EF3 Tornado — Dekalb, Alabama

2010-04-24 · near Bankhead, Dekalb, Alabama

Event narrative

The same supercell which produced the tornado in from Blount into Marshall and DeKalb Counties produced a second tornado around 11:25 PM CDT. This tornado touched down 4 miles south southwest of Mentone, near Desoto State Park. The tornado reached EF-3 intensity with speeds up to 140 mph destroying several single wide manufactured homes. The tornado also snapped and uprooted numerous large trees. Significant damage was seen along it's path to the Alabama/Georgia state line. The hardest hit areas were between CR 117 and CR 106, just to the south southeast of Mentone. The most significant damage occurred to a trailer park (Morning Glory Court) where several single wide manufactured homes were completely destroyed. Numerous large trees were also snapped or uprooted. The tornado continued moving northeast and crossed into Chattooga county (Northwest Georgia) around 11:34 PM CDT. Additional damage occurred as it traveled another 8 miles into northern Chattooga county.

Wider weather episode

Four damaging tornadoes tore tracks through north central and northeast Alabama during the evening and overnight hours of the 24th. These tornadoes were part of a larger regional tornado outbreak across the lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys. The tornadoes were associated with three separate long track supercell thunderstorms that thrived upon a very unstable and high shear environment. One of the longer track tornadoes tore through several successive communities with up to EF-3 strength in Marshall and DeKalb Counties, including the towns of Albertville, Geraldine and Pine Ridge, lifting just before reaching Fort Payne. A tornado from the same storm then touched down again in the Mentone area before crossing the Georgia state line. Another supercell produced yet another tornado southwest of Collinsville, tracking just a few miles south of the earlier damaging tornado. This tornado reached EF-4 strength when it completely leveled the McNutt United Methodist Church on County Road 55. Fortunately, no fatalities occurred with these particular tornadoes, but damages were severe.

In Marshall County, total costs from the tornado had exceeded $14 million, which included 1032 homes experiencing at least some damage, and 93 homes destroyed. In DeKalb County, damage losses were still being tallied. Debris removal costs alone have exceeded $3 million.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.5256, -85.5888)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 221310. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.