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F3 tornado in Rock Island and Whiteside County, Illinois

Tornado May 9, 1995 · Rock Island and Whiteside County, Illinois

Rating

25.0 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

$200K

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

Port Byron, Hillsdale, and Cordova were the hardest hit communities from this tornado. The Gerald Smeltzly farm sustained $50.000 of damage and the Jimmy Franks farm received $30.000 of damage. Most out buildings received heavy damage while both homes received moderate damage. A tree branch was blown through the bedroom wall of the Smeltzly home protruding into the home at least a foot.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 10322909. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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