NWS confirms four tornadoes from Wednesday storms in southwest Georgia

ALBANY — Wednesday’s mass of storms spawned five tornadoes, from Henry County in southeastern Alabama to Baker County, as it moved eastward through the region with severe thunderstorms that dumped large amounts of rain.

Two EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Randolph County, and the most powerful of the twisters, an EF-2 with a top wind speed of up to 125 miles per hour, was on the ground for 37 minutes in Early County, according to the National Weather Service.

The tornado snapped off and uprooted trees, tore most of the roof from a residence, destroyed a barn and removed the roof and two walls of a mobile home.

The only known injuries during the weather rampage through southwest Georgia was a woman who was trapped in the remains of a double-wide mobile home, Mark Wool, warning coordination meteorologist for the NWS office in Tallahassee, Fla., said Monday.

“It could have been worse,” he said of the day-long barrage of severe weather. “Some of these tornadoes went through fairly rural areas.”

If the twisters had struck more densely populated areas the resulting damage and injuries could have been greater, he said.

An EF-2 tornado, on the scale from EF-0 to EF-5, can have wind speeds of up to 135 miles per hour.

The lengthy parade of severe weather cells through the area and multiple days of severe storms, especially this time of year, was highly unusual, Wool said.

“It is absolutely unreal,” he said. “It’s an unprecedented stretch of severe weather. It is unusual for June. We see stretches in the spring, but not in June.”

The EF-1 tornado, which had an estimated top wind speed of 125 miles per hour, that touched down in Baker County was on the ground for about 10 minutes and was captured on video by a storm chaser, according to the NWS. It snapped and uprooted trees and overturned an irrigation pivot.

The two Randolph County tornadoes were spawned by a single supercell and followed parallel paths about 400 to 500 yards apart. One was on the ground for about three minutes over a 1.3 mile path and the other for about six minutes and covered about 3.3 miles.

Structures damaged included a church and several houses and mobile homes. The winds also collapsed a “substantial steel farm building” and partially damaged a grain silo, the NWS assessment said.

Rainfall along the path of the storm was substantial in places, with more than 5 inches of rain recorded in Dawson and Shellman, and 3.56 inches in Albany.

Widespread reports of hail, from the small to the very large, were also reported throughout the region.

With more rounds of storms forecast for later Monday and on Tuesday, localized flash-flooding could be a possibility, Wool said.

With the soil already saturated, additional rainfall will flow into ditches and waterways, and the wet soil has saturated the roots of trees, making them more likely to topple.

Motorists also should remember the advice to avoid driving into standing water and the slogan “turn around, don’t drown” given by emergency management officials. That’s sound advice as almost half of all flooding deaths in the United States are vehicle-related.

“Being in manufactured houses is not safe when there’s going to be severe weather,” Wool said. “I know people are worn out with all this weather. We’ve just got to be vigilant for another day or two. After that we’ll be back to normal summer weather.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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