Looking at Tuscaloosa’s recovery 13 years after April 27 tornado [PHOTOS]

It’s been more than a decade since the state of Alabama was devastated by a tornado outbreak. April 27 will always mean something to the people who lived in the state when those storms hit, especially those in Tuscaloosa.

This Saturday marks the 13th anniversary of the EF-4 tornado that tore through the city along with several other parts of Alabama. We took a quick trip through town earlier this week, following the path of the tornado and seeing how the most severely damaged spots have recovered since 2011.

Richard A. Curry Building

One of the first buildings destroyed in Tuscaloosa when the tornado came through was the Richard A. Curry Building. It was home to Tuscaloosa’s Emergency Management Agency, the Environmental Services Department, facilities maintenance and operations of other city departments.

Since then, those departments have been separated into other buildings but the facility was rebuilt and is now home to the Environmental Services Department. It now features a 24-hour recycling center and brand new administrative building.

Mary Harmon Park

Mary Harmon Park is located right next to one of the worst hit spots in the city of Tuscaloosa. A new playground now stands where the tornado once came through and the park includes a plaque dedicated to the 53 people who died in Tuscaloosa during the storms.

For the 10-year anniversary, Mayor Walt Maddox delivered a message at the park. It’s home to one of three tornado memorial plaques around the city.

Rosedale Apartments

Right next Mary Harmon Park is the Rosedale Apartments. The public housing complex is just south of the university’s campus and had around 100 units damaged in the storm.

A bigger complex was built within two years of the storm with multiple phases of the project completed by the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority.

Hargrove Road

While the tornado never crossed over onto the University of Alabama campus, it continued in heavily populated areas of Tuscaloosa including the popular Hargrove Road.

University Place Elementary School and Central Church of Christ were two of the biggest buildings to get hit by the storm. Both have undergone full rebuilds and remain in their original locations today.

Alberta community

The Alberta community may have been the hardest hit area in Tuscaloosa. Places damaged included:

• Alberta Baptist Church
• Alberta Elementary School
• Juanita Drive subdivision
• SWJ Technology Headquarters
• Gateway Innovation and Discovery Center

Many of those spots have been rebuilt since the tornado struck. The Alberta School of Performing Arts is now where the old elementary school stood. Several homes in the Juanita Drive subdivision have been completely rebuilt.

City of Tuscaloosa dashboard

The city has a dashboard that has its major projects from the recovery process in one place. It also has a by the numbers section which shows more facts from the recovery including:

• More than $1 billion invested
• 4,398 residential permits equaling $285.2 million
• 1,513 commercial permits equaling $573.7 million
• $790 million in new construction
• $404.8 million in repair

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