F4 tornado | |
---|---|
Max. rating1 | F4 tornado |
Fatalities | 25 fatalities, 200 injuries |
Areas affected | Jefferson County, Alabama |
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale |
The 1956 McDonald Chapel tornado was a deadly weather event that took place during the afternoon of Sunday April 15, 1956, across the Greater Birmingham area in Jefferson County, Alabama, with damage most severe in McDonald Chapel. The F4 tornado killed 25 people and injured 200 others. While only two known tornadoes touched down across the Southeastern United States (the other occurred in northern Georgia) on that day, the Birmingham tornado produced major devastation across areas west and north of downtown Birmingham.