(Transcript) Rough Skies Ahead: The 2011 Smithville EF5 Tornado

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[00:00:00] For days leading up to the 2011 Super Outbreak, meteorologists have been warning the public about the threat of a massive severe weather outbreak set to occur April 25th through the 27th. Churches, schools, businesses have all closed their doors in preparation for the storm system. However, no one ever really thought that the storm system would play out the way that it did. The system overperformed and by midday on the 27th, large portions of Alabama were left without power and residents in Mississippi were hearing sirens for not one, but two monster tornadoes. This massive EF5 wedge was arguably one of the strongest tornadoes on record. One survivor would even compare the roar emanating from the tornado to a sonic boom. Not only was it an extremely violent tornado, but this tornado was the second EF5 to hit Mississippi in less than two hours, and it was only 3pm.

[00:00:42] My name is Kay. I’m a Certified Interpretive Guide by trade, who specializes in teaching the public about the natural world. Today, we are taking a deep dive into the Smithville, Mississippi, EF5 tornado. Welcome to Rough Skies Ahead, now partnered with Chaser Chat. This podcast features graphic depictions of survivor experiences within a tornado. Listener discretion is advised.

[00:01:09] We have already done an in depth explanation on the meteorology behind the 2011 Super Outbreak in a previous episode. This episode will be linked in the podcast description for those who are interested in hearing a more detailed look. But, like always, I do want to give a TLDR for those who need it before we get started. The days leading up to the 2011 Super Outbreak had meteorologists not only concerned, but scared. All of the ingredients came together in a once in a lifetime event that created a volatile atmosphere, the likes of which are literally seen once in a generation. The last time ingredients came together this well was in 1974, less than 50 years prior. A southern warm front is progressing northward, where it is colliding with a cold front that has moved south from Kentucky into the American Deep South. A negatively tilted trough is also moving into the region, and all of these ingredients have come together to create a dangerous, unstable atmosphere that is ripe for tornado production. In fact, this system is documented as, ” one of the most conducive to violent tornadoes ever documented.”

[00:02:07] Before chatting about the tornado, let’s talk about its namesake, Smithville. Smithville, Mississippi, is a quaint little town nestled in Monroe County, Mississippi, which borders western Alabama. Smithville itself sits in the extreme northern tip of Monroe County and the town itself dates back to 1820 when a trading post was established on what is now the intersection of Highway 25 and Smithville Hatley Road. On December 3rd, 1836, the Chickasaw chief, and I apologize if I mispronounce this name, Che-Lah-Cha-Chubby, sold the land to James D. Couch. Four years later, William Smith purchased the land and built a log cabin and store, and it’s here where these were built that Smithville was originally settled. The town of Smithville was officially chartered in 1846 with a post office site opening up on June 8th the same year. Smithville is considered to be one of the older towns in Monroe county, and it’s home to Gaines Trace Road, which at the time was a major route for settlers moving from the Northeast. Smithville is by no means a large town, though. Census data in 2000 said that there were 882 people, 325 households, and 243 families residing in the town. By 2010, 942 residents were documented. A handful of notable people have actually hailed from Smithville, such as country music singer Mississippi Slim, former Mississippi State Senator Anthony J. Cox, and Country Music Hall of Famer Rod Brasfield.

[00:03:27] Now, before we get real in depth on everything, I do want to quickly talk about the state of the outbreak as a whole and Smithville’s place in the wider context of the outbreak. By the time the Smithville tornado officially touched down, it was late afternoon. The morning QLCS had knocked out power to large portions of Alabama, rendering residents completely unable to receive warning for their own tornadoes. In Mississippi, approximately 30 tornadoes have been confirmed by the National Weather Service since the early morning hours, including multiple EF3 tornadoes, the Philadelphia EF5 tornado less than two hours prior to Smithville’s genesis, and overall, approximately 115 tornadoes have touched down across the outbreak region as a whole, many of which were strong to violent and most of those tornadoes had occurred before the main event was supposed to even take place. While Smithville was on the ground, the Cordova, Alabama EF4 was in progress, the Hackelburg-Phil Campbell EF5, which is argued to be the strongest tornado of the outbreak, has touched down and is wreaking havoc across northern Alabama.

