82 coming into Centerville when we saw the blackest cloud we had ever seen. I also took photographs of the town, the most poignant of which was of a clock that had stopped at the moment the tornado hit. The storm that spawned that tornado had an even longer track. Graphical Forecasts May 20 Moore Tornado passes above a private shelter Video, Moore, OK Before & After Swipe & Drag Map, New Research On The 1925 Tri-State Tornado. Office History, Education That there are situations where the only thing that would spare my life is a prayer. I was only 7 at the time. I remember seeing where house use to sit coming through Brent it was just concrete slab swept clean nothing not nothing it look like it was swept with a broom.i was scare of storms before I was truly afraid after that. (Photo courtesy of Garrett Doss). But police quickly let my granddad through. There was no power and some minor damage to the motel but it felt safe after what we had been through. We told him we were fine and ask if he was ok. My husband couldnt get to our house that night because of all the uprooted trees.The next morning when we went to the house we found a roof ( with apt #s 9,11 and 13 still on some of the boards) from the apartments a few blocks from us in our master bedroom right where our bed would have been had we been living there. It went on to cause damage in Greensboro, Brent, Centreville, Montevallo, Calera, Columbiana, Wilsonville, Childersburg, Alpine, and points between. So I dont know what it looked like before the tornado. We lived In west blocton at the time and we were driving through centerville on our way home from my grandparents house in SC. The National Weather Service (NWS)forecasts the threat of an isolated tornado as far up as New Jersey, though another potent storm system will move across the South and Southeast this weekend, according to a report. Lots of power polls snapped at the tops & lines down. He had been in Centreville only two weeks prior to the Brent Tornado. The F4, borderline F5, tornado effects ended as fast as they had started. These are accounts of those two killer storms on the evening of May 27, 1973. It turns out another tornado from Thursday would also qualify as a long-track storm: The EF-1 twister that left a 30.4-mile-long track through parts of Lawrence, Morgan and Limestone counties in northwest Alabama. I had never preached in my Dads church nor at this time any church. It is the sixth longest track tornado of record in U.S. history. It was me, my two brothers, my mom and dad and our dog. More EF-3 damage occurred along County Road 18, where the weather service said vehicles were moved or flipped, numerous trees were snapped, one site-built home was destroyed and others heavily damaged. A mile wide WEDGE tornado touched down on March 25, 2021 during a PDS , Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch that was issued for parts of Mississippi and Alabama. No one slept that night. I am 50 old and I will never be able to smell fresh pine without thinking about the tornado. We had glass and mud and other debris in our clothes and underwear but we were all fine. Video shows damaged buildings in Bertram, Texas from a possible tornado. May 27, 1973 was a red letter day in the annals of Alabama severe weather events. I remember strong storms Sunday evening while still at the lake, but not being frightened. Tornado Warnings We were in a Chevrolet station wagon. Heres a look at tornado reports from Thursday from the National Weather Service. Dale or Bob, cant remember which, made the comment that the wind felt like it was coming from a blast furnace. I just recently reread the article I wrote after my visit to Brent. It was not until I was in my twenties that I got over the fear of even a tornado watch being issued. Damage in Brent. In addition to the obvious property damage, the tornado . Meteorologists have rated the tornado that took seven lives in Autauga County on Jan. 12 an EF-3, with top winds estimated at 150 mph in spots along its path. Even at that age, I understood the tremendous losses suffered by our neighbors. The staff at Centreville radar that Sunday afternoon were Dale Black and Bob Coe. There was a lot of people gathered on the bridge where you could see Brent in the distance. Weather service meteorologist Mark Linhares said a long-track tornado has a path that is typically 25 miles or longer. My Grandfather was Tom Green, one of the people who died in this terrible event. The familiar white dome that covered the antenna simply vanished. All rights reserved. There was so much destruction, but people came together and was determined to rebuild Brent and they did. April 27, 2011 Massive Supercell Tornadoes Compared to 1973 Brent Tornado Videos, Arab Tribune "Scout" of "To Kill a Mocking Bird" fame remembers Brent Tornado. (LogOut/ All-Hazards Awareness Booklet It was a day not easily forgotten. It gave me a very healthy fear of tornadoes. on Tuesday, May 29th, 1973. Several vehicles were picked up and thrown, and one pickup truck had its cab separated from the bed. John Brasher. About Radar. on Monday, May 28th, 1973. Emergency crews continue to remove debris and conduct additional search and rescue efforts after a tornado ripped through a suburban area north of Birmingham, Ala., leaving at least . Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. Winter Weather Warnings All rights reserved. I remember looking out the back window at the huge black cloud looming in the background. The tornado that killed seven people in Autauga County had a path that was 82 miles long and stretched through several counties. Dale and I dove into an office, and onto the floor, beside a sturdy office desk. Though six tornadoes developed around Alabama on the 27th, including 4 F2s, it was the F3 northeast of Birmingham and the long-track supercell which dropped an F4 through the towns of Greensboro and Brent, which did the most damage. The weather service noted that the damage here, rated high-end EF-2, could be partly due to the interaction of the tornado with the lake surface, as well as the exposed nature of these homes.. It truly looked like when folks say a bomb went off. pic.twitter.com/YyTHNV3VJw. It was fun, so I thought. According to the National Weather Service in Birmingham, the Autauga tornado was on the ground for an hour and 20 minutes. What a story! I found out later that people died in that church. Born in Bham, raised in Shelby community in SE Shelby County. It let me know that mother nature is not just about chasing bumble bees with an insect net, playing marbles, and drinking lemonade on the front porch, or fishing on the bank of a creek. I think it was Highway 25 that we took once leaving the lake. The road was barricaded. As we neared our area, we could immediately see the path of total destruction within the national forest to the west (fully a mile wide path with trees laid down) and making a bee line for the towns. I stumbled across this site, looking for the N.D. Cass Co. of Alabama. Winter Weather Warnings This week's severe weather in the Mid-South was visible from outer space . Several days later, Centreville Press published Jim Oakley and I followed the path of the storm in a plane from Brent to Columbiana. The tornado occurred between 8:09 AM to 8:45 AM this morning and had a path length of just over 30 miles! Supercell three: Newnan and Peachtree City, Ga. I was scared i was 11 i kept telling myself go to sleep everthing is gonna be ok. My oldest sister woke me tje next morning telling me wake up sis your hometown blew away last night. Planes and hangars . These are not individual tornadoes but reports of tornadoes. Daily Rainfall Plots Possible tornado leaves Texas communities in rubble, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA), knocked out power for more than 2,000 people. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. No wind, calm as could be. TORNADO DEBRIS SIGNATURE NOTED ON RADAR. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Local Climatology The National Weather Service has reported several tornadoes in Alabama, including one that touched down near Birmingham and migrated more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the northeast, the. There was nothing left of Brent.Out house was no more. All NOAA. Buy newspaper front pages, posters and more. I remember he and I were standing outside then it seemed like the oxygen was sucked out of the air . The only thing I remember left standing with the steeple of a church. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. But when i saw this site about the Brent Tornado I had to write. Picture from The BirminghamNews Tornadoes that swept through Alabama Thursday are blamed for at least five deaths and multiple injuries with destruction in multiple counties in the state. The tornado leveled Brent almost four decades ago, but I can remember my visit to the town as though it were yesterday. A large tornado struck in or close to Brent and Centreville, Alabama, around 5 p.m. local time, prompting the Weather Service to issue a "tornado emergency" and warn of potentially "catastrophic" damage. My grandmother, Mrs. Evelyn Cummings, reassured me everything was okay and said to get back in bed. My father was manager of the IGA in centerville at the time , I was 16 yrs old . Severe Safety Rules F3 of Tarrant and Centerpoint In Hoover, winds sparked a brush fire near the City Heights apartment complex off Lorna Road. In Athens, high winds mangled the roof of this building: #BREAKING: A roof was blown off due to high winds this evening near 616 Highway 31 in Athens. Dale gave Bob and me a lot of grief about how his truck had come through unscathed. Past Events #alwx. The tornado destroyed approximately 90 percent of the city. Our military training area was over the area west and north of Selma to include from near Demopolis to near Tuscaloosa and the national forest area up to Centreville, and was subdivided into a smaller particular area. Flash Flood Warnings My dad, who was a serviceman with Alagasco, was called out within the hour. #alwx https://t.co/5yJdHOvAWY. John did some stringer work for UPI covering Alabama football at Legion Field, way back when, which he says was lots of fun. National Outlooks Brent was almost wiped from the face of the earth. Please try another search. All rights reserved (About Us). (Old Leeds Rd, Birmingham, AL) @spann #alwx #wx #wxtwitter pic.twitter.com/HQwVlcM5S4. Damage in Brent. The severe weather continued into the early hours of Thursday morning, with hurricane-force winds, hail, tornadoes and flooding rain all possibilities. National Weather