EF-3 tornado confirmed in Madison County

Taylor Lane, The News Courier, Athens, Ala.
·2 min read

Apr. 3—During the early morning hours of April 1, an EF-3 tornado made its way through Hazel Green in Madison County, Alabama.

Limestone County escaped yet another weekend of severe weather with no notable damage.

"We were lucky again; we're not having reports of any storm damage," EMA Officer Daphne Ellison said. "They were watching it. They said it was broad rotation here, so we were lucky. As far as we know we didn't get any damage out of that storm."

The tornado started at 3:09 a.m. CDT in Hazel Green and ended at 3:25 a.m. CDT in Huntland, Lincoln County, Tennessee.

It was 215 yards wide and traveled 12.1 miles on the ground with peak winds of 160 mph, resulting in one fatality and five injuries.

The tornado began its path west of highway 431 and south of Elkwood Section Rd.

Multiple trees were uprooted, some fell on homes.

Numerous structures were heavily damaged on the eastside of Highway 431 near the Lincoln Road intersection. Multiple stores sustained major damage including collapsed walls, displaced roofs, and debris thrown eastward.

Damage indicated a mid EF-3 at this location.

The tornado continued to track east-northeast through Mulberry Road, uprooting and snapping numerous trees and caused significant roof damage to a single-family dwelling.

The tornado continued to intensify toward Borderline Road and heavily damaged houses. Two houses sustained a complete collapse of walls, completely destroying the structure.

One death was reported at a single-family home along Borderline Road.

The estimated peak windspeed of 160 mph was measured at the intersection of Borderline Road and Myers Road.

A newly constructed, incomplete dwelling sustained a complete collapse of walls.

The tornado then continued eastward just north of the state line, tracking parallel to Borderline Road.

Trees were sporadically uprooted and snapped south of Vanntown, crossing Hester Creek.

The tornado destroyed several buildings housing farm equipment from Mason Road eastward onto Echols Road.

At this point the tornado was weakening and lifted just after it crossed John Hunter Highway/Highway 122 just south of Elora.

At this location tin was thrown into an open field but no other damage was reported beyond the tree line near Collins Road and Mountain Road.