ABC 33/40 Coverage of the April 27, 2011 Outbreak (5:00 to 5:15 pm)

right this is Alabama's ABC 3340 wbm a Birmingham WC ft Tuscaloosa W jsut Anniston our five o'clock news starts now and the news is whether you were looking at a live large violent tornado wrapped in rain approaching downtown Tuscaloosa this is a tornado emergency for the cities of Tuscaloosa in Northport in the campus of the University of Western University of Alabama for that very dangerous storm while we look at the live look at the large Tuscaloosa tornado that is approaching the city again we should point out there is potential for a violent tornado near or north of Sullivan that will be moving along and north of u.s. highway 278 and again that will be affecting Sullivan Beaverton Guen or areas just north of there so with tornado warning for North Lamar and parts of Marion counties we have a large tornado in the Doris summit an area of Walker County we'll take a closer look at that this is prompted a warning and this thing is just extremely extremely violent it's coming through Dora and summit 2 now Sipsey Empire ultimately is going to be crossing Interstate 65 near or north of warrior maybe around the Blount Springs exit nobody should be traveling along interstate 65 right now north Gardendale or south of Good Hope this could be a large tornado Brian Peters and dr. Tim Coleman both saw this many have seen it and again the signature has not changed at all so a large violent tornado moving from Dora summit n' Sipsey empire approaching the interstate 65 corridor between warrior blood springs and maybe the colony exit here Alabama highway 91 nobody should be on the interstate if you're anywhere close to that and in Jefferson County there horn sounding it does not include the city of Birmingham it does not include Hoover Vestavia not even close to you this is the northern tip of Jefferson County so again this is a tornado emergency for extreme northern Jefferson County this is north of Surrey this is north of corner and really the it's mainly going to stay in Walker in Blount counties but it's close enough to where they clip Jefferson but again in the other box that is go back in Tuscaloosa so that's real that is just unreal it sir it's surreal okay right again ladies the the reporter we have is not close to this we have to stay with this tornado emergency this is a large violent tornado that is approaching downtown Tuscaloosa from the southwest and this will be I would say from the and you saw it from John Oh shoes camera down in Knoxville at the Knoxville exit it looked like it might be a half mile wide it could be larger than that nobody should be driving everybody down there listening to me on radio and Tuscaloosa stop now if the next exit the next convenience store go into a business they will let you in if you know anybody that maybe doesn't have electricity and cannot watch us or listen to us make a call if they live in Tuscaloosa they live in Northport if you have a child on the campus of the University of Alabama call them and tell them now to go into a safe place around one of the buildings around the University of Alabama campus if they are close to Northport across the river it's the same thing this is a large wedge tornado that is live on our tower cam atop the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse and this is making a beeline for downtown Tuscaloosa velocities continue to be almost maxed out the Delta on the radars about 150 knots and again this is a very serious situation so if you are watching us in Tuscaloosa in Northport and again that the troubling thing we see are people that are driving down there in that Skycam down on Lurleen V Wallace Boulevard if you're listening to us maybe on the interstate don't pull over and get under a bridge just stop at the next exit get into a gas station a convenience store that's where you should be and again this is the tornado signature coming up the Tuscaloosa from the South downtown Tuscaloosa downtown Northport this is interstate 59 20 that's interstate 359 this is McFarland Boulevard the woolsey Finnell bridge here the William King or I'm sorry the King bridge is right here and this is the Warrior River and clearly this thing is coming right up toward town so and while we do this again don't forget the other is issues Sullivan Beaverton huyn being a safe place Blount Springs a Sipsey empire corner warrior points north being a safe place we have three tornadoes Jason in this one is the one we're watching live right now but all the other ones will look just like this this thing is probably wrapped in rain the woman tornado that you saw earlier was not wrapped in rain that was an extremely violent storm that came through downtown Coleman this tornado looks like it might be rain wrap and that's the reason it's got that fuzzy appearance and sometimes you can't tell exactly how wide that is but based on John old shoes live stream when it came up through northern Green County and the other reports we've had this thing is clearly a large violent tornado that is down on the ground so we're calling a tornado emergency for Tuscaloosa in Northport let me also mention there's a new tornado warning for Southwest and we're not going to worry about that at this point we've got the new storm for a new tornado New York in Sumpter County moving northeast at 55 subject counties in the Meridian market it does include parts of Greene County but again this is this new storm