What are you talking about? It didn't weaken after hitting Hackleburg, it actually strengthened. The towns of Hackleburg, Phil Campbell, Oak Grove, and Mt. Hope all sustained EF5 damage. Also, it reached max intensity in Oak Grove, where entire well built mansions were swept away.
reddibacon I know this is a very late reply, but you are absolutely correct. Oak Grove area had some of the most intense damage ever recorded. I do belive the Smithville tornado had areas of slightly more intense damage; however, the distance that the Hackleburg tornado traveled was comparable to the Tri State tornado.
This is ABSOLUTELY so devastating. It IS recorded as the worst in history to this point. I hope everyone will pray for the people of these communities. They need our help, support and love.
@@antoniobrown8212 Moore and El Reno were indeed very violent. However, on that note, during its peak, this wasn't lagging too far behind at all. Moore moved at 45 mph, this moved up to 75 mph near Moulton, and 60-65 mph for most of its life.
@@antoniobrown8212I don’t know why you are determined to downplay this tornado solely based on wind speed, but let me clue you in. This was a long track, violent, EF5 wedge tornado. This tornado actually is in contention for one of the most dangerous in the history of the United States, right there with Tri-State and Joplin. This tornado was not only wide and sustaining EF5 wind speeds, it was COMPLETELY RAIN -WRAPPED and moving at 70 MILES PER HOUR. Jerrell killed 25 people. 2013 Moore killed 24. This tornado killed 75 people. It was an extremely unique and unbelievablely dangerous situation. Joplin is the only recent tornado even comparable when it comes to eminent danger.
@TheMightykaz How strong was this EF-5?? It had to be well above 200 mph to do this kind of mayhem ive read it was more powerful then the Joplin tornado which was very very powerful.
The elevation of Hackleburg is up there, very high. I live 8 miles from here. The tornado passed over top of us as a EF2. It really ramped up as it exited Hamilton to move towards the Northeast
Some of the most dramatic F5 damage ever! At 4.28 in the video there is a 2 story house that the second story is swept away and a upside down car is planted on top of the house. Almost unimagineable damage! The world's prayer's are with you..
@@antoniobrown8212Okay, you can't compare Joplin to Jarrell strength... ever. Lol. There are big differences in certain EF5 tornadoes. If Jarrell or this one, El Reno, etc... went through Joplin, it would be insanely worse. Especially Jarrell. Lol.
@angelonthego its not the same tornado that hit tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa is south of hackleburg. The storms moved north east. There were over 150 tornadoes that day
A bit late for a comment perhaps but I've been tracking these tornadoes on Google Earth during this Covid crisis and the whole of Alabama was scarred with the path of these things during that 2011 outbreak! The damage to forests with the Hackleberg tornado is incredible! You can see all the vortex shapes in the acres and acres of floored trees as it moved through!
@kperk014 There still in the process of doing the survey. Based on the damage I am certain will be upgraded to at least an EF4 and possibly even EF5. Tree debarking, ground scouring, businesses gutted, and well-built homes swept clean off their foundations is very impressive from aerial view.
It's kinda silly to argue about wind speeds considering the devastation the tornado caused, so that's not what I'm trying to do, but where'd you hear 280 mph? Unless there was a mobile DOW station scanning the storm, there's really no way to know whether the wind speed was that high. The NWS uses "210 mph" or more commonly the open-ended "200+ mph" because with an EF5 the damage is so catastrophic there's just no way to tell how strong it really was.
1:54 the frame house to the left is the first EF-5 damage in the video... also pay particular attention to the amount of "rowing" of the debris. This was a really violent tornado.
