EF1 Tornado hits Stephens County

An EF1 Tornado passed through parts of Stephens County, early Monday morning.

According to the National Weather Service, the storm began at 3:06 a.m. Monday, from East to West of Eastanollee.

In the early Monday morning hours on April 13, at approximately 03:30 a.m. the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office began responding to incidents of severe weather damage.

Stephens County Sheriff Randy Sheriff says “due to the high volume and influx of emergency calls to the E-911 center, additional deputies were called in to assist.”

As of 11:00 a.m. deputies had responded to 15 homes within Stephens County to check on the safety of the occupants after trees had fallen on or near them.

Deputies also responded to 83 separate areas regarding power and telephone lines, and massive amounts of trees on the roadways.

Sheriff Shirley reports that “his office has not received any reports of injuries attributed to this severe weather event.”

Several of the hard-hit areas are Hwy 145, Hwy 106, Century Drive, Imperial Drive, Southern end of Hwy 17, Whispering Pines Road, Stonecypher Drive, and Nub Garland.

Many roads remain closed while utility companies work to restore power in Stephens County.

Shirley would like to remind everyone to always treat power lines lying on the ground as if they are live, and not to approach them.

According to Stephens County E911 Director Danielle Rhodes an EF1 Tornado typically has wind speeds between 86 and 110 mph.

She adds that overall Stephens County faired the storm well; despite some damage to houses.

She says there were no reports of weather-related injuries or fatalities in our area.

The damage consisted mostly of trees being uprooted or snapped over a wide area, with some structural damage to homes,

The National Weather Service reports peak winds of near 110 mph.

The damage occurred along a path a quarter mile wide or more in some places.

If you have any power lines down, please contact your company provider or Stephens County E-911 at 706-779-3911.

 

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GREENVILLE-SPARTANBURG SC
551 PM EDT MON APR 13 2020

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR STEPHENS COUNTY EF1 TORNADO EVENT...

START LOCATION...2 S BOYDVILLE IN STEPHENS COUNTY GA
END LOCATION...3 NE EASTANOLEE IN STEPHENS COUNTY GA
DATE...04/13/2020
ESTIMATED TIME...03:06 AM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING...EF1
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED...110 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH...500.0 YARDS
PATH LENGTH...8.7 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON...34.5155 / -83.3671
ENDING LAT/LON...34.5463 / -83.2194
* FATALITIES...0
* INJURIES...0

...SUMMARY...
AN EF1 TORNADO PASSED THROUGH PARTS OF STEPHENS COUNTY,
GEORGIA EARLY MONDAY MORNING FROM EAST TO WEST OF EASTANOLLEE. 
DAMAGE CONSISTED MOSTLY OF TREES BEING UPROOTED OR SNAPPED OVER A
WIDE AREA, WITH SOME STRUCTURAL DAMAGE TO HOMES, INDICATING
PEAK WINDS OF NEAR 110 MPH.  DAMAGE OCURRED
ALONG A PATH A QUARTER MILE OR MORE WIDE IN PLACES.

EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE
FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

EF0...WEAK......65 TO 85 MPH
EF1...WEAK......86 TO 110 MPH
EF2...STRONG....111 TO 135 MPH
EF3...STRONG....136 TO 165 MPH
EF4...VIOLENT...166 TO 200 MPH
EF5...VIOLENT...>200 MPH

* THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO
CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWS
STORM DATA.