The Alabama Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are teaming up to promote National Severe Weather Preparedness Week March 3-9. Sponsored by FEMA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Severe Weather Preparedness Week encourages individuals, families, businesses and communities to know about severe weather risks, take action to prepare for them, and Be a Force of Nature by encouraging others to get prepared.

Each year, many people are killed or seriously injured by tornadoes and other types of severe weather, despite advance warning. In 2012, there were more than 450 weather-related fatalities and nearly 2,600 injuries nationwide. Severe weather knows no boundaries and affects every individual in every region.

PRATTVILLE, AL (WSFA) - Sunday marked 5 years since the city of Prattville was shaken by a large EF-3 tornado. WSFA 12 News Chief Meteorologist Rich Thomas, looking back, said he remembered sitting in the weather center on a Sunday afternoon with meteorologist Rob Hatchell as they covered tornadic supercells.

"We took particular nterest in an intense cell entering Lowndes County, and we noted that within the hour this cell would affect Prattville," Thomas explained.

At 2:31 p.m. the National Weather Service issued the tornado warning. At 2:58 p.m., the large EF-3 tornado, a monster more than 4 football fields wide, touched down and began tearing through heavily populated areas of the city.

The tornado's 155 mph winds caused significant damage, ultimately injuring 50 people.

Somehow, even as the tornado moved through neighborhoods on a Sunday afternoon, there wasn't a single fatality.