A dangerous and destructive tornado struck the city of Cullman, Alabama at around 3:00 p.m. CDT (2000 UTC). This large, multi-vortex tornado was captured on several TV tower cameras from stations such as Birmingham's Fox affiliate WBRC (channel 6) and ABC affiliate WBMA-LD/WCFT/WJSU (channels 58, 33 and 40). The tornado caused extensive destruction in downtown Cullman, a city of about 20,000 people; the tornado has been rated an EF4.[36] The final damage count was 867 residences and 94 businesses in Cullman.[37] At 4:00 p.m. CDT a tornado struck Lawrence County, Alabama, causing severe damage and killing a couple dozen people. At around 5:10 p.m. CDT (2210 UTC), a very large and exceptionally destructive tornado struck Tuscaloosa, Alabama.[38] About 40 minutes later, the same tornado struck the northern suburbs of Birmingham. A tornado emergency was issued for both cities, and many other tornado emergencies were issued that day. Many local TV stations, including WBRC and WBMA-LD/WCFT/WJSU, as well as CBS affiliate WIAT (channel 42), captured footage of this long-track tornado in both Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. A debris ball was observed by the Birmingham NEXRAD,[39] indicating that the tornado was causing extreme damage. Photos from the damage path showed total devastation. The path of this tornado struck the same small communities as the F4 storm on April 1956 Birmingham tornado, and the F5 storms on April 1977 Birmingham tornado and April 1998 Birmingham tornado. The supercell responsible for the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham EF4 tornado originated in Newton County, Mississippi at 2:54 pm CDT and tracked 380 miles (610 km) to Macon County, North Carolina where it dissipated at 10:18 pm CDT. The supercell also produced the Shoal Creek Valley/Ohatchee, Alabama EF4 and an EF3 NE of Cartersville, Georgia.
By the morning of April 30, the Alabama Emergency Management Agency had confirmed at least 45 storm fatalities in Tuscaloosa.[8] Also, several small Alabama towns including Hackleburg, Phil Campbell, Rainsville, Harvest, Hueytown, Pleasant Grove, Tanner and Concord suffered catastrophic damage.
A secondary area of severe weather also developed that evening along the Interstate 81 corridor from northern Virginia northward through Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York as far north as northern New York and continued into early April 28. Many tornadoes touched down in this area as well, although most were weak.

Map of all tornado (red), severe thunderstorm (yellow), and flood (green) warnings issued on April 27.
A statewide review by emergency management officials recorded 249 fatalities in Alabama.[8] Damage and power outages in the Huntsville area were so widespread that at one point over 650,000 people were out of power in the TVA system. Severe tornado damage, including 22 deaths, also occurred in Ringgold, Apison and Cleveland due to a violent and long track EF4 tornado. Another violent and deadly tornado struck the town of Ohatchee, where a destructive EF4 destroyed many homes and killed 22 people. Other notable destructive and deadly tornadoes occurred that day in and around the towns of New Wren, Enterprise, Cordova, Trenton, Dadeville, New Harmony, Sawyerville, and Camp Creek. Tornado alerts were issued for Southern Ontario as far north as Ottawa; one tornado was later confirmed at Fergus.
The SPC shows 260 tornadoes were reported in the preceding 24 hours.[40] It also broke the record for most tornadoes in 24 hours with 206 in the United States from midnight to midnight CDT (62 of which were in Alabama and 67 of which were in Tennessee), breaking the 24-hour record of 147 (in both totals, excluding confirmed tornadoes outside the United States that were part of the outbreak) set by the 1974 Super Outbreak.

