City Tuscaloosa to Hold 3 Vigils on Anniversary of 4/27 Tornado

As the 10-year anniversary of the deadly tornado outbreak of April 27, 2011 approaches, the city of Tuscaloosa has announced it will host three simultaneous vigils to commemorate the lives lost and heroes borne out of that storm.

Next Tuesday, on April 27, three memorial sites will be unveiled across Tuscaloosa in Alberta, Forest Lake, and Rosedale. Each site will honor a different group: the first responders, the volunteers and the victims, respectively.

Get our free mobile app

Three ceremonies will take place simultaneously at each site between 5:00 and 5:05. At 5:13, the City will ask every church and institution in the city to ring bells to signify the moment the tornado hit Tuscaloosa. Each ceremony will end with a benediction.

"There are victories along the way, and we celebrated those victories. But this is a day to remember especially for those that were hurt the most," Maddox told The Thread in a roundtable interview in late March. "I wanted to keep that in focus."

The time and location of each vigil is listed below:

Who: Mayor Walt Maddox & City Council Members
What: Tornado Anniversary Vigil
When: Tuesday, April 27, 5 p.m.
Where:
Mary Harmon Park
2901 Greensboro Ave. Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Alberta Park
2614 University Blvd. E. Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
Forest Lake (City Walk Bike Trail)
107 18th St. Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

Governor Ivey and Maddox will also release a video in remembrance later that day.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.