Thunderstorm Wind — Houston, Alabama

2013-06-07 · near Farley Nuclear Plant, Houston, Alabama

Event narrative

A 49 year old male was killed when an inflatable that looked like a castle came loose from its moorings during at thunderstorm and a pipe struck him in the head. There was no other damage reported in the immediate vicinity, so it was likely that this was associated with sub-severe wind speeds.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon of June 7th, an isolated severe storm developed in eastern Geneva county and moved into Houston county. This storm produced numerous instances of wind damage, some significant, as it moved across western and central Houston county. By the time it moved into eastern Houston county, the storm weakened to below severe limits as evidenced by the lack of damage reports from the eastern part of the county. However, an unsecured inflatable castle broke loose at the Farley Nuclear Plant during the storm, and one man was killed when a metal pipe from the structure hit him on the head.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.2200, -85.1100)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 445350. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.