Historic Multi Day Tornado/Flooding Event 4/23-28/2011

[vbhoutex]

Brent, I like you am just NUMB after the events of yesterday and I wasn't anywhere near it. I can't imagine being where you are and having gone through what even you did after watching it all unfold. I know we have members besides you in AL. Does anyone know if we have heard from any of them. I know of at least one member's(furluvcats) nephew in Gadsden(sp) that lost everything except their lives. If anyone knows of anyone else please let us know. WHAT A HORRIBLE DAY IT WAS!! I HOPE WE NEVER SEE ANOTHER LIKE IT. Sending many prayers that way.

[Macrocane]

I'm still realizing what happened yesterday, I can't believe there were so many tornadoes and especially so many victims, it's the deadliest disaster in US since Katrina. My best wishes are with the victims, I hope we don't see a hurricane affecting Alabama this season, they need a break to recover.

[Brent]

Chopper video... just unbelievable really. I heard people have died in basements west of Birmingham. I will be stunned if this is not an EF5

http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=47091

[jasons2k]

I have lots of family in the Birmingham, Cullman, and Trussville areas. Thankfully, all are OK and accounted for.

My uncle is a Captain with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and he texted me this morning. He said the damage was unreal, like an atomic bomb went off, and sadly he expects the death toll be much higher after they sift through all the debris.

[BigB0882]

You know it is bad when people get killed while in their basements.

Here in Baton Rouge it has also been unusually windy. That moisture has just been flying North.

[bob rulz]

If th death toll keeps rising like this it could surpass the Super Outbreak.

[Portastorm]

I have lots of family in the Birmingham, Cullman, and Trussville areas. Thankfully, all are OK and accounted for.

My uncle is a Captain with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and he texted me this morning. He said the damage was unreal, like an atomic bomb went off, and sadly he expects the death toll be much higher after they sift through all the debris.

Jason, some of the video (aftermath) I saw of Tuscaloosa reminded me of what we saw in Jarrell in 1998 after an EF-5 destroyed much of that community. Houses were wiped all the way down to the concrete slab of the foundation. Many of those folks never had a chance. Terribly sad.

[vbhoutex]

Praise God your family is ok Jason. I was worried about them.
I just watched the chopper video and other videos and there is definitely, at least at first look, some EF5 damage showing on more than one video. I will be absolutely stunned if the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham/etc. tornado is not rated EF5. The chopper video shows mile after mile of EF4 damage. I am still just in a state of shock.

[RL3AO]

All of us who we're following this realized very early that something very very rare was going on.

[Aquawind]

Shheeeeshh 268 deaths just reported on CNN.. They needed basements below the basements for some of these tornados. Did not matter how much prep you did..

[Brent]

...PRELIMINARY EF-4 TORNADO IN MONROE COUNTY MISSISSIPPI...SMITHVILLE TORNADO* COUNTY/COUNTIES: MONROE* LOCATION/TIME OF EVENT: DAMAGE AT SMITHVILLE 344 PM CDT* BEGINNING POINT: UNKNOWN* ENDING POINT: UNKNOWN* RATING: EF-4* ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 190 MPH* PATH LENGTH: UNKNOWN* MAXIMUM WIDTH: 1/2 MILE* FATALITIES: 13...5 STILL MISSING* INJURIES: 40 * SUMMARY OF DAMAGES: DOZENS NEWLY CONSTRUCTED TWO STORY FULLY BRICK HOMES LEVELED. TREES DEBARKED. PROFESSIONAL BUILDINGS DESTROYED.

[Tireman4]

I was listening to the Paul Finebaum Show coming home and he was describing the video from Tuscaloosa and was in amazement. Now, the Finebaum show originates from Birmingham and came with one mile of them. Goodness.

[Macrocane]

I guess that with all of the tronadoes that formed yesterday there must be at least on EF5 tornado, and I'm not a tornado expert but it has to take a lot of strength for a tornado to destroy a basement.

[somethingfunny]

These are for the entirety of American history, not just the post-1950s radar era. If no other bodies are found, we'll still eclipse the Palm Sunday Outbreak of 1965 for eighth deadliest outbreak in American history.

The Ten Deadliest U.S. Tornado Outbreaks (as of May 17, 2008)
1. 747 ¦Tri-State Outbreak, MO, IN, IL. TN, KY, AL ¦March 18, 1925
2. 454 ¦April 5-6,1936 ¦AR, TN, AL, MS, GA, SC
3. 330 ¦March 21-22, 1932 ¦AL, TN, KY, GA, SC
4. 324 ¦April 23-234, 1908 ¦AR, NE, TX, AL, LA, MS
5. 317 ¦LA/MS ¦May 7, 1840
6. 315 ¦Superoutbreak ¦April 3-4, 1974
7. 305 ¦MO/IL ¦May 27, 1896
8. 256 ¦Palm Sunday Outbreak IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH ¦April 11, 1965
9. 236 ¦Flint/Worcester ¦June 8-9, 1953
10.224 ¦MS/AL/TN ¦April 20, 1920
I find it interesting that Alabama has been involved in six of the ten deadliest tornado outbreaks in U.S. history.
Source: Christopher Burt’s book Extreme Weather…

http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=7007

[srainhoutx]

[Tireman4]

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee298/srainhoutx/StormReport0425through04282011.jpg

Holy Mackerel!!!

[jhpigott]

media reporting death toll now 273

[vbhoutex]

I guess that with all of the tronadoes that formed yesterday there must be at least on EF5 tornado, and I'm not a tornado expert but it has to take a lot of strength for a tornado to destroy a basement.

You are absolutely correct in that statement, to say the least. This is a quote from a meteorologist friend and I think he has a good question/point. It is of course concerning the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham tornado.

I am wondering if a special rating will be given for this tornado, given the entire basements were swept away according to reports. That is worse than anything contained in the EF scale.

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this. I must say it does make you wonder if they will go that far. It is like nothing we've ever seen before.

[bob rulz]

I believe the same speculation occurred after the Oklahoma City tornado in 1999.

They will never add an EF6 rating for the same reason they will never add a category 6 - the destruction is already so complete from a 5 that it's pointless to add a higher rating.

[jasons2k]

I'm still numb. The footage and images are surreal.

I can't believe I was not even paying attention. I knew there was a risk for more tornadoes yesterday, but I had put all of my free time this week into our local weather, hoping for some rain. I didn't even realize that another really bad outbreak was in the cards for Alabama. I was caught totally off guard. I wasn't even paying attention at all yesterday until I saw that Wxman57 posted an image from GR2 analyst of the Tuscaloosa tornado on our local forum...and at the time, it didn't even register what I was looking at. (I had no idea that a massive EF5 tornado was barreling through Tuscaloosa).

Still, I quickly turned on my GR3 to the Birmingham radar and got a quick glance at the hook echo. I saw the debris ball, but I didn't realize at the time it was a debris ball. I thought "that must be some really big hail" I took a quick screen shot, sent it to my uncle and said "I haven't seen a hook echo quite like that before - it looks bad". Since it was a good distance northwest of my relatives' houses (NE B'ham and Trussville), I moved-on to dinner with the kids and watched some TV with my wife. I know that sounds terrible, but I didn't know there was this massive outbreak in-progress. I didn't realize until this morning that I missed the whole thing and that this Super Outbreak II had even occurred. I'm still shocked by the whole thing.