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F3 tornado in Polk County, Georgia

Tornado February 21, 1993 · Polk County, Georgia

F3
Rating
9.0 mi
Path length
880 yd
Path width
1
Death
35
Injuries
$5.0M
Damage as recorded
What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down near Esom Hill in extreme southwest Polk County near the Alabama/Georgia border. The tornado traveled 9 miles and destroyed 500 homes, 40 businesses, and 14 churches, mobile homes, and downed trees. Damage path was approximately 0.5 mile wide. Nearly the entire town of Cedartown was without power due to downed power lines which included 15,000 homes and businesses. Most industries in the Cedartown Industrial Park were damaged by the tornado including HON Industries which had the back half of its office furniture manufacturing plant blown off by the storm. The tornado also damaged the Star Manufacturing building, Zartic Inc. frozen food processing plant, Rome Plow County plant, Coca Cola distribution warehouse, Arrow Shirt Factory, and Cedar Valley Container Corp. A fatality occurred when the tornado lifted and destroyed a mobile home, killing its occupant. (M31M)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10321087. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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