Sean Ninneman Ahhh thank you very much-just reading about the extensive damage of this particular tornado,I guess they say 210 mph but it would appear the damage was higher than that.Thank you got the response/explanation.
wow ive been up there 4 times in the past 2 days but every time i go it just seems worse and worse prayin for all the victims in this and the victims in franklin county to
I saw damage and video of the Moore tornado, the Joplin tornado, the Tuscaloosa tornado, but, I had no idea about the extent of the damage of this particular tornado! And the towns that this tornado hit are much smaller then the other tornadoes mentioned. So if this tornado had gone through populated area like that of Tuscaloosa or Joplin then I think this would have been a much different story.
not really, the tuscaloosa joplin and moore tornadoes would have been much similar to this one if they had not gone through such densely populated areas. a little thing that happens when a tornado like joplin occurs, is heavy friction in the winds due to the density of the buildings in terms of how many there are so close together. that reduces the max damage to a single building in favor of a larger damage area
Most definitely. This FAST MOVING monster blazed a trail between Decatur (population 90,000) Athens metro (65,000) and Huntsville( population 340,000) If it had veered in one of those directions, an unimaginable number would have been a strong possibility.
Devastating.I delivered several ship containers from Savannah,Ga port to the new Wrangler facility in Hackelburg 2017 & 2018.I never got to see the old facility until this video.I surely hope there were no casualties.Minimal if so.
not quite, i have heard of him and do know of him, but havent heard that from him. but according to NWS birmingham and teams from Texas Tech U and Oklahoma U put it at just over 210 mph to possibly 220 at its highest, but respectively. as you know why they got rid of the old fujita scale because it was flawed, that the winds in most of the older tornadoes were not as high as they thought. but not quite mid 200's to upper 200's, thats for the intense ef5's like joplin of recent
@Bamazrollin i said by percentage of population. do you know how small those towns are and how populated tuscaloosa is? does it really matter anyway? the entire state suffered great loses! but all the media is focused on is Tuscaloosa!
I just got to see the damage to Hackelburg in the last week,Im painting the football and baseball coaches house just passed the wrangler plant.His family was very fortunate that they didnt have their house destroyed.It looked as if it missed his house by about 75 to 100 yards
@Bamazrollin @rcompton05 Tuscaloosa was not the hardest hit, as it was an EF4 (might be updated though) but was focused on because it's the town of 83,000, and 60 people or more was killed. Story from this town is horrible, as they had to freeze people as result of shortage of body bags.... that's how many people was killed in Hackleburg.
You have a good eye! I barely saw what you’re talking about. To the right of the frame at 1:43 it looks like there’s a building foundation with most of the debris blown away. Is that what you’re talking about?
@ddddcinc just got back from here... me and some guys from my church helped clean up some. And yeah that is the Wranglar plant! Some of the people there said it was raining blue jeans! I can't imagine what it would be like to go through that!
and i also agree that its one of the most destructive tornadoes. ive studied a lot of tornadoes and have seen few like it, only 4 come to mind off of the top of my head... the 1999 may 3d moore tornado while it was in moore, right before moore, its strongest point, also the 1955 may 25th Udall KS tornado, the 19991 andover and the 1977 birmingham tornado. i went to joplin and saw myself as well, we have family there, all ok. i saw it. joplin was wiped shafted
@@SultanMapping Jarrell has been the most extreme tornado damage ever surveyed, period. No scientific or engineering company contests that. I'm surprised he didn't think of it. Also, Mulhall was more intense than the Moore Tornado on May 3rd, 1999 but was not captured by radar during it's most intense moments
The Tuscaloosa tornado always looked like a EF-5 to me it was violent and the mayhem it caused. Was actually very similer to joplin and smithville akthough smithville was whiped off the map but a very large EF-5.
Tuac nado always looked the nasties to me. With all like 5 arms hanging off of it like its waiting to see someone run tland reaach down and snatch them. Crazy tentacles
Caiden Wichert yeah tell that to the homes in pleasant grove, minor and Forestdale where well built homes were wiped off the foundation chunks of the roads were ripped up. It may have been an f4 in Tuscaloosa but without a doubt by the time it hit pleasant grove it was an ef5.
What is that giant building @ 2:00? I would guess in the neighborhood of 85-90% of the town is damaged or destroyed. This has to be as catastrophic damage to a single town in U.S. history as there ever has been. I'm stunned.
Thank god these incredibly strong Tornados never manage to hit Nuclear power plants. I don't even want to imagine the outcome of that. Regardless of how incredibly strong nuclear power plants have to be when there built, an EF-5 tornado pumping out 200-250mph winds is no joke for any structure.
