page_title: 1974 Super Outbreak
section_title: Tanner, Alabama (1st tornado)
hierarchical_section_title: 1974 Super Outbreak / Confirmed tornadoes / Tanner, Alabama (1st tornado)
caption_attribution_description: English: Bathtub from a residence deeply embedded into the ground in Harvest, AL after an F5 tornado on April 3, 1974.
context_page_description: The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It was also the most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded, with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. From April 3 to 4, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario. In the United States, tornadoes struck Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York. The outbreak caused roughly $843 million USD with more than $600 million in damage occurring in the United States. The outbreak extensively damaged approximately 900 sq mi along a total combined path length of 2,600 mi. At one point, as many as 15 separate tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously.
  The 1974 Super Outbreak was the first tornado outbreak in recorded history to produce more than 100 tornadoes in under a 24-hour period, a feat that was not repeated globally until the 1981 United Kingdom tornado outbreak and in the United States until the 2011 Super Outbreak.
context_section_description: As the cluster of thunderstorms was crossing much of the Ohio Valley and northern Indiana, additional strong storms developed much further south just east of the Mississippi River into the Tennessee Valley and Mississippi. It produced the first deadly tornadoes in Alabama during the early evening hours.
  Most of the small town of Tanner, west of Huntsville in Limestone County, was destroyed when two F5 tornadoes struck the community 30 minutes apart. The first tornado formed at 6:30 pm CDT in Lawrence County, Alabama and ended just over 90 minutes later in Madison County, Alabama, killing 28 people. The tornado first touched down near the small community of Mt. Hope, and then tracked into Mt. Moriah, where the tornado rapidly intensified and swept away homes and hurled fleeing vehicles. Further along the track, many homes were swept away near Moulton. A water pump was completely lifted out of a wellhouse along Alabama State Route 157 in this area. In one case, the destruction was so complete that a witness reported that the largest recognizable objects among scattered debris from an obliterated house were some bed-springs. The tornado crossed into Morgan County, causing additional destruction in rural areas near Hillsboro and Trinity. Crossing the Tennessee River into Limestone County as a large waterspout, the tornado flattened a ¾-mile–wide swath of trees on the opposite bank. Ground scouring occurred in this area, as reddish soil was dug up and plastered against trees. The storm then slammed into Tanner, where many homes were swept away, vehicles were tossed, shrubbery was debarked, and Lawson's Trailer Park sustained major damage. The tornado then continued into Madison County and struck the Capshaw and Harvest areas. Numerous homes in Harvest and surrounding rural areas of the county were swept completely away and scattered, and extensive wind-rowing of debris was noted. A bathtub from one residence was found deeply embedded into the ground. Past Harvest, the tornado abruptly dissipated NE of town, having a peak width of 500 yards.
caption: Bathtub deeply embedded into the ground in Harvest, AL.
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