Tuscaloosa was hit hard by a deadly tornado 24 years ago this month

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WBRC) – December 16, 2000. On that day, a tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa, killing 11 people and causing $35 million in damage.

24 years ago. Holli Mack Wilson remembers.

“That day it became very real and it was here in our backyard where we live and there was so much death,” she said.

11 died. 125 injured. Houses demolished. At the time, Wilson was working as a disaster response volunteer for a national disaster response organization. Wilson’s job that day?

“I was sent to Shelton State to open an animal shelter and we had volunteers setting up that space,” Wilson said.

Across from Shelton State on Highway 69 you’ll find a relic of the storm; a rusty flagpole, bent halfway up, with the scars of a powerful F4 tornado just days before Christmas that year.

“I had a hunting trip planned,” recalled retired Tuscaloosa Fire Department Captain Steve Zark.

Zark has canceled his hunting trip. He returned to work immediately and knew early on that he was in for a very long day.

“We did more of a search and rescue operation for the collapsed structures and damage and cleared them to make sure there were no victims inside,” Zark said.

“You don’t really have time to go into shock because you’re in reaction mode. When you’re trained as a volunteer in a crisis, that’s exactly what you do,” Wilson said.

And what Wilson and Zark did that day, they did well. And therein lies the other part of this story; the hope and comfort that they, along with so many others, radiated outside of Tuscaloosa.

“We were in work mode there and then all of a sudden you saw Birmingham Fire and Bessemer Fire, so other agencies came in to help,” Zark said.

Tuscaloosa will forever be associated with the tornado of December 16, 2000, an event that two people remember too well more than two decades later.

“Definitely a real testament to what Mother Nature can do,” Wilson said.

Holli Mack Wilson also remembers what the weather did after the storm. It got cold, cold enough to trigger snow flurries later that night.

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