EF2 tornado in Blount County, Alabama

The tornado strengthened as it moved into southeast Blount County, near Golden Lake, and tracked along County Road 24. Some of the most extensive damage occurred just north of Pine Mountain Road, where winds were estimated at 130 mph. At this location, a home that was under construction but almost completely finished, was swept off its foundation and thrown about 50 yards into a lake. A small utility trailer was also thrown about 25 to 50 yards. Dozens of trees were either snapped or uprooted as well. The tornado tracked northeast, parallel to Inland Lake, snapping and uprooting thousands of trees and causing significant damage to two homes on Pine Mountain Rd near Cut Off Rd. A single wide and double wide manufactured home were completely destroyed on Dumas Bridge Road, and at this location there were two injuries. The tornado continued northeastward and crossed Highland Lake with a width of 1000 yds, snapping or uprooting every tree in its path. On the shores of the lake, several homes received major damage directly from tornadic winds. On Echo Lane, a well-built single family home had its roof completely removed, while 2-by-6 exterior walls remained standing, and non-load bearing walls were buckled. The neighboring home also had its roof torn off with some exterior walls collapsed. A three story home across the slough had major structural damage and was partially shifted off its foundation. Along the north shore of Highland Lake, the tornado continued snapping and uprooting trees, and damaging several more homes. The tornado weaken slightly as it crossed County Road 29 and Rogers Rd, with tree damage becoming more sporadic. However, several homes sustained significant damage in these locations. The tornado took a slight turn to the right and continued to weaken as it crossed County Road 20 and U.S. Highway 231. Northeast of U.S. Highway 231, six chicken barns were destroyed along Montgomery Drive. The tornado narrowed and lifted northeast of Hutchins Drive near the Blount and Etowah County line.

A large scale severe weather event began Saturday, April 26 and ended Wednesday, April 30th, producing several waves of severe weather from the Central Plains eastward through the Deep South, and across a significant portion of the eastern United States. Strong and violent tornadoes, very large hail, flash flooding, and damaging straight line winds accompanied this dynamic storm system. The most tornadoes occurred across the Deep South as the system moved into Mississippi and Alabama on Monday, April 28th. Supercell thunderstorms developed during the afternoon over eastern Mississippi and northwest Alabama in the warm sector well ahead of a cold front. The activity slowly spread east and southeast overnight, with this wave of severe storms ending early Tuesday morning. Storms redeveloped late Tuesday afternoon and moved into Central Alabama. A large area of rainfall across the northern Gulf Coast limited the amount of instability across the area, and storms remained below severe limits. The last wave of severe weather occurred early Wednesday morning across the south as an isolated storm produced large hail, as the system finally pulled east of the area.