Tuscaloosa Tornado 2011 - Troop 33 DeKalb


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BOY SCOUT TROOP 33
First Lutheran Church - DeKalb, Illinois

TUSCALOOSA
TORNADO

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"To help other people at all times"

TUSCALOOSA TORNADO

- Background
- Fujita Scale
- Project

Troop 33 Disaster Page
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Scouts from Troop 33 traveled to Harrisburg, Illinois and invested themselves in hard physical labor to benefit the community.
Their work time has was spent in doing two major projects.

- Background - Fujita Scale - Project

EF-4 tornado on television image coming toward Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

EF-4 TORNADO -- APRIL 27, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA

BACKGROUND

On April 27, 2011 a large wedge tornado in rural Greene County, Alabama tracked towards Tuscaloosa County, downing numerous trees. The rapidly intensifying tornado moved towards portions of Tuscaloosa at around 5:10 p.m.
Debris from the tornado was reported falling from the sky across Birmingham over 20 miles away in Jefferson County.
The massive tornado flattened entire neighborhoods, large industrial warehouses were completely swept away, and as the tornado moved across a coalyard, a 35.8-ton (78,925 lb) coal car was thrown 391 ft though the air.
The National Weather Service determined the path length of this violent tornado to be 80.7 miles with a maximum damage path width of 1.5 miles. The tornado's most intense damage indicated peak winds of around 190 mph; therefore, it was given a final rating of EF4.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama visited Tuscaloosa on April 29, taking a ground tour of affected areas. Obama was quoted as saying that he has "never seen devastation like this."
It left behind a path of destruction of 80.7 miles through Greene, Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties. It caused approximately $2.4 billion of property damage, making it the costliest single tornado in United States history at that time. Less than a month later, however, this number was surpassed by the Joplin, Missouri EF5, which caused $2.8 billion in damage.
The tornado killed 64 people, including six University of Alabama students, and left over 1500 people injured.

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FUJITA SCALE
& TORNADO FREQUENCY

The Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF Scale)

INTRODUCTION
Dr. T. Theodore Fujita first introduced The Fujita Scale in the SMRP Research Paper, Number 91, published in February 1971 and titled, "Proposed Characterization of Tornadoes and Hurricanes by Area and Intensity".
Fujita revealed in the abstract his dreams and intentions of the F-Scale. He wanted something that categorized each tornado by intensity and area. The scale was divided into six categories:

• EF-0 (Gale) -- 65-85 mph --
• EF-1 (Weak) -- 86-110 mph --
• EF-2 (Strong) -- 111-135 mph --
• EF-3 (Severe) -- 136-165 mph --
• EF-4 (Devastating) -- 166-200 mph --
• EF-5 (Incredible) -- over 200 mph --

Dr. Fujita's goals were for the F-Scale to:
- categorize each tornado by its intensity and its area
- estimate a wind speed associated with the damage

AVERAGE NUMBER OF TORNADOES IN THE U.S PER YEAR

TUSCALOOSA AL -- EF-4 TORNADO

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PROJECT
Unlike other disasters, Troop 33 did not travel to Tuscaloosa for any work projects.
Troop 33 conducted a donation drive at our Pancake Breakfast, which was held soon after the tornado. Critically needed items were collected including: canned food, towels, blankets, bandages, aspirin, baby formula, diapers and wipes, feminine pads, soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, t-shirts, underwear, alergy medicine, anticeptic crème, and much more.
Items collected were transported to a family in Waterman, Illinois, which added our donations to a larger collection of donated items which they transported to Alabama.

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