Tuscaloosa Tornado Damage Aerials Part 1

Tuscaloosa tornado damage, shot by Bill Castle of ABC 33/40 in Birmingham.

[@Unofkystudent]

These videos really open our eyes to how powerful nature can be. There was nothing anyone in the path of this storm could have done. My prayers continue to be with those whose lives are affected.

[@wadewilson8011]

I can stop it!

[@mikesalazar5481]

what?@@wadewilson8011

[@UAJAKE82]

i lived in Tuscaloosa for 4 years while going to the U of Alabama....that town will forever hold a special place in my heart....sending love, light, and prayers to those that were involved in this tragedy....love from Los Angeles

[@bamajunkie]

@HangingCurve thanks man. I'm here in Tuscaloosa riding it out with no power, but thankfully my apartment was safe. I missed it by 500 yards

[@oOkaitlynOo]

This is heartbreaking. I can't believe I was complaining about my town's flooding; it is such a small thing when there are people in AL without homes, cars, loved ones. Thinking about all the people effected directly or not. Keep your hopes up, God will take car of you.

[@Sparklemotion1976]

This is so heartbreaking. My heart and prayers go out to my friends/family in Alabama

[@DrRyanHooker]

0:49 31st st E and 359 1:18 10th Ave and 27th St 1:52 Hargrove Rd 2:20 Forrest Lake 2:41 15th St E and 4th Ave E 2:58 McFarland Blvd E 3:55 University Blvd e and 22nd Ave e 4:51 Chastian Manor 5:26 Crescent Ridge E and 1st Street East 6:32 33.226989,-87.469052

[@Claret2883]

Very sad!!! I am from Venezuela but i have many good friend in Alabama, and it saddens me!!! i pray for This City! God Bless Alabama!

[@Matyme]

This is unbelievable. I hope Tuscaloosa is doing better now and pray for those affected by this.

[@kevlc91]

2:26 You can see my house. That white square in the lake is my roommates ceiling.

[@LeopoldFilms1]

😥

[@ss4miket]

@multiplecats thank you...so much......it hurts to see our city like this. God bless

[@bombastulin]

Our street is at 5:53. We loved in a low, solid, brick house that was built to last centuries. It's rubble.

[@TaylorIsbellx]

I got debris from when it was hitting Pleasant Grove which was like 20 mins away from me. It was pretty freaky..

[@daisymaisy66]

@ChrisEeeSee I am so sorry for your loss. My daughter's friend is at UA & I am just relieved & grateful that she is coming home. I am glad that the warning systems are much better then they were years ago, so that people had some time to get to shelter....but nobody should have died. I can't wrap my head around it either. I don't know why these awful things happen.....but they do.....and we should do what we can to help those who are suffering. It does help remind us how precious life is.

[@JacqBLUEjay]

The amount of destruction leaves me speechless. I am only glad to learn that not more people died. I wish courage to the survivors to rebuild their new life.

[@chancemerrell9680]

Almost 11 years later and this day will forever haunt the state of Alabama absolutely heartbreaking

[@BigBird207]

Perfect time for that re- modeling we've been talking about.

[@MidTNJasonF]

@matt09troy It is the South, clean up starts when the neighbors from every surrounding area affected show up with shovels, chainsaws, hammers, and outstretched hands. That tornado was probably still destroying property on the Northern end of the path as the first volunteers were showing up on the Southern end to help pick up the pieces. The lives lost are tragic and painful but it warms my heart when I see car loads of people from nearby towns and even states arriving to help.

[@Jabudaby]

How heartbreaking. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

[@averagejoe1967]

May God bring solace and comfort to the loved ones of those lost. It will take a decade to recover from this.

[@Albanianator]

@blue03r6 But the tornado prone areas will end up rebuilding after they get hit by tornadoes anyway right?

[@mikefriend1514]

The destruction just goes on and on and on and on. It is just staggering.

[@eshiveley]

I've never seen anything like this. The trees flattened and the houses just obliterated. It's just awful.

[@johnairlines8]

Heartbreaking footage... sending love from the Buckeye State

[@MrMaine1980]

@hallsonny that was an apartment complex named charleston square. Just a large square structure with the courtyard and recreations in the center

[@kloefdog]

WOW!!! I'm so stunned and a lost of words!! This had to be a EF5!!

