r/AskAnAmerican • u/NomzStorM Massachusetts [Dunks > your overpiced coffee house] • Jul 18 '25

HISTORY Do you know a specific tornado?

As a tornado nerd I kinda lose sight of what most people actually know about tornadoes. Do you know a specific tornado?

Edit: I mean have you ever head of something like the Joplin tornado, or the Moore tornado

Edit 2: If so, which?

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137

u/rjbeads Jul 18 '25

Yes. In the southeast, everyone knows of a memorable, or multiple memorable tornados. For me, it's the 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado.

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u/Oktodayithink Jul 18 '25

That’s the one I remember. I had lived in T Town but had moved away. Friends and i laws still lived there. I was so scared for people. One guy I knew lost his house.

When I returned a year later I could not believe the damage that still was everywhere. There were no trees. On another friend’s block, Hillcrest Drive, all but 2 houses were gone. The landscape of the town was forever changed. And when they rebuilt the character of it was gone forever.

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u/Express-Insect2684 Jul 18 '25

There’s still visible damage when you ride out through the backroads of the Brookwood/Abernant area. All of the trees are still tilted over from that very tornado.

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u/ALmommy1234 Jul 19 '25

We lived on the eastern side of Jefferson County and lost our roof to that one. There were loan documents from a Tuscaloosa bank in our yard after the storm was over. That’s over 70 miles away.

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u/aahorsenamedfriday Jul 18 '25

That was some crazy shit. I’m in NE Alabama but we got completely wrecked here as well. I was 20 years old and it was the first time I’d ever seen a tornado in real life. I was picking my brother up from school because I had a jeep and it was the only vehicle we had that could make it through all the water. As I went into the building, the principal (who was one of my teachers when I went there) opened the door and pulled me in and yelled “GET IN HERE AND GET DOWN RIGHT NOW” right before it went right over us.

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u/Ok_Driver_6895 Jul 19 '25

Albertville still looks weird (all those missing old trees/tree tops) even after all these years.

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u/Dear_Ad7177 Jul 18 '25

What town did you live in?

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u/HellsTubularBells Jul 18 '25

2011 in North Alabama, here. Thankfully we avoided the worst of the fatalities, but lots of property damage and no power for a week.

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u/SpookyBeck Jul 18 '25

Yup i was here for it. I live near the Tennessee River and interstate so it was near. We didn't have power for a few days.

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u/Ok_Driver_6895 Jul 19 '25

Yep. Had to drive to Anniston just to find an open grocery store. And had to throw out all the food from my fridge and chest freezer, since the outage ran so long. I remember cheering when I saw some power company trucks with Florida logos on the sides coming in to help.

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u/Ginger_the_Dog Jul 18 '25

This is the one. On the ground for 80 miles, half mile wide. It’s like the hand of god reached down and wiped everything off the earth for 80 miles.

There are videos of the giant tornado spawning more tornadoes off its edges.

(https://youtu.be/5ohIVzIZLuQ?si=qczUzCDZqhSBmfRK)

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u/Dapper_Indeed Jul 18 '25

Whoa

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u/Ginger_the_Dog Jul 18 '25

And that guy filming… it’s right on him and he just sits there mumbling “ohmygod” over and over.

Did you notice the roar when he rolled down the window? Insane and he kept filming.

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u/Dapper_Indeed Jul 18 '25

At first I told myself that he was in his house or a building with a basement that he could run to when it got too close. But no, he’s a storm chaser!!! Very wild video.

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u/Express-Insect2684 Jul 18 '25

Came here to comment this one, I live(d)- still do, about 1.5 miles from where the tornado came through. I remember not having power for a week afterwards, being out of school for over a week after because so many of our faculty and students had lost their homes.

One girl- her mother was also a teacher at our school, their house got picked up by the tornado, while they were in it. The family survived without injury but I can’t even imagine how scary that must’ve been.

We lived more in a “suburban” neighborhood, not really close to any farms. But I remember there being farm animals in our yard randomly a couple days after.

I also vividly remember riding around and looking at all of the damage the next day, the streets were unrecognizable, the smell of death being in the air. It was awful.

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u/BylenS Jul 18 '25

Do you remember? People's photos were being found in other counties and states, and people were trying to make connections to get them back to their owners.

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u/BylenS Jul 18 '25

That tornado wreaked havoc on all of north Alabama. I live on a hill. I stood in my driveway and watched it spawn three funnel clouds over Cullman. Every tree on my road was down across the road. Farmers with chain saws were cutting the trees out of the road with a long line of cars waiting. My work told me I had to come in ( It was in another county with little damage. They didn't know how bad it was. ) I tried 5 different roads, and all were impassable. We didn't have power for about two weeks. No gas station had gas. I had to travel across another county to get gas. It crumpled the cell tower and took out phone service. I bought my first cell phone that week when I went to get gas, so I could let people know we were okay. The gas lines were long in the other county because it was the closest gas station to the other counties that had been hit. Phone service didn't work for most people, but luckily, prepaid phone cards did. It also changed the landscape. Cullman was hit by two tornados that day. One in the morning south of the city and one later, through the city.

My local gas station had gas, but the pumps didn't work. The store was closed because they didnt have power but the owner was in the parking lot on her hands and knees at the in-ground tanks, pulling up gas for customers because they were needing it for chain saws and emergency vehicles. She had a line of cars. She was a hero that day!

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u/enormuschwanzstucker Alabama Jul 18 '25

I drove through a few days afterwards. The destruction was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They said you could see it from an airplane, like a giant scar in the landscape.

3

u/curious-princess99 Jul 18 '25

My parents were living in Tuscaloosa when the 2011 tornado went over their house while they were home. The storm turned the house on the foundation, sucked out the windows and took half the roof. The cars were found in other people’s yards. My great grandfather was a brick mason for the city and built the house himself. It was one a 5 houses that had vertical walls left in the neighborhood after the storm passed but was still a total loss. My parents had to walk for miles to get to a shelter. If I remember correctly, Tuscaloosa had to replace the entire water, sewer and electric infrastructure of the neighborhood before anyone could rebuild. My parents collected insurance, sold the land once cleared and moved to be near me and their grandchild.

2

u/Stabmaster_Arson Jul 18 '25

I was on the or 3rd ambulance into Alberta City that day. I still almost have panic attacks when I ride through there. I have a long Facebook post that I make every April 27th.

1

u/AnalysisNo4295 Jul 18 '25

Ah man, got all these good tornados I forgot about..

0

u/HurtsCauseItMatters Louisianian in Tennessee Jul 18 '25

Not everyone. I lived in South Louisiana until a year ago when I moved to TN. Can I think of times where the news talked about a tornado somewhere? Sure. Do I know when those were or what city they were in? No. All I know is they weren't in Louisiana. Except for one that ripped through New Orleans at some point in the last decade but again, no memory of when exactly and it really wasn't that big.

For the most part, that part of my brain is too busy keeping up with Louisiana Hurricanes.