I can understand structures,trees, cars etc being leveled and carried off but some boggle the mind. A F5 yanked a bolted into concrete 800 pound safe hundreds of yards and ripped the locked door off. Not only is it bolted, heavy but probably the most un-aerodynamic shape there is. Same with steel manhole covers.
JIMJAMSC yeah that was the Rainsville ef5. Arguably the worst damage of the outbreak occurred with that tornado. A welt built anchor bolted large 2 story house was completely blown away and a storm shelter nearby had the ground above it scoured away partly revealing it.
Fifty0ne ane Caiden Wichert Yea as a structural engineer myself the only structure a powerful EF5 Tornado Like this phil campbell storm with 250-300 mphs cant destroy is a nuclear power plant, some concrete parking garages and some concrete bridge overpasses all other commercial buildings even modern steel or concrete skyscrapers would very likely either partially collapse or a large section of the skyscraper would collapse in a wind speed that high skyscrapers would be leaning badly to one side with most of the upper and middle floors buckled and demolished a nuclear power plant is much stronger than any skyscraper or any commercial building their un-aerodynamic shape and several feet thick steel reinforced concrete walls would be unharmed by an EF5 Tornado like Phil Campbell Or Jarell it would take 500 mph winds to destroy a nuclear power plant
+Caiden Wichert didn't the Phil Campbell tornado rip the concrete roof off of storm shelter? I just wonder what made the storms on that day SO damn strong. Like it's not like other outbreaks where there might be one or two incredibly violent tornadoes. This one just stands out so far above the rest bar 1974.
This tornado was one of the most intense and destructful tornados, but I still think the Joplin storm was worse as far as more deadly, the area it hit was more densely populated, which resulted in the 161 deaths, the fact that it moved st johns hospital 4 inches off its foundation is mind boggling, that was a 10 story concrete bldg..
You know it is just sad, I read over and over this tornado was worse than that one...I mean REALLY???REALLY??? For Christ sakes people LOST THEIR LIVES. More people did not die in our smaller communities because we are SMALL communities. If these communities had houses packed on top of each other then there would have been more deaths. I am grateful that they aren’t packed like sardines. Give some respect to those that lost everything including their lives.
yes you r correct about the joplin tornado being way over 210 mph, and in my opinion it is one of the 5 most intense tornadoes ever 1 actually for me, i put it and also research teams at texas tech in wind science put it at over 250 to 265 with a few vortices spinning up at maybe 285 mph.
@@kenperk9854lots of EF5 damage in Joplin, some of the most EF 5 damage ever, 22 houses were rated EF5, St John’s hospital, parking stops and manhole covers, Franklin technology centre, greenbrier, a church, Walmart, home depot, sports centre, several large buildings and apartments were rated EF5 too. Peak winds of 250 Mph.
Tornadoes are so arbitrary in the damage they cause. I was in Alabama in 1974 when a major storm hit. Houses and buildings destroyed, steel frame, wood frame, cinder block/brick, didn't matter, they got flattened completely. And right across the street, not a scratch.
@WILLYC1107 omg, you're right. I just took a second look. It really is pure devastation when you see 18-wheelers on top of what used to be a Wal-Mart. So horrible! :((
It was the Wrangler Jeans/ VF corporation Distribution Center. The metal beams were just bent, twisted and crushed. The semi trailers were twisted, toppled, and just sheared off some tops, and just bending the truck beds into a bunch of different shapes. In the parking lot, cars were crushed and blown, a section of the factory's wall actually lifted up then came back down, crushing some of the cars. If anything like that ever hit where i live in northern wisconsin, the forest would not grow back for years, the buildings all but destroyed, the foundations blown away. With all the forest, many would die. I hope it never happens up here.
@Bamazrollin i could care less about whether i"m on camera or not. I just think for the greater good of the state they should show what has happened in it's entirety. People nation and worldwide cannot grasp the magnitude of the damage by only seeing one city!
@rcompton05 The university has nothing to do with it. Tuscaloosa was clearly hit harder than any other county. Most of the deaths were accounted for in tuscaloosa and the number still continues to grow. Yeah there were lots of homes damaged all over the state but T town was among the worst in damage. To say that the university was the only reason for this is just ridiculous..
