Tuscaloosa Remembers Tenth Anniversary Of Deadly Tornado
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: December 16, 2010
Ten years ago today a major F4 tornado tore through Tuscaloosa County, killing 11 people in the process.
The storm that ravaged the state on December 16, 2000 spawned the worst tornado in Tuscaloosa County in more than 65 years. It destroyed dozens of homes and damaged hundreds of others across its 18 mile path.
The storm touched down about 1:00pm five miles west of Hull on the west side of the Black Warrior River. It was on the ground for 18 minutes before lifting up near Cottondale. It touched back down in St. Clair County and killed one more person.
ABC 33/40 was live on the air when that tornado touched down. TowerLink 33/40 had video of the tornado as it was on the ground.
The nearly half-mile wide tornado destroyed homes near Shelton State Community College and along Highway 69. Several people were killed when the tornado destroyed a group of mobile homes.
A total of nine people in mobile homes died, one person killed was in a vehicle and another was inside a building. The tornado's winds and the debris it threw around the county injured another 144 people.
The National Weather Service reports that the F4 tornado destroyed 43 houses, 79 mobile homes, and one business. Another 76 houses had major damage, as did 23 mobile homes and seven businesses. 220 other structures had some damage from the storm.
One person was killed in a separate tornado in Geneva on that day.
