<p>That is very helpful information to have. Was there a scale of miles on the map? I haven’t been there enough to understand just how close/far things are from one another.</p>
<p>Thank you BamaTex. I was looking at the aerial photos yesterday and Google maps at the same time but couldn’t get my bearings southwest of Taco Casa. Mind if I share?</p>
<p>Some more data was posted that I thought I’d share. I’m one of those people who needs as much info as possible to process through events, but I know others don’t (including my DH; he refuses to look at any of the videos.)</p>
<p>Preliminary path info for the Tuscaloosa/Birmingham tornado (from National Weather Service in Birmingham)
The Tuscaloosa/Birmingham Tornado is at least an EF4…could be rated an EF5 based on information the survey team sees.</p>
<p>It touched down near Union in northern Greene County and roared northeast for 80.1 miles. It was 1.5 miles wide at its widest point, when it crossed I-65 north of Birmingham.</p>
<p>At least 65 people were killed and 1,000 injured, making it Alabama’s deadliest tornado in history.</p>
<p>It lifted just before it would have crossed Highway 79 and gone into the Jeff State area of Center Point. It likely would have struck the campus directly. Thankfully, it did not or an already terrible day would have been even worse.</p>
<p>PRELIMINARY DATA…
EVENT DATE: APRIL 27, 2011
EVENT TYPE: AT LEAST EF-4
ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS (MPH): AT LEAST 165
INJURIES/FATALITIES: AT LEAST 65 FATALITIES. OVER 1000 INJURIES.
EVENT START LOCATION AND TIME: 33.0297/-87.935 AT 443 PM
EVENT END LOCATION AND TIME: 33.6311/-86.7436 AT 614 PM
DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): APPROXIMATELY 80.3 MILES
DAMAGE WIDTH: 1.5 MILES CROSSING I-65</p>
<p>NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS HAVE BEGUN SURVEYING THE
MASSIVE DAMAGE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LONG TRACK TORNADO…BY GROUND
AND AIR. THE START POINT IS BASED ON AERIAL SURVEY…WHILE THE END
LOCATION WAS DETERMINED BY A GROUND CREW. THUS FAR…DETAILED DAMAGE
INSPECTION HAS REVEALED A MAXIMUM OF EF-4 DAMAGE IN THE PLEASANT
GROVE. CASUALTY INFORMATION IS BASED ON THE LATEST OFFICIAL RELEASES
FROM THE ALABAMA EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY. THIS TORNADO WAS
PRODUCED BY A SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM THAT BEGAN IN NEWTON COUNTY
MISSISSIPPI AT 254 PM CDT…FINALLY DISSIPATING IN MACON COUNTY
NORTH CAROLINA AT APPROXIMATELY 1018 PM CDT. SO…THIS SUPERCELL
EXISTED FOR ABOUT 7 HOURS AND 24 MINUTES…TRAVELING APPROXIMATELY
380 MILES PRODUCING SEVERAL STRONG TO VIOLENT TORNADOES ALONG THE
WAY. ADDITIONAL EVALUATION OF THE DAMAGE IN TUSCALOOSA AND JEFFERSON
COUNTY WILL CONTINUE TODAY TO DETERMINE IF THE RATING NEEDS TO BE
INCREASED. RESULTS WILL BE UPDATED WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.</p>
<p>BamaTex, that was useful, thanks. I saw footage of the tornado behind Bryant Denny, but they had said it was impossible to judge how close it was. I can see from your map it must have been farther away than I imagined from the video.</p>
<p>I don’t want to stir up anxiety, but since this is a technical discussion, what was the plan for the dorms? Were they in the hallways, the basement(is there a basement)? Would the underground parking garage at Ridgecrest SN have been used? From the video of some of the apartment buildings I saw, I’m not sure the hallways would have been sufficient if it had been close. </p>
<p>As a mom of a new student, these are things that I am thinking about. I was aware of the tornado risk in the area before the last 2 weeks. But there are risks everywhere. We live on the East Coast so we have the hurricane risk. My D lives in San Francisco, don’t get me started about that. I am sure the campus is going to look at their preparedness programs more thoroughly in the weeks ahead. I know the odds are strongly against anything like this happening again. </p>
<p>I have been incredibly awed by the response of the campus and the community. My thoughts & prayers are with them all. Roll Tide.</p>
<p>Sorry TooRealistic, I cropped the scale off of the map that I linked above. I redrew it below and left the scale on for you. </p>
<p>The red line is only that part of the tornado path as it passed south of the university, more-or-less as shown in the satellite photo on CNN’s webpage. (It is not the entire path of the tornado, of course.) The width of the red line is not to scale. </p>
