Storms/F3 Tornado Hit Oak Grove, Center Point, Clay & Trussville (Birmingham: houses, living in)

[BstYet2Be]

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Our hearts and prayers go out to all this morning!

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office reported a tornado tracked along a line from Oak Grove to Graysville, Fultondale, Center Point, Clay and Trussville before moving in to St. Clair County. Two were left dead.

See: Worst metro Birmingham storm damage reported at Oak Grove, Center Point, Clay and Trussville (video) | al.com
.......Tornadoes & Damage Reported in Alabama (http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/arkansas-tornadoes-reported_2012-01-23 - broken link)
.......Chaser Describes Birmingham storm damage
.......Images, Tweets from the Southern Severe Weather

For directions on how to get help - and how to help - See: American Red Cross .
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[Threestep]

Not again!!!!!

[jakabedy]

Poor Oak Grove. Gee whiz. Those folks just can't catch a break!

[DOUBLE H]

Am very saddened by these events.

[cpg35223]

I wouldn't live in that part of town on a bet, particularly without a really good storm shelter. Three F5s in 30 years, as well as some smaller twisters means that you're basically living in the barrel of a gun.

[jacobwilliam77]

Wow its just like April 27th again.

[Keeper]

It is sad to see this happen again. It is amazing to see so many houses just crumpled or pushed off their foundation.

[Gnutella]

Not sure who has it worse: Oak Grove, AL or Moore, OK.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Not sure who has it worse: Oak Grove, AL or Moore, OK.

Jasper, Cordova, and Carbon Hill are always dodging the things, too.

If you look carefully during a drive from Jasper to Double Springs, you can see several different tornado tracks from over the past ten years -- all in a fourteen-mile stretch of road.

There's simply no way I would own a house in the northern half of Alabama without a really good basement. Heck, the tornado that hit the Birmingham Water Works in 2000 finished up in the back yard of what is now my house in Mountain Brook.

[Classy Southerner]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Jasper, Cordova, and Carbon Hill are always dodging the things, too.

If you look carefully during a drive from Jasper to Double Springs, you can see several different tornado tracks from over the past ten years -- all in a fourteen-mile stretch of road.

There's simply no way I would own a house in the northern half of Alabama without a really good basement. Heck, the tornado that hit the Birmingham Water Works in 2000 finished up in the back yard of what is now my house in Mountain Brook.

The other guy who mentioned that "you are living in a barrel of a gun" nailed it.

When you think about it, if you live in Northern Alabama long enough, it's probably not a matter of if you will be affected by a tornado, but a matter of when and how badly. It has a tornadic history every bit as notorious as the traditional Tornado Alley of the Great Plains. Think the Super Outbreak of 74', the Palm Sunday outbreak of 94, the April 8, 1998 outbreak west of Birmingham, and the April 27, 2011 outbreak. And that's just the ones I can think of.

Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and Huntsville are every bit as treacherous as Oklahoma City, Wichita, or Joplin when it comes to severe weather. And yes, places like Fayette, Jasper, Carbon Hill - I hate to say it, but they can only get lucky so many times. I hope I'm wrong, I really do, but one of these days, I fear that their luck is going to run out with one of these April EF-4/EF-5 monsters. It's just the nature of being located there. Nature will do what it wants.

If you live in the northern half of Alabama, in particular in the areas north of I-20/59 and west of I-65, a really good basement or preferably a safe room within the basement, is a must, IMO. I would not move my family to that area without one.

Don't know what it is about that part of the state, but every April, you're bound to have a day or two where the atmospheric conditions come together at just the right time to produce some wicked weather.