Many people forget about that aspect of the outbreak, but there were some here that though that all the left over convection would damper the potential outbreak.

ref_80.gif

Strong winds quickly carried the clouds and rain cooled air away. I'd say it did almost nill to supress the outbreak. Extra soil moister may have even helped it.

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Nice whoever did that video read my mind, just what I was looking for. Before this I thought all the tornados were in the afternoon.

I made that quite a while ago to help visually describe which tornado was on the ground at which time, I really think I need to go back and update it now that surveys are finalized (a few are missing from the AM rounds)

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Well, it's now officially the morning of 4/27, hard to believe that just last year we were watching the overnight convection, along with the SPC's 06z Day 1 High Risk, that in about 12 hours, one of the worst tornado outbreaks in US history was about to unleash its full fury.

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Nice, make the map clickable linked to the Vids would be cooler.

Heh we talked about that yesterday just short on time. May update and add more with that option but not today. ;)
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It's hard to find good video of the Rainsville tornado. This is the best I can find.

most of them are crappy cell phone vids that have like a 2 frame per second capture ability. these were two on that torn that had good views at least tho the rainsville one is not super close. henagar footage is pretty intense.

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