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Two separate storm events on
April 15, and April 27, 2011
impacted 39 Counties in Alabama. The
tornadoes of April 15th caused
damage in 13 Counties with most of
the damage inflicted in rural areas.
These tornadoes exhibited typical
patterns where damage along the
track was intermittent with
touchdowns and liftoffs occurring
sporadically. The tornadic events of
April 27th were spawned from
supercell activity and demonstrated
behavior typical of storm events
occurring in the Great Plains region
with extremely powerful tornadoes
tracking for long distances after
touching down. These outbreaks
caused damage in 33 Counties some of
which were impacted by the April
15th tornadoes. Typical of tornado
damage, the impact to the forests of
Alabama was incurred along the
tracks of the tornadoes with almost
total devastation of the standing
timber. Depending upon the strength
of the tornado the damage path would
span anywhere from ⅛th of a mile to
a full mile in width. |
Assessment of the damage was conducted by
the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC)
commencing with
aerial estimation of the damage areas for
both events. Damage was either aerially
sketch-mapped by
AFC personnel or damage paths were
identified for length and width with global
positioning system
(GPS) equipment for inclusion into the AFC
geographic information system (GIS).
Additional verification
of damage paths was achieved through
digitizing remotely sensed orthorectified
imagery that was
obtained through the collaborative efforts
of the Statewide GIS task group created for
storm response.
The AFC estimates that 26,733 acres of
forest land were impacted by the April 15th
tornadoes with an
assessed value of $37,728,175.00. The
impacts from the April 27th tornadoes are
estimated to be
177,857 acres with an assessed value of
$228,360,576.00. The total for impacts to
the forest land in
Alabama from the April storms are 204,590
acres with an assessed value of
$266,088,751.00.
County STR Damage Maps