Djarum
All-Pro
- Location
- Huntsville, AL
- Name
- Jason
My girlfriend and I finally were able to drive around about 5 miles north of where we live to see the Tornado Damage. Some of the images can be disturbing so I didn't want to post them in the thread. They can be found here:
Tornado Damage - SeriousCompacts.com Gallery
Most of the images up to picture number ending 396 were in more rural areas of Alabama. Much of this area is farmland, grassland, or just large fields. The houses that were on this land got hit pretty hard. Some of the mobile homes are just gone. Piles of cars pushed into modular or craft style homes. Most of this damage according to the NWS was caused by an EF3 winds in the tornado. There are also several pictures showing the tornado as it goes through trees and forrested areas.
This same tornado did actually move into a dense subdivision area. These pictures are from picture number 396 on up. These are actually really well built built brick homes that were built in the early to mid 90's. They are 2500 to 4000 square foot homes ranging from the 300K mark to the million dollar mark. Even as well built as these homes were, there was one single story brick home that was completly pushed off of the foundation and turned into rubble. There were some areas we could not go to because the damage was just that bad. The very last picture is what is left of an old "Piggly Wiggly" grocery store.
The NWS classified the tornado in a small stretch of this damaged area as an EF4-EF5 tornado.
The NWS has a track of the Tornado here:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/hun/stormsurveys/2011-04-27/tracks/madison_county.png
I have personally seen CAT 2 hurricane damage in Florida. While the damage from a Hurricane is much larger and more flooding involved, I've never seen the total destruction that an EF4 to EF5 tornado can cause.
My friends and family were pretty lucky. In all, the Huntsville/Madison Community was lucky. If the Tornado had tracked just half a mile more south, it would have devastated dozens of densly packed subdivisions.
Tornado Damage - SeriousCompacts.com Gallery
Most of the images up to picture number ending 396 were in more rural areas of Alabama. Much of this area is farmland, grassland, or just large fields. The houses that were on this land got hit pretty hard. Some of the mobile homes are just gone. Piles of cars pushed into modular or craft style homes. Most of this damage according to the NWS was caused by an EF3 winds in the tornado. There are also several pictures showing the tornado as it goes through trees and forrested areas.
This same tornado did actually move into a dense subdivision area. These pictures are from picture number 396 on up. These are actually really well built built brick homes that were built in the early to mid 90's. They are 2500 to 4000 square foot homes ranging from the 300K mark to the million dollar mark. Even as well built as these homes were, there was one single story brick home that was completly pushed off of the foundation and turned into rubble. There were some areas we could not go to because the damage was just that bad. The very last picture is what is left of an old "Piggly Wiggly" grocery store.
The NWS classified the tornado in a small stretch of this damaged area as an EF4-EF5 tornado.
The NWS has a track of the Tornado here:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/hun/stormsurveys/2011-04-27/tracks/madison_county.png
I have personally seen CAT 2 hurricane damage in Florida. While the damage from a Hurricane is much larger and more flooding involved, I've never seen the total destruction that an EF4 to EF5 tornado can cause.
My friends and family were pretty lucky. In all, the Huntsville/Madison Community was lucky. If the Tornado had tracked just half a mile more south, it would have devastated dozens of densly packed subdivisions.