[@SonOfHanni]

1:34 that's my neighborhood :C

[@mans6363]

So sorry Alabama for this horrific destruction that has been caused to your state, your people, and life as you know it. I pray that you all will be in a better place soon with the help of your neighboring states and people from afar. May the lost ones be with God. My family will pray for help from all over to aid in your every need. Love and care from Tennessee.

[@TheMightykaz]

@ 4:56 ---> How was this not rated ef5 damage? You have 2 two story apartment buildings swept away to the foundation! That is directly under the classification of an ef5.

[@kenperk9854]

Jealousy. Dr Gregg Forbes among others rated it an EF5. That ticked off the self-anointed "expert" tim marshall. How dare someone rate the tornado before him. He had a problem though. If he rated 80 miles of mostly total destruction as an EF4 he would look like a total jackass so he called it a high end EF4. What a putz.

[@brianmears3388]

Trees were debarked also. EF-5 hands down! NWS in Birmingham wrongly rated it EF-4.

[@yeetspageet5679]

+Brian Mears yeah but in the places where the worst damage occurred there wasn't ground scouring and vegetation damage consistent with EF5 winds. Compare this tornado to Phil Campbell or the smithville tornado and the difference is obvious. There's an article on this with damage photographs and such on extremeplanet I believe. It's a good read. The list of strongest tornadoes is also really interesting. It shows that even monsters like this tornado cannot compare to others. When pavement and road is being sucked up and the roof of a storm shelter is gone you know shit is serious.

[@davidmatheny1993]

Probably the biggest reason this was not classified as EF-5(besides no ground scouring) is that there were many areas where houses were destroyed but a good portion of the frame was still at least standing. Meanwhile in Joplin, most of the houses were wiped completely down to the foundation.

[@SirRobbins]

@@yeetspageet5679 the Phil Campbell tornado was the strongest in recent time according to many experts. 70+ MPH forward ground speed, 200+ mph winds, and traveled 132 miles...

[@5NICK2]

that beast was no joke

[@dtblitz55]

@hamlinfanVA it's charleston square apartments and the national guard armory. that's about 4-5 miles from the university. the brick complex near the apartments was rosedale courts, a housing project.

[@AgentBeagle]

It's crazy how some houses were in the direct path of the tornado, not just on the outside, and still fared better than others. This is a testament to how the tornado was fluctuating in intensity. You'll notice that some neighborhoods looked worse that others. An EF4 for sure, but I'm mot sure I see anything that represents EF5, except for a few spots.

[@hardincah]

@albanianator, I am in the structural field of commercial buildings, I detail structural joist and deck and I use to do truss (framing of roofs) designs for residential houses. Most houses that are/were built recently can withstand winds in this area of 120mph and probably more due to the overkill of engineering behind it. It is usually the architectural material that can not withstand a tornado, thus is why you see structures still standing but the roofing material is gone, etc.

[@mlank33]

The sad thing is that not just tuscaloosa is like this. Pleasant grove, hackleburg, dadeville, elmore county, lake martin, and many many more cities...

[@Geno28]

Can someone describe the route taken in this video? I can't identify any landmarks. Thanks.

[@nbenicewicz]

Is this helicopter circling a curtain area or is it following the entire length of the path of destruction?

[@Moose6340]

This is absolutely stunning video, it really shows the power of that tornado. I have to admit, though, I felt really creepy clicking "Like" on a video that shows this much devastation and possible death.

[@Albanianator]

@dtblitz55 You can see in the video a few industrial buildings did come out of this better then other buildings. You can't completely stop an EF5 yes that's true, because of the large size debris it throws about at high speeds, but you can build homes that wont get completely demolished and help reduce the death toll. I'm not saying we should make all houses like old churches with castle like structure with large brick/ concrete slabs, but you can improve homes to better withstand such disaste

[@peachxtaehyung]

But you also have to make it still affordable. There's bad enough of homelessness as it is

[@hallsonny]

Does anyone know what type of building is shown at the 1:25+ time frame ?

[@Mee51]

Too sad. Sorry for the people over there. Love and light from South America

[@VroomGrrl]

I lived there many years, over in the neighborhood that overlooks the Target parking lot, and looking at this video is completely disorienting, I can't find any landmarks or even identify the streets, what's left of hobby lobby was all I could tell for sure. Would love some narration! THoughts & prayers for all in T-town!

[@cblowery21]

Bama, it starts just west of 359 by the I 20 interchange and tracks east north east. Through the town and out through Alberta City and Holt.

