Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. In the aftermath, P.T. Huntsville Tornado 1989 Description and Impacts - National Weather Service Churches and schools - Jones Valley Elementary and Holy Spirit Catholic School - were heavily damaged or destroyed. [10], An extremely destructive and deadly tornado struck the Manikganj District in central Bangladesh. The tornado crossed Memorial Parkway (US 231 and SR 53), a major northsouth traffic artery. Critical weather information was disseminated in a timely fashion over the NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) and NWR and by many media outlets in Huntsville and adjacent areas providing the public with frequent weather updates on radio and "crawls" and live "cut-ins" on television. Twelve of the people killed in Huntsville were in cars. Although the Jones Valley Elementary School was virtually destroyed by the storm, the timely actions of the principal and a teacher in charge of the Extended Daycare Program probably spared the lives of 37 children and several other teachers. said ''It started picking cars up and pushing them around, some of them upside down, some of them just strewn around,'' he said. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. "A catastrophe, a large-scale disaster," he called it. Severe Weather Preparedness If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Telephone communication and electricity were disrupted by the tornadoes. Twenty years ago, people here were known to occasionally snub weather warnings, including threats of tornadoes. A mobile home was carried about 35 feet (11m) from its foundation, with parts of it being blown up to 500 feet (150m) away. The hours of search and rescue efforts were followed by even more hours of cleanup. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. [10], The disaster received a tremendous amount of national and international media coverage at the time of the tragedy because most major news media outlets were at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, just ten miles away, to cover the awarding of the Sylvanus Thayer Award to former President Ronald Reagan, and accordingly were on site within minutes.[11]. November 15, 1989 NSSFC High Risk.jpg 640 427; 170 KB. Millie M, Senkowski C, Stuart L, Davis F, Ochsner G, Boyd C. Yang C, Wang HY, Zhong HJ, Zhou L, Jiang DM, Du DY, Hu P, Jiang JX. Numerous trees were downed. Within minutes the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning. Our Office 47 homes were damaged in a subdivision, four of which were unroofed. The walls of the K-9 building crumbled. tornado warning. Beginning at 12:45 pm, WSO Huntsville issued warnings for the west part of its county warning area (see Figure 19) as an intense squall line moved into northwest Alabama. The deadliest tornado to hit the city of Huntsville in almost 100 years touched down at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 15, 1989.On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 15. Rivers and Lakes As for the tornado itself, it was rated an F-4, but it wasnt a classic funnel. Local Climatology Damage details unavailable. All six tornadoes that touched down the next day were weak. And just realize that its all about us working together as people., Larry F. Ammerman, 46,Corrine Rene Bentley, 42 ,James Russell Black, 45,Della Mae Broad Buford, 68,Godwin Yee Chen, 7,Allen Dale Cruse, 46,Thomas P. Fry, 32,Vanessa Hastings-Pool, 22,Audrey L. Hurford, 25,Rosa Burke Johnson, 49,Karen E. Jones, 48,Scott Kraselsky, 36,John Lewis, 47,Wanda Lewis, 50,Karen D. Luker, 23,Jennifer Luker, 2,Mary Elizabeth Matheny, 67,Louise McCord, 61,James Burt Shummerour, 30,Melba Sweeten, 52,Ola Dowan Wilbanks, 86. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Smith: "I laid down on the floor in the fetal position behind a Coke machine.". An F2 tornado injured six people along an intermittent path in eastern Illinois, destroying six homes and damaging 46 in Mill Shoals. Other buildings, such as those in the White Oaks subdivision were damaged or destroyed. We knew that there was a severe threat. Local Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Data sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Storm spotters reported large hail and intense straight-line wind associated with this squall line. Shortly after this, between 4:20 and 4:30p.m. (21:2021:30 UTC), meteorologists working for NASA on Redstone Arsenal observed a wall cloud and rain-free base with the thunderstorm as it moved across the southern portion of the Arsenal. HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Five minutes, maybe a little longer, was all it took for the deadliest tornado in Huntsville history to barrel through southeast Huntsville. The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Graphical Forecasts A series of tornadoes caused more than $130 million (1989 USD) in damage across the Northeastern United States on July 10. A two-inch (5.1cm) diameter tree limb was driven through a shingle roof with half-inch-thick plywood. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Huntsville, AL F4 Tornado - November 15, 1989 - Tornado Talk In total, this tornado killed an estimated 1,300 people making it the deadliest single tornado in world history.[11]. A total of 7 people received minor injuries, 3 in York County and 4 in Lancaster County.[13]. The administrator at Humana Hospital in Huntsville, David Miller, said about 30 tornado victims were treated for injuries. [Characteristics of war wound infection]. Drone captures tornado damage in Virginia Beach - waff.com Historically, tornadoes are no strangers to persons in north Alabama, where Huntsville and Madison County are located.