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EF2 tornado in Chicot County, Arkansas

Tornado May 2, 2008 · Chicot County, Arkansas

EF2

Rating

10.5 mi

Path length

400 yd

Path width

$1.5M

Damage as recorded

$200K

Crop damage

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado touched down near Highway 293 and tracked northeast for 10 miles where is dissipated shortly after crossing Highway 65. Along the path, hundreds of hardwood and softwood trees were snapped and uprooted. A mobile home was flipped over and destroyed. Several sheds, barns, outbuildings and unattached carports were damaged and destroyed along with several fences damaged. A 50 foot antenna was knocked down. A single family home had minor shingle damage, damage to siding, and window damage while 2 boats were damaged. The roll-up door for a tractor shed was damaged and a trampoline was blown around 75 yards and damaged. Lastly, 15 wooden power poles were also snapped near Highway 65. Maximum winds were around 115 mph.

The wider storm

A large and powerful storm system brought several rounds of severe weather to a large section of the Central United States. The Central Plains were hit hard on Thursday, May 1st, while the Mid-South and Lower Mississippi River Valley were impacted on Friday, May 2nd into the early morning hours of May 3rd. As this severe weather episode evolved over the National Weather Service Jackson, MS service area, several tornadoes occurred, along with large hail and damaging winds.

Began near Ashton (33.3600, -91.4000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 101429. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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