[@funichigo]

Only thing scarier then seeing one of these tornadoes pass by my house on 69 was riding around the city the next day to check on family and seeing this I've never felt so insignificant

[@cdforshee]

At the beginning, with the big courtyard in the middle? That's an apartment complex. Or it WAS. I think it was torn down after this.

[@Syzygy1215]

It's at least EF-4, but can't tell if there is EF-5 damage. It looks like in several spots there are buildings completely swept off the foundation, but we don't know how well constructed they were.

[@midorikirin]

Which is more destructive....tsunami or tornado???

[@georgemcadams]

at 1:27 is what used to be Charleston Square Apartments (formerly Fountainbleu) on 27th Street. At 2:43 you see 15th Street just east of Forest Lake. At 2:57 the Krispy Kreme Donuts Shop on McFarland Blvd. At 3:05 Wood Square Shopping Center. At 3:32, 1200 ft from Buena Vista.

[@mswonderful82]

How do you even rebuild after that?

[@yeetspageet5679]

With lots and lots of hard work. This entire outbreak was terrifying. To think this wasn't even the most powerful tornado of the outbreak is terrifying.

[@steerpike8091]

Yeet Spageet well said. The truth of the tornado was that it was only an F3 considering the EF scale being an EF4. The winds were just short of 200mph. This could’ve been 10x worse

[@lol-fv7ug]

This ain’t anything compared to the Moore tornado.

[@clkrail91]

This is just heartbreaking.

[@iRockaTCoD22]

Check out the Philadelphia, MS Tornado. It wes rated EF-5 and later produced the Cordova, AL EF-4 the Rainsville, AL EF-5 and the Ringgold, GA EF-4

[@d-block8803]

This tornado should of rated EF5 total devastation God bless Roll Tide

[@nadokid1]

Dustin Oxendine it was a high end EF-4 but EF-4’s and EF-5’s practically do the same damage

[@itzkgt2919]

Dustin Oxendine and this dame tornado traveled for more then a damn hour and 30 miles to Birmingham

[@itzkgt2919]

Caleb Routt dude this tornado was a mega twister Becuz it traveled 30 miles and eventually pulled the whole damn supercell to the ground

[@SirRobbins]

no damage warranted EF5 ratings. EF5 is a strong structure completely blown away, no debri left.... You can clearly see debri everywhere..

[@Tcrror]

Should have*

[@BadRonald1]

@samstterhamstteer Who's comment are you replying too?

[@steerpike8091]

. The truth of the tornado was that it was only an F3 considering the EF scale being an EF4. The winds were just short of 200mph. This could’ve been 10x worse. The strange part about it is that in some areas there was EF5 damage. But the winds measured in the tornado as a whole was only 190 MPH winds which is literally nothing compared to what could’ve happened. Not even close.

[@davesteerman]

I've never been speechless in my life......until now.

[@macinfloydvolk]

@Albanianator I live in Tuscaloosa ... the thing is these things don't happen all the time. In fact when they do hit us it's usually very rural areas this hasn't happened since 1974. So building tornado resistant homes might be a good idea but this may never happen again.

[@midgetdrunkman]

It didn't matter how well built or prepared the buildings were, only an underground bunker would have survived that.

[@blue03r6]

@Albanianator the point is you could build a house to withstand a tornado or hurricane. the problem is, it's would cost you 4-5 times the normal price. and you may never see another tornado in that area for 200 years. it would be more economical to have a normal built house and insurance to fix it.

[@aaronzack14]

what was i rated as? F3-F4?

[@SonicProvocateur]

I quake for Alabama. I'm from Gardendale and literally pieces of Tuscaloosa rained down on us before the one in Fultondale hit...

[@nenblom]

Heartbreaking.

[@frenchy2303]

@Albanianator, you do realize the winds of this tornado were 200 mph+ right? Why don't you get right on designing a structure other than a bunker that could withstand that.

[@rover6x01]

everything in the heart of the tornado was leveled, brick, block, wood, concrete. This was flat land, the water table is high. Where ya gonna go? We live in a suburb of Tuscaloosa on a hill so we were able to have a basement. Think before you judge

[@VinceLA91]

how many people died ?

[@exlahainagirl]

This is so hard to watch. So much devastation. So may lives lost. You feel so helpless and just wish there were something you could do.

[@chucknungester]

Watch about 2/3rds into this where it took out a railroad bridge in a deep valley in a hilly area, Im guessing this covers about forty miles of damage path. The damage is over 300 miles

[@Albanianator]

@frenchy2303 And you believe we cant construct houses to withstand that? Homes variate in strength from an average modern home to a mansion, then all the way to castle strength. I'm not saying make every home as strong as a castle, but the homes that are in tornado alley can be upgraded, to help withstand as much as possible and help save more lives.

