F1 Tornado — Covington, Alabama

2001-03-12 · near Red Level, Covington, Alabama

Event narrative

A tornado touched down along the leading edge of a bow echo in the Pigeon Creek area just north of Red Level. The tornado destroyed a manufactured home with three people inside. Two of the occupants were killed and one was injured. The tornado appeared to have first touched down where the home was located. The youngest victim was home sick from school and her grandmother was watching her. The girls father was working in a room that was attached to the home. When the winds hit, the home was pulled out of the ground and rolled across a road and was completely demolished. The room where the girls father was working was left standing. Another "Double Wide" manufactured home, just west of the one that was destroyed, was picked up in the air, blown across or through a clump of trees, and set down about 50 yards south of where it was tied down, in another clump of trees. When viewing the home from a distance it appeared to have been purposely placed in the trees, with little outside damage visible. However, when viewed form the inside, it looked as if an earthquake had hit it, with almost everything inside damaged. Both of these manufactured homes were fairly new. Both of the homes had the front tie downs pulled out of the ground and the anchors on the back of the homes snapped. The winds were estimated to be greater than 100 mph with the combination of the tornado and the intense downdraft from the "Bow Echo". The tornado appeared to remain along the leading edge of the "Bow Echo" for a little over three miles. Other homes suffered roof damage and numerous trees were blown down along the path of the tornado. The tornado dissipated just before entering Butler county just west of Boykin. All totaled throughout the county, twelve homes were destroyed, nineteen had major damage and five had minor damage. Eleven vehicles were also destroyed.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5235588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.