1956 Birmingham, Alabama tornado

The 1956 Birmingham, Alabama tornado was the deadliest tornado in the year of 1956. The tornado occurred on April 15, 1956 in and around Birmingham, Alabama. One of the few areas most impacted by the tornado, McDonald Chapel, was heavily damaged by the tornado. Several homes in the area were completely destroyed. The 1956 tornado was the second-deadliest tornado on record in the Birmingham area, only falling behind to the 1998 tornado. The tornado was rated F4 and was part of a small but widespread outbreak that occurred at the same time.

History
The tornado started shortly before 3:00 PM CDT in Pleasant Grove, where a tornado "roar" was heard. Damage between Pleasant Grove and McDonald Chapel indicated that trees were felled in a single direction, so the damage was not listed as tornadic at first, but was considered part of the tornado in posthumous analysis. Next, the tornado struck McDonald Chapel with a path 200–300 yards (183–274 m) wide, devastating the community. Almost total destruction occurred in a swath 150–200 yards (137–183 m) wide. As it passed through McDonald Chapel, eyewitnesses described the tornado funnel as appearing filled with fire and smoke. Many homes in McDonald Chapel were leveled, several of which were swept completely away. The most intense damage appeared to be F5 in intensity, but an F4 rating was rewarded because the homes were very poorly constructed. One of the homes reportedly had almost all of its brick foundation swept away, and a few larger homes were also leveled. The tornado continued across parts of, Edgewater, Pratt City, Fultondale, Village Creek, and Tarrant before lifting northwest of Trussville, near the Jefferson-St. Clair County line. The tornado passed just one to two miles north of downtown Birmingham as well as the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. About 400 homes across northern Jefferson County were either damaged or destroyed. Most of the 25 deaths occurred at McDonald Chapel. The tornado event was similar to other deadly tornadoes on April 4, 1977, April 8, 1998, and April 27, 2011. The 1977 and 1998 tornadoes were rated F5, and killed 22 and 32 people, respectively, across most of the same areas that were hit in 1956. The 2011 event was rated high-end EF4, and killed 20 people in the area along with 44 others in Tuscaloosa earlier along its path. With 25 fatalities, the McDonald Chapel F4 was the deadliest tornado of 1956, surpassing the Grand Rapids F5 that killed 18 people on April 3.