[00:04:22] So why do I bring all of this up? It isn’t to diminish Smithville in the slightest. I bring it up because it’s worth the discussion, especially given Smithville’s reputation among storm enthusiasts as the, quote, “forgotten tornado”. With the wider context in mind, it really isn’t that shocking that this tornado took a backseat, especially when you learn the Hackelberg tornado was moving through heavily populated areas of Alabama at the exact same time. There was, unfortunately, just too much going on for much focus to be drawn on the significant tornadoes, which is why tornadoes like Smithville or Rainesville go under discussed. And, honestly, I could do an entire episode just discussing tornadoes and why they are forgotten or underrated on its own.

[00:04:58] But, moving on to the main event, the supercell that would go on to produce the Smithville tornado was one that had a history of long tracked, violent tornadoes already, having already produced the New Wren EF3 tornado, which devastated the communities of New Wren Anchor Okalona and Chapel Grove, this supercell would gain strength rather than die off. And legitimately only moments after the New Wren EF3 lifted, the Smithfield tornado dropped.

[00:05:20] The infamous tornado touches down along the Tennessee Tumbigbee Waterway, nearby to the Glover Wilkins Lock at approximately 3:42pm. The tornado touched down already strong, beginning to snap trees along its path as it traced and whirred and danced closer and closer to Smithville. Quickly accelerating in both speed and intensity, the Smithville Tornado quickly achieved EF5 status. Reaching Davies Road North, the tornado began scouring the ground so thoroughly that when viewed a year later, the trench was still able to be seen on aerial surveys. Moving northeast, doing remarkable damage along the way, the tornado tracks along Mississippi Highway 25 straight into Smithville. The first of multiple fatalities occurs when a bed and breakfast was completely obliterated, the buildings raked to their foundations, and the debris being strung along as the tornado continued its horrific path.

[00:06:09] As the tornado progressed along Mississippi 25, a semi truck would be picked up and tossed 300 yards, and in an indescribable show of brutality and strength, an RV would be lifted 250 yards, tossed, and embedded into the ground below. Continuing its path, a semi truck was completely torn apart, with part of its bumper found nearly a mile and a half away, hanging from the Smithville water tower. Just before entering Smithville proper, a brick home was completely demolished, with part of its foundation completely picked up and dislodged. Further indicating the impressive power of this tornado was the extensive ground scouring that was noted on the property alongside a large swath of debarked trees. Now entering Smithville at its most violent intensity, the tornado begins tearing the small town to shreds. As it moved through the town, dozens of well built, anchored homes were completely obliterated. Large hardwood trees found themselves debarked and shredded, twisted and warped nearly beyond recognition. Of note, a second, large, well built brick home was leveled and also had its foundation dislodged and twisted from its original placement. Upon surveys of this home, this house’s appliances and furniture were found to be completely missing or torn apart, also beyond recognition.

[00:07:16] I really can’t fathom the power and intensity of this tornado as it hit this home. This tornado was so strong at this point that it ripped tile floors from where they were set into the foundation of the home, even going on to create something of a sandblasting effect due to the intense winds it was creating. Further on in the path, an SUV found itself hoisted from the ground, lifted and thrown into the Smithville water tower with such intensity, the tower was dented. This dent can actually still be seen to this day. The SUV would be then thrown over a quarter of a mile away and found at its final resting place, crumpled up into an unrecognizable ball. The tornado would go on to show more grisly acts of power by completely demolishing the town hall, post office, police station, water system, and four churches while following along Mississippi 25, which is now Main Street Smithville.

[00:08:03] Tar and ship pavement was dug up and torn from the ground and then ground into mangled bunches along the tornado’s path of destruction. Alongside this more intense ground scouring was observed. A 1965 Chevy truck was picked up from its residence and thrown, never to be found again. Other cars in the area found themselves torn apart down to their chassis, thrown, and wrapped around trees, which upon further damage surveys were likely thanks to extremely strong sub vortices circling the tornado. Now exiting to the northeast side of the city, the E. Pickles Funeral Home was torn down to its foundation. The debris from the funeral home was scattered along the tornado’s path. Further along, more trees were extensively debarked, and as the tornado exited the town, the SUV that hit the water tower was found in that mangled ball. It’s also here that a potential ” second core” was noted due to the extreme and extensive damage done to the granite tombstones in the local cemetery. These tombstones were thrown in the opposite direction of where the debris should have gone, hence the potential for a second core.

