By Harold Bearden
Saturday, April 30, 2011 | 1:04 PM
https://hbtv.us/news/?story_id=727
Aerial view of Hackleburg looking northwest. Path of tornado was west and parallel to Highway 43
Phil Campbell from northeast to southwest. Highway 13 in upper left.
Looking northwest along the path of the tornado, Cummings subdivision east of Highway 13
Where it started in Haleyville, Winston Furniture Manufacturing, Fontaine is in the upper right. View is from north to south.
Two tornados hit northwest Alabama Wednesday afternoon. The strongest and longest destroyed a large portion of the Hackleburg residential area then destroyed the Wrangler distribution building as it departed to the northeast. Following a valley, the tornado continued on a straight line into Phil Campbell with a half mile wide swath which leveled trees in sparsely inhabited areas and homes, buildings and numerous chicken houses in its path. It missed Northwest Community College by a half mile and destroyed many homes and businesses in and near Phil Campbell. Over 40 deaths were reported in these two areas, an exact number is unknown at this time. From the air, tens of thousands of dead chickens could be seen strewn for miles from their original homes.
The second tornado hit Haleyville around 5 p.m., destroying most of the homes in the Cummings subdivision, located on the east side of Highway 13 south. This tornado continued across 14th Avenue and on across Macedonia Road. Several homes were heavily damaged or destroyed before the tornado ended it's northeast trek just short of Moulton.
There were several reported injuries in the Haleyville area, none life threatening and no deaths.
Album of photos made in Haleyville on the ground and aerial views of Hackleburg and Phil Campbell >> [Photo Album]
Thank you for your patience and understanding as electrical power and the internet were restored to Haleyville at 1:45 a.m. today.