Oak Grove High School in Jefferson County, Alabama

Miles of western Jefferson County vanished in a burst of churning wind as 32 people died in the most deadly series of tornadoes on record in the Birmingham, Alabama  area.

The main twister, first touching down about 8 p.m. on April 8, 1998, blasted a 20 mile path of death and destruction. Another 2 people would be killed in St. Clair County on the other side of Birmingham.

The tornado was an F5 category storm - the most violent type in nature's arsenal, with winds topping 260 mph and sometimes exceeding 300 mph. 

The Birmingham, Alabama Trauma System played a critical role in assisting the critically injured and in preventing even more deaths. 

This unique computer and communication system links 10 Birmingham area trauma centers and emergency departments to assist with the routing of the most critical trauma patients.  The system coordinates patient routing to reduce transport times, reduce delays at receiving hospitals and to ensure trauma patients are matched to hospitals appropriate for the patient's injuries.

Prior to this system, medics in the field could potentially have to contact more than one hospital to locate an appropriate and available receiving hospital. Now one call to the Trauma Communication Center is all that is required.  Medics can concentrate on patient care.

This system also means that hospitals already at capacity no longer have to allocate valuable staff to assist medics in locating alternate receiving hospitals.

''To put it succinctly, some places were not survivable,'' said Brian Peters of the National Weather Service.

Fortunately, there were survivors in most areas assaulted by the monster twister.   And thus came the difficult task of quickly assisting the injured to prevent even more deaths.

Rescue Workers Aid Small Baby Found
Alive and Alone in the Rubble

This unique system has been in daily use in Birmingham for over two years and is assisting an average of over 200 critically injured patients each month.

Hospital Report

Following the tornado, Birmingham-area hospitals received large numbers of patients.  The injured arrived by ambulance and private automobile. 

The night of the storm, University Hospital reported treating 167 people injured in the storm and admited 24 victims. Carraway Methodist Medical Center also treated a large number of patients and admitted eight victims, six of whom were listed in critical condition the next morning.

Children's Hospital treated 27 storm victims and admitted 14. Another 25 were treated at Bessemer Carraway.  Lloyd Noland Hospital in Fairfield, St. Vincents, Baptist Medical Center - Montclair, Medical Center East and other area hospitals also treated victims of injuries.

Many of the admitted patients suffered severe fractures, head trauma and chest injuries.  At least three patients suffered broken backs.