Mt. Carmel-Altoona, AL F4 Tornado – November 24, 2001

A large tornado outbreak occurred on November 23 and 24, 2001. A total of 66 tornadoes were confirmed across eight states. 34 tornadoes occurred in the state of Alabama. We look at one of those in this summary.  It was an F4 that moved 10.1 miles through parts of Blount and Etowah Counties. There were no fatalities and 22 injuries.

The tornado began south of US 231 on CR 29 near Mt. Carmel Church. Several trees were snapped in this area. It moved to the northeast causing damage in the F2 range to a few homes and trailers along Tidwell Road.  There were several injuries in this area.  It strengthened as it moved to the northeast and per Storm Data, there were three areas of F4 damage:

• Destroyed frame home near US 231 in Blount County.
• Between Robbins Lake and Airport Road in Blount County: Large trees were completely snapped off at ground level; two tandem-wheel dump trucks were overturned, and moved or rolled 30 yards; several storage containers filled with construction supplies and equipment were rolled up to 50 yards; a large bulldozer was moved five feet; a large pole-barn building was completely obliterated.
• Near Altoona in Etowah County, a well-constructed $250,000 home was completely destroyed.