Service Storm Data By the 26th, two more F4s were accounted for in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. That room had glass almost from floor to ceiling and faced north. The radar site and Brent, about 8 miles to the northeast, were in the crosshairs. I interviewed a number of long-time residents of the town for my article. Not surprisingly, several of them happened during the superoutbreak of April 27, 2011. At the time, I was a photographer/reporter for the Centreville Press and thought this might be a good opportunity to head down to the Centreville radar site to document their operations during severe weather. We already had tree down on our porch seeing lightning balls burst in the field outside. It still scares me till this day when i hear that a Tornado is near. There was phenomenal things happened that was amazing. Go Back AccuWeather's Tornado Week continues: How meteorologists are working to . Please select one of the following: Local Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Flood Products Description Summer Safety Campaign 72 people were injured and one person was killed in Greensboro. It is dedicated to the people of Brent, Centreville, and all those affected in the many locations. Bobs primary duty was manning the teletype machine, passing information along to the National Weather Service Forecast Office on West Oxmoor Road in Birmingham. We retreated to the hall. It was in a 11 yr old eyes the pain people was going through and trying to come to grips with it never had i seen the power as i did that day. All NOAA, Long TrackF-4 Tornado - Weather Service Office Significantly Damaged, Roof of Weather Service Office Centreville. #HUNwx pic.twitter.com/wyBjSkmRCp. 216 buildings were destroyed, 570 buildings were damaged, 97 mobile homes were destroyed, and 45 businesses were damaged or destroyed. We got down as low as we could in the car and held on. Local Climate Data Microbursts It has a mayor/council form of government. Insulation was strung on the ground and on the trees for miles. @NWSHuntsville @DanielleDozier @BenSmith_WHNT @katemckennawx @EmilyOwenWX @BradTravisWAFF @spann #alwx #hunwx @LimestoneEMA pic.twitter.com/iF9wqHMQe4. At that time, a NOAA WSR-57 radar station was located on Alabama Hwy25, southwest of Brent, and just west of Highway 5. I ran into my grandparents bedroom. One of the most vivid memories I have is when he reached a point in the road where the asphalt had been literally lifted off the ground and was gone. Rivers and Lakes The Centreville radar continued to track the storm as it worked over Greensboro and targeted Bibb County. There were pine needles driven into bark of trees. Two happened on March 30, 2022. I remember the devastation from this tornado well. Your help would be deeply appreciated1 Thank you. The tornado was a mile wide at that point and we had no idea we were driving right into it. Baaculaureate services had ended 12 minutes before the tornado came through Greensboro and destroyed the old Southern University which housed Southern Academy at the time. Outreach Activities Strangely enough, a telephone line was continued to operate for a short time. I remember him showing up sometime the next morning to take a break. I will never forget going over to Brent on the Bypass. [8:05 PM]: An EF-1 tornado was confirmed by @NWSHuntsville meteorologists today across portions of Lawrence, Morgan, And Limestone counties. Even though the tornado took a turn just below the Centreville business district, I can still recall the strange feeling in the air that evening. ***NOT FOR BROADCAST***Contact Brett Adair with Live Storms Media to license.brett@livestormsmedia.comAs severe storms began to rotate across western and cen. We heard that Brent was destroyed. the warning. Similar damage was seen in northwest Elmore County as the tornado neared the Coosa River. The hardest hit area was Brent, where the tornado caused upper level F4 damage, bordering on F5. *Tornado risk is calculated from the destruction path that has occured within 30 miles of the location. pic.twitter.com/efdr6wVo9S. That was certainly the same parent storm that produced what is likely to be more than one tornado along its trek across our area, weather service meteorologist Gerald Satterwhite said Friday via email. Significant damage to homes and trees occurred along the very wide path. My sister and I both survived but had sustained many injuries. Hazardous Weather Outlook, Current Conditions As many as eight tornadoes may have. I was 10 years old at the time. The Brent Tornado went on to kill 5 people in Brent and continued to Mt. A social security card that belonged to a cousin was found in Georgia unharmed. Info: Tornado reports do not correspond to the number of tornadoes that occurred. May God comfort those that are hurting & give them the strength that they need to carry on. Fire Weather Thoughsix tornadoes developed around Alabama on the 27th, including4 F2s, it was the F3 northeast of Birmingham and the long-track supercell which dropped an F4 through the towns of Greensboro and Brent, which did the most damage. On that Saturday night, May 26, 1973, I was sleeping, like usual. Outreach Materials Other Research In Limestone County, the Emergency Management Agency reported a tree fell on a mobile home. We jumped in his 1956 Chevy