<p>One thing that I noticed when walking thru the damaged areas. Brick buildings survived very well…even those that were right in the worst hit areas. </p>
<p>When Bama goes into Tornado warnings, kids are typically in brick buildings (since Bama is almost all brick buildings), and on bottom floors away from windows.</p>
<p>Again, the red line is the approximate path of the tornado and the width of the line is not to scale. I cropped the map so that it more-or-less corresponds to the satellite photo.</p>
<p>Another link to show the storm track with Satellite before(2006)/after (2011) pictures. It cuts off just west of Rosedale and a mile or so east of University Mall, but you can drag and zoom to see a lot of detail.</p>
<p>I noticed the apartment complex I lived in for about 5 years (mid to late 70’s) was just blasted – a couple blocks NE of Rosedale Court (10th Ave and 27th St) – it’s the large square complex with open inner coutyard with a lot of trees and big pool in the center. It was pretty new back then and called Fountainbleau and was a pretty nice place with mostly students. Apparently it had become rundown, bought and renamed Charleston Square, wasn’t such a nice place to live anymore, but it was a big part of my college life. </p>
<p>I got more than a bit of a chill when I did the cover/uncover bit. It’s more than a bit unnerving even though I haven’t lived there since Carter was president. </p>
<p>I am happy to see that all of CC’s children and Student posters seem to have come through unharmed.</p>
<p>M2CK – is the power back on in Hunstville (if I remember you live there correct)? I have a lot of friends there who live/work in the Madison and Huntsville Hospitals.
The early emails I got were mainly to say they were OK, but that power was hoping to be returned by Mon - Wed timeframe.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that Nicks in the Sticks survived.</p>
<p>Just had dinner at Outback Steakhouse on Skyland. Sat in the bar watching all their TVs. One of the stations had this 'before" and “after” aerial shots. Unbelievable.</p>
<p>Another photo of the Charleston Square Apartments (also interactive) plus a story with a husband/wife who were inside that apartment complex when it hit. The story has a bit of disturbing text toward the end so beware of reading if you are sensitive.</p>
<p>I lived in Charleston Square (named Fontainbleu when I was there) as a student at UA. I was sickened when I saw the photos of the complex a couple days ago. Complete devastation.</p>
<p>What really upset me was seeing all the cars in the parking lot. You know quite a few people (mainly students) were home at the complex when the tornado hit. I don’t know how many died there, but I’m sure it was more than the one lady mentioned in the article above. God Bless their families.</p>
<p>Unfortunately I think you are right judging from the number of cars parked around the U. Approx what era were you there? I had several pretty good friends who lived there at the same time or who joined me in Grad Schools – it was pretty nice have a few serious study buddies to choose from off campus.</p>
<p>I was thinking that 30years ago near the end of April, I would very likely have been sitting in my apartment getting ready for finals at 6pm. I could look out my window pretty much see directly into the door of the laundry room (either that tree wasn’t there or it was a whole lot smaller back then). </p>
<p>Except for the wife part of the story and a year or so of age, I sound a lot like Daniel. I went through Hurricane Fredrick there and more than a few Warnings. The wind could seriously whip through those breezeways.</p>
<p>duncan: I lived at Fontainbleu in '91 - '92. Can’t remember my apt number (though 106 enters my brain for some reason) but I was lower level towards the center on the north wall. Pretty much directly opposite from where the office was.</p>
<p>It was a fun complex and the pool area was always packed with girls. Had a few pledge brothers that lived in Bent Tree so we were always back and forth between the two complexes. </p>
<p>It’s amazing when you look at the pic you see the tornado sucked up all the water from the pool. And the laundry room that sat right above the pool is obliterated. I can only imagine where those washers & dryers ended up.</p>
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