Tornado outbreak of April 6–9, 1998

Birmingham Metro

F5 tornado
Tornado track of the Jefferson County F5 tornado.
Max. rating1	F5 tornado
Casualties	32 fatalities
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

Tornado damage from the Jefferson County F5 tornado (courtesy of NWS Birmingham, Alabama)

Shortly after 7:30 P.M. on April 8, the outbreak's deadliest tornado cut a 31-mile-long (50 km) (49 km), ³⁄₄-mile-wide (1.2 km) swath through multiple Birmingham suburbs, producing damage ranging from F3 to F5 and causing massive destruction before lifting in the western limits of the City of Birmingham, just northwest of the junctions of Interstates 20, 59 and 65. The worst of the destruction occurred across the cities of Oak Grove, Rock Creek, and McDonald Chapel. The second area affected by F5 damage was also devastated by a violent tornado in 1956 that tracked through the same areas hit by this storm. Debris from the tornado was scattered across central Alabama as far north as sections of Blount County, and extensive deforestation occurred along the majority of the path.[1][2]

The tornado began in rural Tuscaloosa County, only causing F0 damage there. The tornado reached F1 intensity after it entered Jefferson County, and then rapidly intensified to an F3 as it slammed into Oak Grove, an unincorporated town west of Rock Creek. Oak Grove was one of the hardest hit locations, with many structures destroyed in the area. Oak Grove High School sustained major structural damage, and the elementary school portion was destroyed. The school building was rebuilt two years later and reopened a mile away from the damaged area. No one inside the school was killed, but a group of cheerleaders practicing at the school's gymnasium escaped disaster with only minor injuries when a wall prevented a portion of the roof from falling on them. The tornado caused its first three fatalities in Oak Grove, which occurred when a mobile home completely disintegrated, throwing the occupants across the street; only one survived. The Oak Grove fire station was severely damaged as well.[3][4]

The tornado continued to intensify dramatically as it moved northeast, reaching F5 intensity as it struck Rock Creek. Many homes in the town were leveled or swept completely away, and the roof of Rock Creek Church of God was blown off. Several cars in the church parking lot were thrown into a 50-foot deep ravine. The church was turned into makeshift trauma center immediately after the tornado. A total of eleven people were killed in Rock Creek. The far western fringes of Concord were impacted in this area as well (particularly the Warrior River Road area). The tornado weakened slightly to F4 intensity as it struck the neighboring community of Sylvan Springs, where many additional homes were completely leveled, and four people were killed. Homes were damaged and destroyed just outside Pleasant Grove as well.[5][6]

Continuing past Pleasant Grove, the tornado began to encroach on Birmingham's inner suburbs. This tornado regained its maximum F5 strength as it tore through the communities of Edgewater and McDonald Chapel. Fourteen people lost their lives there and the storm swept away numerous homes. The tornado's effects were noticed around the same time by the ABC 33/40 Birmingham tower camera, which was pointed toward the western suburbs. Even though it was dark, a massive power failure occurred in western Birmingham, when several transmission lines coming from the Miller Steam Plant electric generating station were knocked off line. This was noticed during the long-form weather coverage on ABC 33/40, which lasted most of the evening;[7] the station, and several of its competitors, has a policy of pre-empting regular programming and broadcasting only severe weather information when a tornado warning is in effect for any part of its coverage area. The storm began to weaken somewhat as it crossed Alabama State Route 269 into the northern Birmingham neighborhood of Pratt City, though it was still very powerful. F3 damage and several injuries occurred in Pratt City before the tornado abruptly dissipated. Had the tornado remained on the ground, it would have gone into the northern sections of downtown Birmingham. A few miles further to the east, the Birmingham International Airport could have been affected as well. The storm lifted before reaching these sections of Birmingham. However, a new F2 tornado touched down again in neighboring St. Clair County, where two people were killed.[8][9]

The tornado was at the time the seventh deadliest in Alabama history, killing one more person than in a tornado that hit Alabama on March 21, 1932; a young boy died nine days after this event from head injuries. His father was paralyzed from the waist down, and his mother suffered severe injuries. Another mother and her two children, despite taking shelter in their underground basement, were killed when hundreds of pounds of debris was blown onto them. Overall, 32 people were killed by the tornado and hundreds more were injured.[10][11]

Dunwoody, Georgia

F2 tornado
Tornado damage in Dunwoody, Georgia
Max. rating1	F2 tornado
Highest winds	150 mph (240 km/h)
Damage	$100 million (NCDC figures)
Casualties	1 fatality, 10 injuries
Areas affected	Metro Atlanta
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

After producing three strong-to-violent tornadoes in Alabama, the Birmingham supercell moved into Georgia and produced this tornado at 11:35 PM on April 8, just northeast of Perimeter Center. After sparing the many high-rises there, the tornado rapidly intensified to high-end F2 strength with 150 miles per hour (240 km/h) winds, and grew to a .5 miles (0.80 km) wide. It damaged thousands of homes and downed tens of thousands of native pine and hardwood forest trees. Hundreds of homes had major damage, a few dozen were destroyed (or nearly so) and were condemned, and had to be completely rebuilt. Significant damage also occurred to the campus of Georgia Perimeter College.

Severe damage in a neighborhood in Dunwoody

The storm continued into Gwinnett, somewhat weakened, but still causing extensive damage in Peachtree Corners. The tornado crossed the county line one mile west of Norcross, skirting downtown and traveling parallel to Old Norcross Road at F2 status. it continued to Duluth, crossing the center of town and lifting briefly, taking shingles off the roofs of houses in downtown Duluth. Many more trees were snapped along Old Peachtree Road near I-85. The tornado finally weakened and lifted 5 miles north of Lawrenceville. The total length of this path was 19 miles (31 km). The current Norcross High School sits on land deforested by the tornado, and then purchased by the Gwinnett school board. In 2007, the county began seeking a grant from GEMA to help it reinstate a system of tornado sirens, beginning with eleven to be installed along the path of the 1998 tornado.[12]