EF3 Tornado — Walker, Alabama

2010-04-24 · near Bradleytown, Walker, Alabama

Event narrative

This long tracked, strong, tornado first touched down in the Walker County city of Parrish. It then remained on the ground for 54 minutes, traversing nearly 30 miles in three counties. The vast majority of the damage was done in Walker County. In addition to Parrish, heavy damaged occurred in the cities of Cordova, Sumiton, and Empire. Between 70 and 80 homes and other buildings along the path received varying degrees of damage, and at least one home in Parrish was completely destroyed. Somewhere between 800 and 1000 trees were snapped, with a similar number uprooted. While there were no known deaths or injuries directly caused by the tornado, one 50 year old woman died (indirect) after she slipped and fell while going to a storm shelter. The tornado moved into Jefferson County near the intersection of Bankston Road and County Line Road.

Wider weather episode

A deepening storm system and associated cold front brought widespread severe thunderstorms, including at least 8 tornadoes, to central Alabama.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.7336, -87.2864)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 228117. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.