[00:09:01] The tornado now exits Smithville and enters rural sections of Monroe County, continuing its northeast path towards western Alabama. In these rural areas, the tornado begins to weaken in intensity, now uprooting trees rather than debarking them, damaging power lines and lifting a roof off of a rural home. The tornado actually crosses into western Alabama at EF1 intensity, now traveling through Marion County. Here, the tornado would cause damage to mobile homes and buildings near Bexar and begin to intensify as it progresses through Marion County. Striking the rural community of Shottsville at high end EF3, the tornado would destroy both mobile and permanent homes, damaging more power lines, debarking and uprooting trees in the area, and it continued into Hamilton at EF3 intensity.

[00:09:43] From here, the story really repeats itself. More mobile and permanent homes were destroyed, but it’s also here that a permanent residence at the bottom of a ravine was swept off of its foundation. However, poor road access prevented it from further survey, which kept the rating as a high-end, EF3, but it’s likely that it was stronger at this point. Approaching Franklin County, the twister began to weaken to EF2 intensity. EF2 damage was reported along this stretch as the tornado continued to weaken, and the tornado would finally dissipate at 4:23pm near Hodges, Alabama. The nearly hour long reign of terror is over. You may have heard that a steel drainage pipe had been ripped from the ground by this tornado, and this was intentionally not mentioned as it was later proven to be false. The pipe in question was dug up by road crews due to unsafe driving conditions prior to the tornado.

[00:10:31] Overall, the Smithville tornado reached a maximum width of 3/4 of a mile, had a path of destruction, 31.5 miles long, and an estimated wind speed of about 205 miles per hour. This is responsible for the loss of 16 lives and 40 injuries.

[00:10:46] Hey everyone, Kay here from Rough Skies Ahead and Chaser Chat. I wanted to give a quick shout out to the new Chaser Chat YouTube page, where you can find all your favorite episodes uploaded in video form with a transcription to follow along with. The link is in the podcast description.

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[00:11:33] There is an article titled 10 Seconds of Terror in which residents of Smithville recall the stories of their 10 second experience with the tornado. I will be sharing some of these stories to highlight the impact, so listener discretion is advised.

[00:11:47] Jim Calley and Mikey Phillips have known each other for years. In all this time, they never would have imagined that they would find themselves fleeing from a tornado. Yet still, a large black swirling mass appeared in the rearview mirror of Mikey’s truck, and recognizing what was a tornado thanks to the ongoing sirens nearby, Mikey put the gas pedal to the floor. Each in their own cars, Cowley never saw the tornado coming behind him. The storm had caught up to him, and the windows burst as the tornado approached. Making a sharp left turn, he drove down a driveway trying to seek shelter, but instead of finding shelter, he felt the back of his pickup truck be lifted off the ground by the tornado. The tornado lifted the truck and slammed the truck into the ground, the Mississippi mud caking into him, his car, and his surroundings. He thought to himself, “I’m gone”, believing he was going to die. After the tornado passed, he was rescued from his truck, his significant head injuries patched and sutured at a hospital in Tupelo.

[00:12:42] Carolyn Boyd could see the tornado coming from her window, though moments prior, she had just been on the phone with her long time friend and Bible study partner discussing the existence of angels. “I think something bad is going to happen”, her friend had said a few minutes before hanging up the phone. As Carolyn strode through her living room she could see a black swirling mass approaching, then suddenly bits of her car and garage flying towards her. Quickly grabbing a pillow to shield herself, she managed to save herself from the broken glass of her now shattered window. This is when she felt two hands firmly grab her and guide her to the end of the hall. She knew she was alone, but she felt those hands gently guide her. She watched as her roof lifted off of her house and the bricks fell from under her window. Those firm hands continued to guide her towards the ground by her rosebushes outside. Everywhere she went, her Bible followed, her bookmark still marking the Book of Revelation.

[00:13:34] At Mel’s diner, Paul Estes and his family had just sat down for breakfast before church that evening when the owner, Bobby Edwards, told staff to turn the gas off and the restaurant’s occupants to get in the cooler. The air was eerily calm, no birds chirping, not even thunder from the storm above. What could be heard was the faint sound of a jet engine roaring closer and closer to the diner. With a dozen patrons of the diner crammed inside the small cooler, Paul Estes gripped the handle of the cooler closed, hanging on for dear life. His daughter clung desperately to his leg. The immense pressure caused the cooler latch to slip. and become loose and ajar. All the while, next to the diner, the Miller family found themselves in hell. Joyce Miller had been able to seek shelter within the house’s cooler, but Danny Miller was left trapped outside, now at the mercy of the 205 mile per hour winds that were passing over their house. Danny was lifted off the ground and slammed back down where he could taste the fiberglass as it was ripped apart around him. He watched through a hole he’d found himself in as the intense winds tore the house, the diner, and everything around them to shreds. The sound was nothing short of horrific as the demon like screaming of the metal sounded all around him. These stories are from the article I previously mentioned, and I will have it linked below for further reading if you decide you want to hear the other stories.

