Birmingham Tornado of April 1998
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- This article refers to a tornado in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. For the 2005 tornado in Birmingham, UK see Birmingham Tornado (UK)
The Birmingham Tornado was a tornado event that occurred on April 8, 1998 striking the western part of Jefferson County, Alabama, near Birmingham, and continuing into neighboring St. Clair County. It was one of only two F5 tornadoes that year. The other hit in Lawrence County, Tennessee on April 16, as part of the same outbreak as the Nashville tornadoes.
Wednesday, April 8 had been a relatively active day for severe weather. Early that morning a tornado hit in Ludowici, Georgia killing a 13-year-old girl, her uncle, and woman who lived across the street from them. Another tornado hit in Pembroke, Georgia and wiped out the Wilson estates. One man was killed and 16 were injured.
At around 7:30 P.M., a tornado cut a 31-mile long(49 km), 3/4-mile wide swath through nine Birmingham suburbs with F3 to F5 damage. Over 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed. Thirty-two people were killed in this tornado. One young boy died nine days after this event from head injuries. His father was paralyzed from the waist down, and his mother suffered severe injuries. Another mother and her two children were killed when hundreds of pounds of debris was blown onto them.
The tornado's effects were noticed around the same time by the ABC 33/40 Birmingham tower camera, which was pointed toward the western suburbs. Though it was dark, a massive power failure occurred in western Birmingham, when several transmission lines coming from the Miller Steam Plant electric generating station were knocked off line. This was noticed during the long-form weather coverage on 33/40, which lasted most of the evening. (The station, and several of its competitors, has a policy of pre-empting regular programming and broadcasting only severe weather information when a tornado warning is in effect for any part of its coverage area.)
The community of Oak Grove was one of the hardest hit locations. Oak Grove High School was damaged beyond repair with the elementary school portion destroyed. The Oak Grove fire station was heavily damaged as well.
The roof of The Rock Creek Church of God was blown off and several cars were blown 500 feet into a ravine. The church was turned into a trauma center. Open Door church also sustained heavy damage as well, with several members having to take shelter in hallways.
Had the storm remained on the ground, it would have gone into the northern sections of downtown Birmingham. A few miles further to the east, the Birmingham International Airport could have been affected as well. The storm lifted before reaching these sections of Birmingham. However, it touched down again in neighboring St. Clair County, where two people were killed.
Debris from the tornado was scattered across central Alabama as far north as sections of Blount County.
The tornado was the seventh deadliest in Alabama history, killing one more person than in a tornado that hit Alabama on March 21, 1932.
[edit] Spring tornado season, hurricanes, and El Niño
The severity of the spring tornadoes of the year is mainly due to the big 1997-1998 El Niño event. More than 1,400 tornadoes were reported in 1998, the second most on record. The second biggest season of tornadoes on record was 2003. 1998 and 2003 also were some of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons in recent memory with 14 and 16 named storms, respectively.
