Type Tornado outbreak Tornadoes confirmed 17 Duration of tornado outbreak 13 hours Start date December 16, 2000 | Duration December 16, 2000 Max rating Damage 35 million USD | |
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Casualties 12 fatalities, 186 injuries Similar 2000 Fort Worth tornado, 2000 Southwest Georgia t, 2002 Veterans Day Wee, Enigma tornado outbreak, 1994 Palm Sunday tornado o | ||
The December 2000 Tuscaloosa tornado was a destructive tornado that hit communities south and east of Tuscaloosa, Alabama on December 16, 2000. The F4 rated tornado caused the deaths of 11 people while injuring over 125 others. It was the strongest tornado to hit the state of Alabama in the month of December since 1950 and the strongest of a moderate tornado outbreak that took place across the Southeastern corner of the United States from Mississippi to North Carolina.
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Tornado event
The tornado touched down just before 1:00 p.m. CDT near the Black Warrior River in southern Tuscaloosa County and proceeded northeastward for 18 miles (28.8 km) across the communities of Englewood, Hinton Place, Hillcrest Meadows, Bear Creek and Woodland Forest. A tornado emergency was issued for the area before it lifted near Cottondale east of Tuscaloosa near Interstate 20. At its peak intensity, the tornado was about 750 yards wide. The worst damage was located near the Bear Creek and Hillcrest Meadows areas where F4 damage occurred and homes were completely leveled. Near I-20, several commercial buildings including hotels and restaurants were heavily damaged and a shopping center near Route 69 was also hit and partially destroyed. Damage was estimated at over $12 million (12 000 000 dollars). Over 40 houses and 70 mobile homes were completely destroyed, with hundreds more seriously damaged.
It was one of the deadliest tornadoes to hit the state since the Birmingham F5 tornado that killed 32 people across portions of northwestern Jefferson County on April 8, 1998. That tornado started just northeast of Tuscaloosa during the evening hours, demolishing numerous structures south and west of the Birmingham metro area. Since records have been kept in 1950, the Tuscaloosa tornado is the second deadliest tornado in December, tied with an F4 tornado near Murphysboro, Illinois in an outbreak on December 18, 1957, that included an F5 storm, and behind the Vicksburg, Mississippi F5 tornado on December 5, 1953 which killed 38.
The 2000 Tuscaloosa tornado was part of a supercell thunderstorm that developed across Mississippi before traveling through western Alabama, then near the Birmingham region before dropping more tornadoes in St. Clair and Etowah counties. Additional tornadoes were confirmed northwest of Birmingham and Jasper.
Tower Cam tornado footage
The tornado was also captured live on the ABC affiliate WBMA/WCFT/WJSU (channels 58, 33 and 40, generally called "ABC 33/40") in Birmingham during a special severe weather bulletin with meteorologists James Spann, Mark Prater, and John Oldshue. The tornado was caught by the station's tower cam located just outside downtown Tuscaloosa along Interstate 20/59 at Woodland Road on U.S. Highway 82. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences gave Spann an Emmy Award for the event. The tornado was followed from Englewood to just near its passage south of downtown Tuscaloosa when the reception was lost due to a torrential downpour.
Other tornadoes
Additional tornadoes were reported during the day across the southeastern portion of the US, including in Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. A total of 24 tornadoes were reported on December 16, 2000. One more person was killed by a tornado in Geneva County in southeastern Alabama.