The physical needs created by a disaster—for food and shelter—are relatively straightforward. But as entire communities deal with what nature has wrought, getting back a sense of security and stability may be an even greater battle.
On Friday night, more than 1100 people spent the night in American Red Cross shelters across multiple states, including more than 700 in hard-hit Alabama.
In addition to giving people a safe place to stay, the Red Cross will have more than 115,000 ready-to-eat meals and thousands of relief supply items to distribute in Alabama over the next three days. The Red Cross has 61 emergency response vehicles in the state that will be traveling through neighborhoods to help residents.
Behind these large aggregate numbers are individuals whose world has been turned upside down and who are seeking to put their lives back together again. Here are some of their stories.
Searching for Pieces of a Former LifeIn Tuscaloosa, Ala., Ashla Sullivan, 26, says that she and her husband do not have a plan right now, but they know that they're homeless. "I'm still numb," Sullivan says while picking through the rubble, looking for wedding gifts and other personal belongings that she can salvage from the wreckage.
The tornado tore apart Sullivan's home and her new life, having only married last November. Sullivan, her husband and their pug dog "Moe" rode out the storm in the bathroom and emerged to see their home and their neighborhood in pieces. Now, strangers have shown up to assist her with recovering what's left of her home.
In Alberta City, a neighborhood on the east side of Tuscaloosa, Rickey McGee, 54, sifts through pieces of sheet rock and other debris looking for anything that he can save. McGee and his two sons survived the storm, but several neighbors did not. "I heard the wind," he said. "I knew it was coming."
McGee's house is gone, but his Alberta City neighborhood in Tuscaloosa is still home. "We will rebuild," he says.
Others, like Nate Taylor, say that they will not return to this neighborhood.
Taylor, 42, wipes tears from his face while talking about what's left of his home in Tuscaloosa. "I've never experienced anything like this in my life," Taylor said, while working as quickly as he could before nightfall to retrieve personal belongings that will help restart life for him, his wife and two children.
What breaks Taylor's heart most is knowing that his efforts to save a grandmother and two children down the street were unsuccessful. Bewildered and still in shock, Taylor hopes to recover necessary medications that his wife needs every day.
Local church members have provided Taylor and his family with a temporary home, but many others do not have this help and are relying on the American Red Cross to provide them with a safe and warm place to stay.
Those staying at Red Cross shelters receive regular meals, emotional support, first aid and basic health care. Many also receive lots of hugs, which are for some the most important Red Cross assistance of all.
Someone to Lean On, in Good Times and BadIn one Clarke County, Miss., neighborhood, the same powerful tornado took lives from one family, yet left another across the highway relatively unscathed.
Red Cross workers are there to mourn with those that lost loved ones, assist them with funeral arrangements and check on their health and mental health needs. The emotions run so deep that often there are no words—but there is always a shoulder to cry on.
Another family huddled in their bathroom as the tornado roared toward them and destroyed their home. Miraculously, they escaped with only scratches.
The day after the storm, the teenage boys in the family rejoiced as they discovered music players and video games still in working condition, and their parents marveled at a 100-year-old dresser and mirror still standing without a crack.
Red Cross workers were there to experience a lighter moment with this family, sharing a laugh as one teenage son joked around. They all just express gratitude to still be alive, and now the Red Cross will help them move forward.
In the days ahead, the Red Cross will continue to focus on providing not only shelter, food and supplies for disaster survivors, but also much-needed emotional support. Wherever families are—in a shelter or in their neighborhoods to pick up the pieces—the Red Cross will also be there in this time of need.
How the Public Can Help
The Red Cross depends on financial donations to help in times of disaster. Those who want to help people affected by disasters like wildfires, floods and tornadoes, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, can make a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. This gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS, and people can also text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Tuscaloosa residents clean up after a tornado ravaged their town on April 27, 2011. Ashla Sullivan, who just married last November, talks to Lynette Nyman about wedding gifts she was able to recover, including her wedding dress.
Photo: Dennis Drenner/American Red Cross.


Rubble now surrounds the home in the Alberta City neighborhood of Tuscaloosa where Nate Taylor lived with his wife and children.
Photo: Dennis Drenner/American Red Cross.




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About the American Red Cross:The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or joi

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone,[1] although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider sense, to name any closed low pressure circulation. Tornadoes come in many shapes and sizes, but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris and dust. Most tornadoes have wind speeds less than 110 miles per hour (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (76 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. The most extreme tornadoes can attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than two miles (3.2 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).[2][3][4]
Various types of tornadoes include the landspout, multiple vortex tornado, and waterspout. Waterspouts are characterized by a spiraling funnel-shaped wind current, connecting to a large cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. They are generally classified as non-supercellular tornadoes that develop over bodies of water.[5] These spiraling columns of air frequently develop in tropical areas close to the equator, and are less common at high latitudes.[6] Other tornado-like phenomena that exist in nature include the gustnado, dust devil, fire whirls, and

A large, violent tornado has come through Tuscaloosa. It was reported to be a mile wide, and came from the southwest.
Mayor Walt Maddox has now confirmed 32 fatalities and at least 600 injured, Jason Morton is reporting. The mayor has also said Gov. Robert Bentley has pledged the full resources of the state, including use of Alabama National Guard.
Various reports from around the city indicate there is massive damage to 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard. Sports writer Aaron Suttles reports via Twitter that the CVS at 15th Street and MacFarland has been destroyed, among many other businesses and apartment buildings.
Other reports state complete devastation along 15h Street heading to MacFarland.
Alabama Power reported at 8 p.m. there are 375,000 Alabama residents without power. As of 6 p.m. in the city of Tuscaloosa, 50,295 customers are without power. In the western division of Alabama Power as of 8 p.m., there are 146,000 customers without power. This comes from spokesman Freddy Padilla.
Damage has also been reported to DCH Medical Center and the University Mall. Staff writer Wayne Grayson is reporting via Twitter that the Central High School football field was hit. The roof of the press box was ripped up along with bleachers.
Stay with The Tuscaloosa News as we continue to provide updates on the damage and further severe weather conditions.
The confirmed tornado that hit in Pickens County hit Coker at 4:50 p.m. and Samantha around 5 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Tuscaloosa and the surrounding areas continue to remain under a series of weather warnings and watches.