An F2 tornado tracked from southwest to northeast across the center of Rainsville. The tornado began at 3:53 pm CDT three miles southwest of Rainsville just south of the intersection of County Roads 92 and 72.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS BMX wrote it up.
An F2 tornado tracked from southwest to northeast across the center of Rainsville. The tornado began at 3:53 pm CDT three miles southwest of Rainsville just south of the intersection of County Roads 92 and 72. The tornado moved northeastward directly through the downtown section of Rainsville at the intersection of State Highways 75 and 35. Damage was severe to a number of buildings including the Rainsville police and fire department station and a number of commercial buildings. The tornado continued northeast crossing Dilbeck and Marshall Roads before ending about two miles northeast of Rainsville on the east side of Marshall Road.The tornado severely damaged a large poultry raising facility and debris from the chicken houses was blown over half a mile further to the northeast. The tornado had dissipated by 4:01 pm CDT.At the Rainsville police station, eleven of 12 police cars were either damaged or destroyed and several of the city's fire trucks were damaged.Five of the 10 people injured were hospitalized according to emergency management officials. Damage assessment indicated that 63 homes and/or apartments were damaged or destroyed along with 34 businesses.The tornado path was five miles in length and about 220 yards wide at the widest.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Alabama in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Alabama, 1997Warnings in Alabama, April 1997
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5592710.