down here so that's 28 Oh number one tornado number two tornado number three the circulation north of Tuscaloosa is much weaker there still could be maybe a tornado north of town but the big one is the southern storm in Tuscaloosa County and that's the one on the tower cam let's take the tower cam full and from here on out we're just going to arrive with this thing we're going to get up under it and Jason is operating the camera and we've been through this rodeo before earlier today with a Coleman tornado and again it looks like there might be debris underneath that Jason it looks like a very large debris cloud it may be picking up dust from some of the agricultural land in Tuscaloosa County of course wouldn't imagine there's a lot of dust considering that we've had so much rain but sometimes it can get up underneath that first layer of soil and get to some drier soil but that's a look at what is most likely a very large tornado we can see the wall cloud in fact it looks like the wall cloud is a little bit bigger then then maybe it was when old she was looking at it we can't see the tornado as well as I think we could just a few minutes ago it seemed to it brightened up a little bit underneath here but I think there is a tornado right in there you can see what the cursor is going looks like there's a Bri down there's Gabri there's a debris cloud that extends out that far so we might have an invisible funnel that is very large and only have a little bit of area that's visible there look at that we had a multiple vortex tornado on the ground there it is you can see the multiple vortex is important seas that are rotating a little to the liftand will get that thing centered this is a large multiple vortex tornado that is almost into a downtown Tuscaloosa and again you should have been in your safe place 20 minutes ago but if by chance you're hearing me at the last minute on the radio get into a safe place right now small underground if you can no underground first floor small room lowest floor near the center away from windows while you're looking at that don't forget we have a possible tornado could be a large one that's are moving up in the Marion County out of Lamar County another one is passing way north of downtown Birmingham affecting the far western tip of Blount County there's moving from Sipsey and Empire look at the debris look at the debris in that zoom zoom in tighter Jason if we can go in tighter look at that goodness gracious this will be a day that will go down in state history and all you can use pray for those people this is a large violent tornado coming up on downtown Tuscaloosa being a safe place right now and if we called your the name of your community in any of the other tornadoes the same thing you know we're not able to show every single one of them live on television like that that's let's look at huge that is and it's still three or four miles away from us right there right and again the camera for those of you that are watching maybe for the first time this is on top of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse now we're going to back up a little bit not so shaky but look at that right and this thing is still southwest of downtown Tuscaloosa moving northeast right toward the middle of Tuscaloosa the last time we had one like that in that part of town one this big was probably March 21st 1932 and before my time that destroyed so much of Tuscaloosa in Northport but again that is a huge tornado that is moving right up on downtown Tuscaloosa and again so and I want you to use this as an example when we show these other radar signatures that's what you're going to get today that is why there is a high risk today this is a very rare day maybe a once-in-a-career type day reminiscent of the outbreaks of the 70s the super outbreak of 74 so if you're just joining us now we're starting to see the the flashes those are the fuses adjacent to the Transformers designed to protect the utility system Alabama Power company's infrastructure but again that is something that you pray that you never ever ever see but we're looking to the southwest from high atop the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse and again we're going to stay with this as long as we keep power if you watched us earlier this afternoon we had a tornado just like that that came through Coleman I would suggest this might even be larger than the Coleman 20 I think it's much larger than that one this thing looks like it might be over 1/2 mile wide maybe up to 3/4 of a mile wide it's coming across Joe Malin Shaam Park it'll actually just past Joe Malin Shem Parkway goodness look at that that is huge this this is you're down around Colusa Avenue 35th street Hillman careens borough Avenue get to a salient way there goes the Skycam get into a set please let's use the tower cam can we pull up the microwave camera please let's go to the Tuscaloosa tower cam on remote - ok we lost the signal there right let's zoom into it let's double box this let's do this this is down yeah I want to double box it with a still of the last image we've got of that large tornado in Tuscaloosa you saw that flash and then that's when everything blacked out in downtown Tuscaloosa but again this is the look at this there's your debris ball right here okay this is it seems to be pretty much on the interstate and obviously nobody should be along the interstate we've got this debris ball it's picked up a lot of debris now that