[00:14:53] I can’t share all of them for time’s sake, and I don’t want to take away from an already excellently written article, so definitely go check that out. But our final story is the story of 16 year old Johnny Parker, a resident of Smithville. Johnny attends the local high school and is well known among his peers as a weather enthusiast, and is widely considered the go to source for weather information in the community. So much in fact, that most of the community subscribes to his social media, which he began in September the previous year for weather information. Johnny has been watching the supercell that would produce the Smithville tornado for a while now, his concern growing with each passing radar loop. After hearing reports of a tornado two miles west of Smithville, he sends a mass text report to all of his subscribers that says, “Get to a safe place now”. Smithfield’s residents didn’t have access to weather radios or alternative sources for warnings at this time, so Johnny’s text was their only warning for the approaching storm. Thanks to Johnny’s advanced warnings, he, his family, and many others in the community took shelter and survived the tornado. Thirteen years later, It’s now April 2024 and Johnny was honored with a street named after him for helping the community and warning members to seek shelter before it was too late. His text message based warning system has continued to be crucial for the Smithville community in the 13 years following the tornado.

[00:16:05] In the wake of the Smithville Mississippi EF5, Mississippi Governor Haley Barber came to Smithville to survey the damage. Due to the overall Super Outbreak and the damage of the outbreak as a whole, both Alabama and Mississippi declared state of emergencies, and federal aid was approved for the recovery efforts. FEMA was deployed to help the town recover, and in the month of August 2011, the Smithville Long Term Recovery Plan was published, which outlined recovery efforts for the town, specifically five recovery areas: education, community services, housing, infrastructure, and economic development. In the forward of the recovery plan, Mayor Kennedy writes, ” the people of Smithville and Monroe County have risen to the opportunity given to us on April 27th. We have a recovery plan in place and the enthusiasm of an entire county, some may say nation, behind us. I express my humble gratitude to each member of the community that has contributed to this process. I look forward to seeing our plan in action. It is with great pleasure that I pledge my full support to this effort and look forward to a full recovery of the town of Smithville.”

[00:17:04] There were three opinions residents of Smithville had regarding the approach to the long term recovery of the town. Some wanted the town to go back exactly the way it was before the tornado hit. Others wanted improvements to amenities and infrastructure, but voiced concerns about destroying the, quote, hometown feel of Smithville. The third group wanted to see improvements made to Smithville overall, and felt the tornado gave the opportunity to be improved on. For the sake of brevity, I want to outline just a handful of key items from this document.

[00:17:29] The plan began with outlining several ideas to rebuild the town’s infrastructure. The tornado had destroyed the town’s water treatment center, causing issues with drinking water, and the sewer system was completely backed up with debris. Power lines were destroyed or completely damaged, and there were natural gas leaks that still needed to be managed. Not to mention the mobile phone service had completely been interrupted thanks to the destroyed cell phone towers. The vision was to “create a positive environment for recovery and development”, and outlined three major ways to pursue this vision. The first was to understand and support community development, including residential and business development. Second was to identify what infrastructure and land use existed already, and where new land could be available. And finally, identify a planning and working group, and process for developing and adopting a comprehensive plan and a zoning ordinance.

[00:18:15] Economic recovery focused on several main aspects of Smithville’s economy, including tourism and information technology, internet based businesses, things along those lines. Tourism projects included new bike trails, rebuilding the marina, and hosting more festivals. IT and internet businesses were jumpstarted thanks to a previous grant and focused on securing fiber network internet for businesses to have easy access to, and landlines to be restored and or built throughout the town. This was viewed as a major selling point for attracting new residents and it was the hope of the committee members that this would in turn fuel smithfield’s economy locally.

[00:18:47] Community recovery focused on three main goals: developing a range of services, facilities, and activities to improve the community’s quality of life, exploring options to build a healthier community, and establishing and promoting a community identity. Recovery in this area began with a community needs assessment to see where these needs could be met. It was eventually put forth that rebuilding of a community center, building a lending library, creating a community resource center, and recreating new walking trails, ball fields, and parks would aid in the focus. Alongside this was a rebranding done for Smithville’s identity as a town, with the town mission being “a community with hometown charm and big opportunities”. Focusing on housing meant focusing on multiple aspects of rebuilding local neighborhoods Including landscaping and streetscaping, rebuilding homes affected by the tornado, building a senior living home, and building a special needs home. The goals were to provide good quality housing for homeowners and renters, provide appropriate housing for seniors and for those with special needs, and provide a neighborhood design that incorporates best practices.