Well watching that video of the joplin tornado it got violent almost as soon as it formed. 200+ winds I imagine would be the joplin storm ive noticed all these wind speeds are just estimates as no one really knows how fast it was rotating.
Tornado ratings aren't as reliable as you'd think. They depend heavily on what the tornado actually hits. The Tuscaloosa tornado could potentially have been EF5 as well. A number of homes were completely reduced to rubble, and the only reason an EF5 rating wasn't given is because they weren't "wiped clean" off the foundation. The only problem is homes aren't built the same way they are in tornado alley, so that particular damage indicator doesn't really apply. It could easily have been rated EF5
soulprophet01 The same thing also happens with hurricane ratings. For example, Hurricane Katrina was officially given the Category 5 rating. But scientists have contended that Katrina’s wind speeds were at Category 3 strength, & that the biggest key factor to the destruction was that the levees gave way. Also, storm surges from hurricanes do more of the damage than its winds.
One of the reasons Tuscaloosa didn't have many swept foundations was a combination of huge trees crashing into houses which kept debris more stationary. Plus, a lot of the debris got swept from a foundation only to be covered up by debris from other houses.
I would guess Joplin was more intense. Some of the NWS personnel who surveyed that tornado said that they wouldn't publicly release their actual maximum windspeed estimate, but it was "significantly higher" than 210mph. Some of them said that it was perhaps the strongest tornado they'd ever surveyed. Really ANY EF5 is so intense that it really doesn't matter, though. 200mph does such catastrophic damage that you won't notice much difference even between 200 and 300mph.
@@kenperk9854that was the ASCE, who surveyed 150 houses. Out of over 10,000 damage indicators, thr official NWS found 22 well built houses and assigned EF5 ratings, Walmart, home depot, sports centre, Franklin technology, several apartments, large low rise buildings, greenbrier and SJRMC all sustained EF 5 damage.
TCoxsc is trying to start a fight for fun over something really sad. And it doesnt matter who got hit worse and who gets the most media attention. There are plenty of people who got hit by small tornadoes who live in very rural areas that lost everything and will get NO media attention.... it doesnt matter. We're all on the same side. Reach out if you can. Fellow human beings need help.
@lauriebeabea The media is more focused on tuscaloosa because of the population. There is no way possible to focus on every town that got hit. You're only upset because the news crew didn't get you on camera.
whoooaaa... no, the tornado at its strongest was 210, 215 mph and what do you mean deadliest tornado on record????? if you mean this hackleburg tornado then you couldnt be more wrong
That's "Sustained" winds. The gusting winds inside the tornado were undoubtedly over 300, just like the tornado that happened to have Doppler Radar on hand.
and at phil campbell they didnt get 200 mph winds, the tornado was at ef4 strength when it struck phil campbell according to the NWS Huntsville AL survey team, winds were at 180-190 at phil campbell
The greatest thing was the people of Hackleburg. Even as rescuers were still pulling bodies and body parts from the debris, as people frantically searched for missing family members, they still worried about were the high school baseball playoff games would be held. They never lost sight of the important things.
@GhOsTlYaPaRaTiS Actually Joplin has more than double the fatalities compared to Hackleburg . It's currently at 160 compared to 71 from hackleburg - Huntland. Tn tornado. As far as largest ef-5 the Greensburg, Parkersburg and El Reno tornado were all over a mile wide at some point. The Greensburg tornado was 1 3/4 mile wide. Hackleburg was no doubt one of the strongest tornadoes in history though.
You must take into account that Hackleburg also only has a population of approximately 1,517 as of 2010. If that tornado would have hit a densely populated area NO DOUBT death toll would have doubled if not tripled
Ken Perk nope, the el reno tornado is the largest and strongest on record. It was rated an ef3 because of the low amount of damaged it caused, mainly because it moved through farm land and never entered high rural areas. But the ground based wind speed was 295mph. Also the Tuscaloosa tornado, when in moved into pleasant grove and Forestdale had wind speeds of 235mph. Which is why most meteorologists will argue it should have been rated a ef5.
@@scaperune32 How do you know. There were no measurements of the Phil Campbell tornado other than damage estimates. Because Destructive tornadoes moving at 70mph with no Dow on site is unmeasureable.