[@Albanianator]

Seriously, the tornado prone areas need better homes that can resist tornadoes. Even though it's more expensive, the damage that they go through every season of tornadoes is even more expensive, not to mention lives lost.

[@wowitspj6224]

2011 & 2013 were the worst years of tornados in the USA in decades.

[@jawnybnsc]

@samstterhamstteer People have died in volcanic eruptions, tidal waves, floods, fires, earthquakes for the entire time they have lived on Earth. Two things have happened that are making you think that it's somehow worse now than it's ever been. 1) There are more people than ever before, and 2) there is more access to information than ever before. It's really no more complicated than that.

[@NextStopAntarctica]

I'm just.....speechless

[@PlayedWith]

Wow, our power went out in Starkville...we had no idea the damage was this bad. My friends were about to leave to head that way too when we heard there was a tornado ripping through the town. You guys got hit bad, sorry. Only an hour from here too.

[@hardincah]

@albanianator con't, This was just too great of a storm (200mph+ winds) the structures just can't take it and how often will they face an EF4 or EF5? So I would say most structures built recently could take on up to an EF3 but it won't have shingles or siding left on the house. So even if you desing one to with stand 200mph winds you then have to take in consideration of a tree or car hitting a house at 200 mph.........theres no hope. I do see your point though.

[@BambiB5]

@MrO2DAZ thank you! I live in Tuscaloosa and THANK GOD I am alive and have a job and a home still! They say it's worse than Katrina... And NO we don't give 2 shits about fracking, gas, or oil right now!! Out entire city has been wiped out and the number of fatalities and missing people are quickly rising!!

[@cdforshee]

It has been a rough ride but Tuscaloosa is survivng. Habitat For Humanity and other charities have rebuilt homes for many people who were without insurance. The area you see starting at 5:12 has never been fully rebuilt. Many of the homeowners sold their property to the state; tentative plans are to build an access highway thru there to connect I-59 with other parts of the city. There are houses there that, two years later, still look just as they do in this video. It's kinda creepy.

[@quadporter]

I agree, it would not have mattered how well built a structure, steel warehouses were ripped to shreds like paper mache. Wind that strong can tear apart even the most sound structure.

[@bluepeter27]

Tragic, our thoughts go to everyone suffering from the aftermath x

[@MrCwaigo]

That 's unbelievable, thinking about whats left there, tornadoes are nasty !

[@Albanianator]

@AridSea Were in 2011 and this is the USA we can construct better houses to help save more lives in times like these.

[@djmitch1]

@thiswastaken666 IT WASN'T MY TIME FRIEND. NOW ITS MY JOB TO GO TRY TO HELP THE ONES THAT WEREN'T AS FORTUNATE AS I.

[@BigBird207]

@ShowPony111Well for your information, my parents have 8 acres in Keener Alabama that was hit by one of the (many) tornadoes, and this summer I am going down to help clean it up, the house there is demolished so yea, my house HAS been demolished by it! My Nana lives in Attalla Alabama. My Aunt lives in Birmingham, and my cousin is building a house some were else in Alabama. That doesn't mean that I cant have a little humor with it though.

[@starbuckallstar]

Even solid brick buildings cant withstand an f5 tornado.

[@rudyhahn6017]

Does anyone know if this was a EF4 or EF5 ?

[@vinny4411]

EF4

[@Aggieav8r]

@ChrisEeeSee Amen to that.

[@theexpert5085]

Looks more devastating than Moore,OK tornado

[@Min1161]

Unbelieveable tree damage.

[@Bamaboompa]

Unbelieveable that this monster was on the ground this long. I only wish they had provided bearings of where this is. I like in Tuscaloosa and had to watch several times to figure things out - anybody know what that is - was - from :17 - :30?

[@duckideva]

My heart is breaking for y'all. I'm going down to the Red Cross tomorrow to see what I can do to help. I wish I knew something else to do.

[@georgemcadams]

AT the 1:27 mark shows the Charleston (formerly Fountainbleu) Square Apartments. At 2:43 is 15th Street just east of Forest Lake (Wendy's). At 2:53 where Krispy Kreme Donuts used to be. 3:05 Wood Square Shopping Center.

