Stats
Path length: 20.9 miles
Width: 100 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 20
Rating: F3
County: Cherokee
Tornado Path
SPC coordinates: Start: 34.05 / -85.82 End: 34.20 / -85.50
Corrected Coordinates based on Dr. Ted Fujita’s path in his Jumbo Tornado Outbreak of 3 April 1974 report:
Start: 34.077376 / -85.757273 End: 34.191809 / -85.495880
Introduction
During the early evening of April 3, 1974, as tornadoes ravaged the Midwestern region of the U.S., new dangerous storms were firing in the southeast. Among them, a supercell in northeast Alabama produced one of the first significant tornadoes in the state that evening in the Coosa Valley region along Weiss Lake. The F3 twister severely impacted small lakeside communities along its path of just under 21 miles. Ultimately, no one was killed. A combined effort between locals and outsiders who all called this region home, rallied to restore their beautiful landscape, and the lives impacted.
Summary
Cherokee County, AL residents were already picking up the pieces from a vicious storm that roared through on the evening of April 1. Although no one was killed, considerable damage was apparent throughout the county. Isolated downed trees and powerlines scattered the rural landscape, leaving some areas without power. Between Centre and Cedar Bluff, strong winds destroyed a trailer that was being used as a church along AL Highway 9/68. The unit was being rented by the Lakeside Community of God Church, where they had been meeting for the previous five months. According to the April 3, 1974 Cherokee County Herald, the unit “just exploded,” with its contents strewn about the surrounding field.
While there was not a tornado reported in the area on April 1, the storm itself offered an eerie foreshadowing for what was to follow just two days later.
On the early evening of April 3 around 5:30 PM CDT, a tornado began in rural Cherokee County, 6 miles southwest of Centre, and moved east-northeast. For approximately eight miles, damage was relatively obscure, as the twister churned through the countryside of the Coosa River Valley.
One of the first people to see the funnel was Ken Phillips. He was travelling from Piedmont into Cherokee County. When he spotted the tornado, Phillips tried to figure out whether or not he was in danger. “It was red, the fieriest red,” Phillips told the April 10, 1974 Cherokee County Herald. He was able to maintain his distance from the storm as it raced passed him towards a cluster of retreat populations at Weiss Lake along the Coosa River.
The twister gained strength as it shot through rolling hills towards the community of Moshat. Based on interpreted photographic documentation, the most severe damage took place between the lakeside hubs of Moshat, Spring Creek, and Calcedonia.
In the Moshat area, Rubin and Florence Harkness were inside their mobile home with their daughter, Fleta, and grandchildren, Donna Jean and Thomas. The tornado struck seemingly out of nowhere, and the unit was obliterated. Miraculously, all of them survived, with only Rubin hospitalized where he later recovered from his injuries.
The twister continued its tear a mile past the Harkness family, where two more trailers were impacted in the Watson subdivision. In one unit, David and Linda Gail Andrews were with their 16-month-old son, Gregory. Linda and Gregory were injured and taken to the hospital. Both went on to recover. The other mobile home was lived in by an individual known as Stubbs, and it is unclear whether or not this person was injured.
Nearby, Virgil and Nancy Ayers were at their home with their three sons when they noticed the weather deteriorating rapidly. They quickly sought shelter in their bathroom and hallway as the fierce winds approached. The Ayers’ neighbor, James Baldwin, saw the low hanging funnel heading their way, and ushered his wife Kathryn to safety. “The tornado just zoomed by, then it was gone,” James told the Cherokee County Herald on April 10. “We got up and pulled the curtains – we saw empty space – six trailers and several cabins were gone,” he continued.
The Ayers and Baldwin families emerged from their damaged homes unscathed. But their neighborhood was littered with large pieces of debris from residences and woodlands. Other residents on the street completely lost their homes, but were fortunately away at the time of the tornado.
Elsewhere in the Moshat area, Troy Jordan spotted the tornado approaching his mobile home. With little time to think, He abandoned his unit and sprinted into the woods where he survived the furious winds. Behind Troy, the trailer was destroyed. His 75-year-old mother, Jessie Gertrude Jordan, was hurt and hospitalized, but recovered. It is unclear whether or not the two lived together and where Jessie was when she was injured.
As the tornado exited Moshat, Alvin Jolly, who lived near Pruett’s Fish Camp just west of Spring Creek, saw the funnel emerge from the thick skies. Jolly told the April 4, 1974 Anniston Star that he was working on a tractor outside at the time, and was about to head inside for supper. “They had been giving warnings on the radio and I was watching the clouds. I told my son Greg the clouds didn’t look good and to keep an eye on them. About that time, it started hailing and that thing started to form,” Jolly recalled. “It just came down out of the clouds over yonder,” he continued as he pointed across the water. “It was shaped just like a funnel and I knew it was time to do something.” Jolly rounded up his family into their car to escape the vortex and warn other family members. “My two oldest sons live in trailers and I wanted to tell them to get out,” he said. Ultimately, all of the Jolly residences were spared, with Alvin’s place only being missed by a quarter of a mile.
In the Spring Creek area, John and Mary Ruth Norton were greeted by the tornado heading straight for them and their mobile home. They promptly sought shelter in a nearby ditch. Close by, one of their neighbor’s homes was slammed with a tree, but the Nortons were spared.
The tornado crossed an appendage of Weiss Lake approximately where Cowan Creek and Spring Creek (not to be confused with the community bearing the same name) meet the Coosa River. In this area, at least five trailers and three small homes were blown into the water. Additionally, several boats were flung into the air; some of which were initially not found.