it's over a populated area and that'll be coming right through the intersection right down skyline Boulevard here and interstate 59 20 and again it is so close I can't rule anybody out it looks like it's going to be the southern part of the city of Tuscaloosa with the greatest issues here but again you're seeing the the last image we were able to show you of a large wedge tornado coming up into Tuscaloosa this is the radar clearly showing that this thing is wrapped up maybe along Interstate 59 20 this is McFarland Boulevard right we got it back there goes let's pan over to the low-minded bull look it's at are you kidding me look at all the stuff flying around a bag that's coming over that's coming over near interstate 359 and Skyland nobody should be out there this thing is going to be coming basically write down skyline Boulevard this is an extremely violent situation notice the power flashes please just pass the Tuscaloosa County or the Tuscaloosa City Police Department is down there it's cross it over the industrial area in south Tuscaloosa near all the places where they take the cars when you have an accident if you're down that way down Greensboro it's on you now it's moving toward McFarland if you're between Greensboro and McFarland south of Bryant and south of University get to a safe place right now right so again everybody near Skyland Boulevard be in a safe place everybody in the city limits of Tuscaloosa being a safe place we can clearly tell you from that image that this will be a tornado that is affecting Tuscaloosa and not North Ford but if you are in the city limits of Tuscaloosa be in a safe place right now don't take any chances with this this is as violent a situation as you'll ever see again there's your debris ball that's coming up now near the intersection of Alabama 69 going south down toward Mount Ville and McFarland Boulevard it'll be crossing very close to McFarland mall McFarland mall directly in the pace we got it back take it full take take it full the back side of it again that is moving basically down skyline Boulevard and again you can see debris falling from the sky and this is a again the power is going to come and go let's go back to the double box and as soon as we get the power back on top of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse we'll go back to that but again this is your debris ball right here again that's downtown Tuscaloosa that's interstate 359 right here this is coming out toward McFarland mall and so there is a northward component of motion here so understand this will be ultimately moving north of interstate 59 20 up here toward really some of the same communities hit back on April the 15th out toward the loop road in circle would the Veterans Hospital but I don't want to be so specific I want everybody in the city limits of Tuscaloosa to stay sheltered underground if you can get there until this thing passes but especially over here the urgency now is for those of you out here in the eastern side of town over here toward Cottondale and Holt in Alberta City everybody out here needs to be in a safe place the University of Alabama still needs to be totally shut down nobody should be on campus walking nobody should be driving another note a large tornado just passed through just passed north east of Bagley through the Doris summited area so Walker County Coleman County we we have so many things going on and we're trying to show as many things as we can at the same time while maintaining the information for everyone what you see there in Tuscaloosa a large violent tornado that is right on the interstate now moving up north up toward McFarland that will be coming pretty close to the University mall if it indeed crosses the interstate and Clips McFarland right there may be snow Hinton park yard Grove actually we've got it back now right let's we've got it back so let's let's scan over here and bring it full bring it full keep panning as it'll go okay the pan is near the stadium again we're going to get in very heavy rain here and again look at that look at the rain streaming the inflow streaming that large tornado off in the distance you can see bryan-denny stadium on the campus of the University of Alabama just went down again alright and again you know if this thing veers a little to the left of the flow that could clearly put it right over the campus of the University of Alabama I don't want to be so specific with this one again based on the size of this if you are in the city limits of Tuscaloosa or on the campus of the University of Alabama stay sheltered for at least another 15 to 20 minutes until this thing clears town if you can get underground other than that remember to put a bicycle helmet on your children to keep them safe you want to be in a hall closet bathroom lowest floor near the center away from windows and understand this is moving northeast which means if it stays down it could be an issue for the Birmingham Metro in about an hour worried about that with time but these are long track violent tornadoes that are not going to go away but you can see how the whole thing is wrapped up and again that is coming right up toward the Birmingham metro area

Channel: John Brown

Views: 121,179

Keywords: abc3340, tornado, outbreak, james, spann, jason, simpson, cullman, hackleburg, tuscaloosa, cordova, F5, live, news, april, 27, 2011

Id: Z1HQF5fI3Q0

Length: 15min 0sec (900 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2011