EF3 Tornado — Cullman, Alabama

2014-04-28 · near White City, Cullman, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado first touched down in the Welti community along CR 636. Numerous hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted in this area. The tornado continued to move north with significant damage to a one story home along CR 601. Major roof uplift was noted to this home and a building under construction at the same site was completely destroyed and blown several hundred yards. A large travel trailer was also rolled. Damage at this location was deemed EF-2 in intensity. Further north along the road a large outbuilding was completely destroyed.

The tornado intensified as it moved northward crossing the Broglen River. Here the tornado widens to near 350 yards. Many hardwood trees were snapped and uprooted along the path. A chicken farm sustained damage along CR 732. Near this location along CR 736 a well constructed two story brick home sustained severe damage when the upstairs was completely wiped away and blown several hundred yards into a ravine. Large debris missiles were seen embedded in the surrounding fields. Several trees in this area were also severely mangled and partially debarked. Damage in this area was rated low end EF-3.

The tornado continued to track northward ripping the roof completely off a home at the intersection of CR 736 and 703. The tornado intensity oscillated as it tracked northward toward the Berlin community. Numerous wooden power poles were snapped along CR 703. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted as it crossed Highway 278 with some trees sheared near the base.

A TVA substation suffered significant damage with large electrical lines damaged and poles snapped and destroyed. The survey team was not able to fully observe this damage due to security restrictions but online photos indicate that this particular damage is consistent with at least high end EF-2 or possibly EF-3 damage. A chicken farm sustained severe structural damage with one house completely wiped to the ground with the metal trusses severely mangled. 25,000 chickens were killed in this one location. A mobile home along CR 747 was completely destroyed with debris thrown over 50 yards. Additional tree damage was noted in this area. The tornado weakened quite rapidly after this point lifting just north of Hwy 69.

Wider weather episode

A tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and evening across the central Tennessee Valley on the 28th. Several cyclic supercells produced tornadoes, some of which were strong. Very heavy rainfall occurred in some areas as well. In particular, up to 5 inches fell in just a few hours which led to severe flash flooding in Valley Head.

An additional round of thunderstorms late in the day/evening of the 29th produced a few reports of damaging winds and hail.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.0957, -86.7598)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 505320. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.