[00:19:47] Last on the docket, though I haven’t really been talking about this in any particular order, was tackling rebuilding the education sector of Smithville, as the local schools were affected by the tornado as well. The short term goal was to make sure that the emotional needs of the students were taken care of. This was done by offering school based trauma counseling, which provided free and critical mental health care to both kids and adults. Long term goals included providing options to increase accessible technology and enrichment for all students, and develop a strategy to maintain high performing status. To achieve these goals, multiple steps were taken, including creating a peer to peer mentoring program, which focused on pairing new teachers with experienced teachers to learn their trade. An after school enrichment program called Special Project for the Enrichment of the Arts was developed, which sought to introduce students to arts like dance, music, languages, crafts, or intellectual hobbies like chess. A school based community involvement center was created to provide easy access to community volunteer recruiting and organizing. And finally, a distance learning initiative was put forth, allowing students the choice to learn from home. I haven’t been able to track down how many of these programs and buildings were pursued, but what I can say is that Smithville saw the challenge that was presented to them and rose to that challenge, rebuilding their community with modern storm safety in mind. The Smithville High School was actually rebuilt with a dome shaped shelter that is large enough to shelter the whole community if needed. Smithville more Memorial Park was created to honor the lives lost in the tornado.

[00:21:09] Smithville is a testament to withstanding the worst that nature can throw at you, taking the hand that was dealt, and not letting it defeat you. Though there are still reminders of the tornado’s wrath seen within the community, like the dent in the water tower, or the mangled trees in the surrounding forests, or in the minds of survivors, the people of Smithville have rebuilt stronger than ever and are preparing for future severe weather events.

[00:21:30] I feel like there are some key things that stood out to me about this tornado in particular. It always astounds me when I hear about literal concrete being ripped up from the ground and that occurred with this tornado. Tiles were ripped from the floor, which takes an insane amount of force to achieve, and the eeriest part, to me, was the amount of missing appliances, furniture, or vehicles that occurred here. That, to me, is just unfathomable, but seeing a community survive that kind of destruction where other communities may not is something that can’t go unrecognized. Especially for a town as small as Smithville. I’m glad to see that Smithville has rebuilt and maintained that small town charm it was well known for. And you know what? I think that’s my takeaway for this tornado, is that even the smallest communities can rebuild after disasters like these with the right support.

[00:22:13] Thank you all very much for listening. My name is Kay. You have been listening to Rough Skies Ahead on Chaser Chat, and this has been our discussion on the Smithville, Mississippi EF5 tornado. Next time I honestly have no idea what tornado I’m going to be covering because there are a lot of options and I am also seeing my interest in kind of ebb over towards some non Super Outbreak tornadoes. So I am very seriously considering doing a couple that are not related to the 2011 Super Outbreak just because I find them interesting. So you know, keep an eye out for that. Also, it’s already been announced, but Rough Skies Ahead is now featured on Chaser Chat. But it’s not just that, this is me finally announcing this: I am exclusively going to be having Rough Skies Ahead featured on Chaser Chat. For all of you who did not follow Rough Skies Ahead on my normal podcasting platforms, you can now exclusively find everything on Chaser Chat.

[00:23:00] I’m gonna be moving all of my previous episodes over to Chaser Chat over the coming months, so you’ll have those to listen to. And then from here on out, we’re exclusively uploading to Chaser Chat, so keep an eye out for that. I appreciate Gabe being willing to bring me on to the project, and I’m excited to give you guys some really fun content. Rough Skies Ahead is available on all major podcasting platforms, thanks to it being on Chaser Chat, so make sure you subscribe, follow, and let me know what you thought about the episode. In the meantime, keep your eyes to the skies, and take care of yourselves.

[00:23:29] Gabriel: Thanks for listening. If you’re not already subscribed, hit that button right now and then make sure notifications are turned on so you never miss an episode again. There are lots of ways to show your support for Chaser Chat. You can pick up something from the merch store, leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app, leave a comment and a like on YouTube, or just share the link to this episode on your preferred social media platform.

[00:23:53] Thanks again for listening, and I’ll catch you on the next episode.