and headed off. An outbreak of severe weather, including several destructive tornadoes, swept across the South Thursday, killing at least five people in Alabama and one in Georgia. The worst of the damage occurred in Alabama and . We thought we were going to miss the storm until we turned left by the Cahaba River, passed by Twix and Tween barbeque and about a half a mile later all heck broke loose. BUT, the actual count will be far, far less. In Brent near the railroad was two huge tanks that belonged to Olen Belchers saw mill was blown several hundred feet. This is my biggest memory because it looked like someone had just picked it up and sat it down. ALABAMA TORNADO Brent, AL (Mile Wide EF3) March 25, 2021 HIGH RISK Jayjack Storm Trax 40.7K subscribers Join Subscribe 796 Share 42K views 1 year ago A mile wide WEDGE tornado touched down. We lived in Columbiana and were about to move into our new house. The wife and I lived in base housing there. (LogOut/ NWS Extensive damage was also reported later in the day southeast of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the towns of Centreville and Brent as another tornado tracked 90 miles across the state. The tornado is one of the 10 longest tornado tracks on record in Alabama, coming in at No. Cheaha. I begged to go with him. Shortly after the storm a young man came running by our car and he was crying. Sir, As a child my family would sometimes stay at the Cinderella Motel while enroute to Miami Fl. Regional Weather Roundup This storm traveled from west of Greensobor, AL all the way to I-65 and passed by the Brent/Centreville Alabama communities. It crossed the highway and rolled a manufactured home along Autauga County Road 40. I was standing beside the radar console, watching Dale work when he first saw what would become Alabamas longest track tornado. It was a long night. The tornado killed seven people and injured several others and caused widespread damage along its long path. We probably would not have survived. The weather service said the tornado continued northeast into Chambers County, causing EF-0 to EF-1 damage. Have not lived another night/day like this weatherwise until April 27, 2011. "We've Been Hit" May 27, 2012 Bill Murray, weather historian, article. Even from 8000 you could see the amount of destruction that had taken place and knew immediately it was not good and that it would be a long road to recovery for both the town itself and the people it effected. Tropical Cyclone Reports, Warnings and Other Products I lived north of Lake Payne in Hale County. In fact, there were three just last year. Air Quality I dont recall the buildup to the storm, but I remember my mom and dad calling my brother and me from the yard into a makeshift storm area dug underneath our front porch. Im saddened that AL has once again been devastated. Market data provided by Factset. Current Hazards Hale,Bibb, Perry, Shelby,Talladega and Clay Counties He was preaching a revival in Montgomery for the former pastor of the Brent Baptist church. I was a victim of the 1973 tornado. This was a single tornado, putting it at #7 for the longest single tornado track in the state of Alabama. Bob was at the teletype sending a message regarding another storm in another part of central Alabama that was also being tracked. ***NOT FOR BROADCAST***Contact Brett Adair with Live Storms Media to license.brett@livestormsmedia.comPine forest completely mowed down by an apparent violen. Storm Data My sister and I were in the hospital from May 27th until July 5th. It truly was a miracle. He stopped and asked if we were alright. Radar showed a large amount of debris from this tornado lofted into the atmosphere in what is known as a "debris ball" signature. Hurricane Preparedness On Sunday night, May 27, 1973, I saw serious tornado damage for the first time in my life, and it changed my life. As many as eight tornadoes might have hit Alabama on Thursday as a result of a "super cell" that later moved into Georgia, said John De Block, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. I have always wondered who he was. It had top winds of 150 mph in several spots along its long path. But all of his windows were still intact. The church looked like a large chain had cut a v from front to back forminf a v in the roof. I was 17 years old. But, It was the 27th which proved to be the deadliest for Alabama. 1999 Bridge Creek, OK Tornado. He worked the radar controls, scanning up and down the height of the storm and plotted its anticipated path on the radar screen. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Current Hazards In total, five fatalities occurred along Sandy Ridge Road at three separate homes, the weather service said. Picture from The Birmingham Post-Herald Long-track tornadoes are nothing new in Alabama. on Sunday, June 3rd, 1973. So I went back to bed, and went back to sleep. Brent is located in central Alabama in Bibb County. At least five deaths and multiple injuries have. If you would like, I could transcribe the article and post it. Previsin de 7 Das I wish so badly that I could find some pictures from the damage in Calera on this day. Market data provided by Factset. It looked like the town had been scrambled like eggs. Looks like theres a power line almost down.
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