Deadly Storms Hit Alabama

[stewfox]

I heard a lot of these states that were hit, the houses had no storm shelters and people were killed hiding in the middle of the house

Is there anything anyone one can do.

I assume if there very wide then you cant out run them (in cars etc) ??

[The PIT]

I heard a lot of these states that were hit, the houses had no storm shelters and people were killed hiding in the middle of the house

Is there anything anyone one can do.

I assume if there very wide then you cant out run them (in cars etc) ??

Imagine two twisters hitting oxford and everyone panics how long would take it take you to get out of the way say from the city centre.

[Gorky]

Getting in your car and outrunning it is fine if only a couple of people do it, but the worse place to get caught it in a car and most places would jam up if everyone tried to leave at once. There was an exception with Picher a few years back which was decimated by an Ef4. 75 people fled houses which were totalled, in their cars as they had a lot of warning and the storm was quite visible. That however was a town which used to be 20,000 and had dwindled to a few hundred people in size over the years. Not many people leaving and an over abundance of roads to escape on meant only 6 people died from that very violent tornado in that town. However, as a counterpoint, that tornado did then cross into Missouri where many people were killed mostly in cars. At this point, the tornado was rain wrapped and going through a heavily wooded area. Most people died in their cars after accidentally driving straight into the tornado some fleeing from houses which weren't even hit.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Gorky

[Guest]

The report of one tornado in Alabama is that it was about a mile wide and travelled for more than 100 miles according to the news on the box - do we get many like this? I always thought that they were much more temporary affairs.

[Sprites]

Some parts of Europe may have had F5 tornadoes on rare ocassions, the U.S.A. gets the majority of this type of long-track violent tornadoe, but the recent outbreak was quite exceptional even in the U.S.A.

[Guest]

That being the case there must have been a hell of a gradient between the warm and cold air streams, plus there must have been something feeding these tornados to prolong their longevity.

[Gorky]

Just been announced that a 3rd tornado has been rated EF5 from this outbreak. Interesting damage info has been bolded.

133

NOUS44 KJAN 051837

PNSJAN

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...TORNADO DAMAGE SUMMARY UPDATE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS

135 PM CDT THU MAY 5 2011

...TORNADO FROM NESHOBA COUNTY TO NOXUBEE COUNTY ON APRIL 27TH

UPGRADED TO EF-5 BASED ON ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION...

BASED ON A REVIEW OF DAMAGE SURVEY DATA COLLECTED IN NESHOBA...

KEMPER...WINSTON AND NOXUBEE COUNTIES BY METEOROLOGISTS WITH

EXPERTISE IN VIOLENT TORNADO DAMAGE ANALYSIS...IT HAS BEEN

DETERMINED THAT THIS TORNADO SHOULD BE RATED AS AN EF-5. THE BASIS

FOR THE UPGRADE IS FOUNDED UPON SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS:

IN TWO LOCATIONS...THE TORNADO ACTUALLY GOUGED OUT LARGE SECTIONS OF

THE GROUND. IN ONE SPOT IN NORTHEAST NESHOBA COUNTY...THE GROUND WAS

DUG OUT TO A DEPTH OF AROUND 2 FEET OVER AN AREA APPROXIMATELY 25-50

YARDS WIDE AND A COUPLE OF HUNDRED YARDS LONG. SIMILAR GOUGES...

ALTHOUGH NOT AS LONG OR DEEP...WERE ALSO OBSERVED IN EXTREME

NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTY. WHILE THE EXACT MECHANISM THAT CAUSED THIS

DAMAGE IS UNCLEAR...INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS TYPE OF GROUND DAMAGE

IS TYPICALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE EXTREME WIND SPEEDS ASSOCIATED WITH

EF-5 TORNADOES.

IN THE AREA OF NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTY WHERE THE GROUND GOUGING WAS

OBSERVED...THERE WAS ALSO AN AREA WHERE PAVEMENT WAS REMOVED FROM

THE GROUND. WHILE THIS TYPE OF DAMAGE CAN BE CAUSED BY TORNADOES OF

LESS THAN EF-5 INTENSITY...THE FACT THAT PIECES OF ASPHALT WERE

FOUND AT A SIGNIFICANT DISTANCE AWAY...BOTH UPWIND AND DOWNWIND OF

THE ROAD...ARGUES FOR EXTREME WIND SPEEDS. SIMILAR TYPE DAMAGE WAS

ALSO OBSERVED IN SOUTHWEST NOXUBEE COUNTY.

