Towering smoke stack implodes and topples into Alabama field, demolition video shows

Workers detonated the base of a towering smoke stack in Alabama on Thursday morning, toppling the 1,000-foot structure like a tree, sending dust and debris flying as it fell, video shows.

The stack was one of the last pieces remaining of the Widows Creek Fossil Plant near Stevenson, which the Tennessee Valley Authority is demolishing to make way for future development.

Though it was retired in 2014, the Widows Creek plant operated for over 65 years, according to the TVA.

“Now, the site will continue its service to the Valley as we make way for economic redevelopment,” the TVA said in a Facebook post.

The destruction was captured from all angles, with cameras mounted around the site, and a drone looking straight down the stack at the moment carefully placed explosive charges erupt at its foundation.

Concrete and metal groan as gravity pushes the stack into an empty field where it crashes into dust.

Even though the plant was idled years ago, some were sad to see the stack go.

“So much history, so many accomplishments, so many lives improved and then to tear it all down,” one commenter wrote. “Sometimes a smoke stack is a monument, and monuments stand to commemorate. Breaks my heart.”

“Tragic event in the Tennessee Valley,” wrote another. “Widows Creek, you served us well.”

Others saw the demolition as a necessary move. Or at least, nothing worth dwelling on.

“Sniff and scurry, change is inevitable. Embrace it or be left behind,” a commenter said.

Another said simply, “Progress is good.”

With the destruction of the smoke stack, the TVA says 90% of the Widows Creek Fossil Plant is demolished.

Adjacent to the plant is a 350-acre site belonging to Google, where the tech giant has been constructing a $600 million data center since 2018, New 19 reported.