Memories Of 1974

I guess us old-timers tend to bring back memories of 1974 every year in early April. Tomorrow marks the 33rd anniversary of the “Superoutbreak”, the biggest outbreak of tornadoes in our nation’s recorded history. A total of 148 tornadoes swept across 13 states in roughly a 24 hour time frame. From Illinois to North Carolina and from Michigan to Alabama, tornadoes and severe thunderstorms killed 335 people and injured over 6,000. Over 15,000 homes, businesses and farm buildings were destroyed and another 17,000 buildings were damaged. Here in our state, 86 persons were killed, 949 were injured, and damages exceeded $50 million. Sixteen counties in the northern part of the State were hit the hardest. The town of Guin, in Marion County, was just about wiped out by a massive F5 tornado.

I was a senior at Tuscaloosa High School in 1974 (not many of Black Bears left, you know). I had been working as a volunteer storm spotter and communicator for the Tuscaloosa County Civil Defense for a couple of years through high school, and that night I went down to the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), which at the time was actually in the attic of Tuscaloosa City Hall! As the even progressed, the magnitude of the event was becoming clear, and calls were being issued for amateur radio operators to head north into the most affected parts of Alabama. My first assignment was Walker County, where I set up my radio gear at the old People’s Hospital in downtown Jasper, where just blocks away there was heavy devastation. I established communication with W4CUE, the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club station at the American Red Cross in downtown Birmingham, and dozens of messages were passed. As I saw more and more people with serious injuries being brought into the hospital, I knew something bad had really happened. In coming days, I would work amateur radio communication positions in some of the hardest hit areas, like Guin, Cullman, and the Huntsville area. Those days are etched in my mind just like they happened yesterday, and just five short years later I would become the primary weeknight weather anchor on WAPI-TV, Channel 13, in Birmingham. The April 3-4 Superoutbreak really did have a major impact on my life, and certainly on the thousands of people that lived through that horrible night.

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