FINALLY...EXTREME VEHICLE DAMAGE OF THE TYPE NORMALLY ASSOCIATED

WITH EF-5 TORNADOES WAS OBSERVED. THIS INCLUDED NEW VEHICLES BEING

MOVED MORE THAN 100 YARDS FROM WHERE THEY STARTED...AND BEING LEFT

IN A NEARLY UNRECOGNIZABLE STATE.

THE UPGRADING OF THIS TORNADO TO AN EF-5 MEANS THAT THIS IS THE

FIRST EF-5 TORNADO IN THE NWS JACKSON SERVICE AREA SINCE THE

CANDLESTICK PARK TORNADO ON MAY 3...1966. ADDITIONALLY...THIS MARKS

THE FIRST TIME SINCE STATISTICS HAVE BEEN KEPT THAT TWO EF-5

TORNADOES HAVE BEEN RECORDED ON THE SAME DAY IN MISSISSIPPI...WITH

THE TORNADO IN SMITHVILLE ALSO RATED AN EF-5.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS TORNADO...INCLUDING PICTURES AND VIDEO

OF THE DAMAGE...PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/JAN

(LOWER CASE) AND CLICK ON THE APRIL 25-27TH TORNADO OUTBREAK LINK IN

THE HEADLINE SECTION AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.

COUNTY/PARISH: NESHOBA...KEMPER...WINSTON...AND NOXUBEE

BEGINNING POINT: 1 N PHILADELPHIA AT 230 PM

ENDING POINT: 6 SE MASHULAVILLE AT 300 PM

RATING: EF-5

MAX ESTIMATED WINDS 205 MPH

PATH LENGTH: 29 MILES

MAXIMUM WIDTH: .5 MILE

FATALITIES: 3

INJURIES: 8 (AT LEAST)

SUMMARY OF DAMAGE:

THIS TORNADO CAUSED A PATH OF EXTENSIVE DAMAGE IN NORTHEAST NESHOBA,

EXTREME NORTHWEST KEMPER, EXTREME SOUTHEAST WINSTON, AND SOUTHWEST

NOXUBEE COUNTIES. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE OCCURRED IN A SEVERAL MILE

AREA FROM EXTREME NORTHEAST NESHOBA COUNTY INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST

WINSTON COUNTY. THE THREE FATALITIES OCCURRED IN NORTHWEST KEMPER

COUNTY WHEN A STRAPPED DOWN DOUBLEWIDE MOBILE HOME WAS THROWN A

DISTANCE OF APPROXIMATELY 300 YARDS INTO A TREELINE, AND THEN

OBLITERATED WITH THE DEBRIS AND FRAMING SCATTERED MANY HUNDREDS OF

YARDS DOWN THE PATH. THERE WAS NO INDICATION OF GROUND IMPACTS

BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL SITE OF THE MOBILE HOME AND WHERE IT ENDED UP

TO INDICATE THAT THE MOBILE HOME BOUNCED EXTENSIVELY AS IT TRAVELED.

TWO TRADITIONAL FRAME BRICK HOMES IN SOUTHEAST WINSTON COUNTY WERE

COMPLETELY LEVELED WITH ONLY A FEW SMALL PARTS OF INTERIOR WALLS

STANDING. NEW VEHICLES WERE THROWN OR ROLLED HUNDREDS OF YARDS

BEFORE BEING WRAPPED INTO TREES AND LEFT ALMOST BEYOND RECOGNITION.

IN PARTS OF NORTHEAST NESHOBA AND NORTHWEST KEMPER COUNTIES, THERE

WAS VERY HIGH END TREE DAMAGE WITH EXTENSIVE DENUDING AND DEBARKING

OF TREES, ALONG WITH AREAS WHERE THE GROUND WAS SCOURED OUT TO A

DEPTH OF TWO FEET IN PLACES, AND ASPHALT WAS SCOURED OFF PAVEMENT.

THE NWS WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE METEOROLOGISTS THAT REVIEWED THE

DAMAGE INFORMATION TO ASSIST IN MAKING THIS RATING...AND ALSO THE

EMERGENCY MANAGERS WHO HELPED IN GATHERING ALL OF THIS INFORMATION.

$$

AEG

Edited May 5, 2011 by Gorky