One of the trailers was a retirement home belonging to Roy Bennett and his wife. They weren’t there at the time the tornado moved through. Once word of a twister striking Weiss Lake reached the nearby city of Anniston, AL, where the Bennetts lived, Sandra Edwards and Jan Craighead, their daughters, went to check on the residence only to find it as a pile of debris. “He worked so hard [for] eight years to get this and now there’s nothing,” Sandra told the April 4, 1974 Anniston Star as she poked through the rubble for salvageable items. “We can’t even find the trailer,” Jan added. “It sat right there, and now we don’t know where it is unless it’s out there in the lake.”
In the same area, the two-story summer home of Kohn Sanders’ family was leveled. The Rome, GA residents were absent from their lakeside place when the storm hit, but felt grateful once they arrived to the rubble. “I’m just glad we weren’t in it,” Kohn said in the April 4, 1974 Anniston Star. “We just left here Tuesday.” In addition to the destroyed home, their 17-foot boat was nowhere to be found. Mrs. Sanders attempted to make light of the situation. “I just finished my spring cleaning the other day. [The house] left here clean,” she said.
Further northeast from Spring Creek, Centre police officer J.T. Hopper spotted the approaching funnel from his house in the Calcedonia community. He realized the immediate danger and called for his wife, Ruby, to get in the car. As they fled the storm, Officer Hopper instinctively picked up his mother, Lillie Hopper, and sister, Lydia Knighten, from their home. Once the group realized they were out of the tornado’s path, the packed vehicle returned to Lillie and Lydia’s home, which had been destroyed by the twister.
A short distance from the Hoppers, Conrad and Linda Reed, too, saw the approaching vortex. However, they had less time to react. As precious seconds ticked by, Linda remembered hearing that a bathroom was one of the safest places to seek shelter, and that’s where they went. The twister squarely hit their home while the couple huddled for dear life. Once the danger was over, their house was mostly leveled, with only the bathroom walls left standing. The Reeds were able to crawl out safely.
The next few miles beyond Calcedonia saw the twister gradually weaken over rural country back into obscurity. Approximately one mile northeast of Alexis across the Coosa River, the funnel lifted.
Recovery
In the aftermath, Cherokee County was declared a disaster area, and offered governmental assistance for recovery. No lives were lost, but there were at least nine injuries (as many as 20), with at least eight requiring hospitalization. Around 16 mobile homes and ten houses were destroyed, and more than three residences were heavily damaged. Two chicken houses and a barn were also demolished. Additionally, one home burned to the ground when it was struck by lightning. At least 30 storm victims in Cherokee County took advantage of shelters stationed across the region while they regathered their lives.
Many residents who lived in mobile homes were able to survive the tornado by using storm shelters and nearby ditches. The awareness and quick-thinking of many locals in the twister’s path likely saved their lives. In the April 4, 1974 Anniston Star paper, Cherokee County Sheriff Mack Garrett additionally noted that Weiss Lake was an area with many summer vacation homes, so numerous part-time residents were not in town at the time of the twister. “There is no doubt we might have had a fatality if some of them had been occupied,” Sheriff Garrett said.
The Cherokee County Herald offered an update on the area’s recovery in their April 10 paper:
“Thursday morning, after a night of terror, it was amazing how those that lost homes, were up and about – picking up the debris.
There is ever renewing hope – thankfully no lives were lost. Praise goes to those who courageously braved the terror to help others – the hospital which gave help and service to the injured.
The Cherokee County Chapter of American Red Cross and the Rescuettes and Pension and Security Department were on the job early Thursday morning and still are working.”
The overwhelming support of donations to Cherokee County ensured that there was enough clothing for victims within a week. The remaining surplus was ultimately sent to Birmingham, where others impacted from other hard-hit communities in Alabama benefitted.
The supercell responsible for the Weiss Lake twister later went on to produce a more-violent and deadlier F4 tornado in the Resaca, GA area 45 minutes later.
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) and National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Databases, the April 1974 Storm Data Publication, Thomas Grazulis’ Significant Tornadoes: 1974-2022 publication, Dr. Ted Fujita’s Jumbo Tornado Outbreak of 3 April 1974 report, local newspapers, and found the following differences:
Injury Count:
- NCDC and SPC list 9 injuries.
- Remaining sources list at least 20 injuries.
Counties:
- NCDC and SPC coordinates begin the twister in Etowah County to the southwest of Cherokee County.
- All remaining sources list Cherokee County as the lone county in which the tornado occurred.
Path Length:
- Storm Data lists a 6-mile path length.
- Fujita and Grazulis list a 14-mile path length.
- NCDC and SPC list a 20.9-mile path length.
Path Width:
- Fujita lists a mean path width of 88 yards.
- Storm Data lists an 800-yard maximum path width.
- NCDC, SPC, and Grazulis list a 100-yard maximum path width.
Start Time:
- NCDC and SPC list a start time of 7:00 PM CDT.
- A map of the Weiss Lake tornado in Fujita’s report indicates the start time was between 5:15 and 5:30 PM CDT.
- Storm Data lists a start time of 5:30 PM CDT.
- Grazulis lists a start time of 5:35 PM CDT.
Start/End Coordinates:
- The NCDC and SPC begin the path at 34.05/-85.82 and end it at 34.20/-85.50.
- An estimation based on Fujita’s map begins the path at ~34.077376/-85.757273 and ends it at ~34.191809/-85.495880.
Rating:
- Fujita’s cited report briefly noted the Centre tornado as an F4, but finalized the rating as F3.
- All final official publications of this event rate this twister as an F3.
Sources
The sources compiled in our research for this summary can be found here.
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