[@urdum2]

most above ground structure should be built with solid concrete walls and /or concrete blocks that are filled with cement and rebar driven down into the middle of each block......then build a similar structure in the middle of the building as your inner bunker......should be safer than most built today or in yesteryears..... i do beleive and i am often wrong but i think the water table has something to do with why no basements....

[@Awesomenizzleness]

@LuvStayn No bro.....a tornado went through there

[@rtds9fan]

@VinceLA91 344 died nation wide,238 of them in Alabama and 32 of those from this tornado in Tuscaloosa.....as it stands now.

[@kwagmyrefrontman]

It looks like in some places the grass has been sucked right out of the ground.

[@kenperk9854]

When I see these videos I think of how stupid tim marshal was to resist calling this an EF5. 80 miles of devastation ... EIGHTY MILES! But bravely he repudiated people who know nothing about tornadoes like Dr Gregg Forbes and called it a high end EF4. What a dumb bell he is. I was being sarcastic about Dr. Forbes. He has more tornado knowledge in his eyebrows than tim marshal has in his whole body. haha

[@nadokid1]

Ken Perk many of the houses in Tuscaloosa were not well-built so they would have been destroyed in winds less than 200 mph. The EF-scale is based on damage not winds. At the end of the day both are extremely violent and causes catastrophic damage there's not much of a difference

[@kenperk9854]

The home at bottom right was likely the one mentioned in the NWS survey as having been swept completely away near Holt Peterson Drive. The house was obliterated in EF5 fashion, but tree damage nearby was not consistent with winds of EF5 intensity probably because it was a MULTI VORTEX tornado. ****The tornado was a mile wide as it passed through this area. Less than a mile northeast of this area, the tornado destroyed a railroad bridge and hurled a 34 ton steel support-truss 100ft uphill.**** ****40 miles later the tornado encountered a coalyard rail depot just southwest of Pleasant Grove, overturning all but two of the heavy cars. One car, which weighed 36 tons, was hurled 120 yards (visible at center). Eyewtiness statements suggest the car was thrown in one toss and not rolled (Knupp et al., 2012). This is the longest distance a railroad car has ever been moved by a tornado and possible evidence of EF5 winds.**** Damage in the suburbs of Birmingham also reached borderline EF5 intensity, particularly in a narrow swath of devastation through Concord. Find that kind of damage reports in any other tornadoes. You won't be able to.

[@nadokid1]

A multi-vortex tornado would have EF-5 winds inside the actual suction vortices. The outer vortex it's self likely had 200mph winds in this case because the tornado was so violent. I'm not saying it didn't have EF-5 type winds I'm saying that because a few homes weren't anchored properly it was downgraded to a high-end EF-4. There really isn't too much of a difference between an EF-4 or EF-5 so it doesn't really matter.

[@yeetspageet5679]

During peak winds where houses were swept away there was not ground scouring and damage to vegetation consistent with EF5 winds. The total damage done is not the same as the intensity of the damage. Had this tornado swept away a well built house and had consistent vegetation damage nearby it would have undoubtedly been rated as an EF5. Even JOPLIN barely attained EF5 status. It in fact did NO EF5 damage. A strong, wide and long track EF4 can still be unbelievably devastating. The only difference between high end EF4 and a strong EF5 is with one there's debris left on the foundation.

[@iwantorlando05]

OMG! I can't believe this.

[@ackmess]

those aren't just homes built with wood people. in that wreckage there are plenty of steel industrial buildings and huge brick buildings that were demolished. you can't build an EF5-resistant home, even a steel framed home would have only been a skeleton after something like this. there really isn't much you can do, it further reinforces the very helpless feeling for those that were standing in this things way.

[@carlmay9532]

6:34 is that a railroad bridge? Damn.

[@BadRonald1]

My God, I can't believe the long path of destruction here. Does anybody know how many miles it ran for ? I live in L.A. where it shakes. The earthquake we had in the valley wasn't even half as bad as what the tornado damage was here. At 45 yrs old I've never actually seen a tornado before. I could imagine it's probably terrorfying. As crazy as this sounds I would like to witness one though.....

[@JasonRyan13]

FWIW, they cross 15th st. just east of the 15th St. - McFarland intersection at the 2:41 mark.

[@Chev427BB]

Complete devastation... I wonder how the repairs are going now

[@newlyweds]

For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one;he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. -Psalm 22:24

[@nanashiwanderer]

There is no such thing as a tornado proof home for EF4s and EF5. This thing blew apart concrete buildings and large department stores.