EF1 Tornado — Cherokee, Georgia

2008-05-20 · near Lebanon, Cherokee, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Georgia concluded that an EF1 tornado touched down near the intersection of Interstate-575 and Sixes Road and traveled on the ground approximately 5-6 miles ending near the intersection of Georgia Highway 92 and Wigley Road. The maximum path width of the tornado was approximately one mile wide with maximum winds estimated to be 95 mph. The Falton Lakes Mobile Home Park sustained significant damage with substantial damage to many site-built homes also observed in the East Cherokee Drive Area.

Overall damage consisted of 60 destroyed homes, 35 of which were site-built and 25 were mobile. Twenty-five additional mobile homes sustained minor damage. In addition to the 35 destroyed site-built homes, 391 additional homes sustained major damage and 588 sustained minor damage. Ten multi-family homes also received minor damage. Minor damage occurred to ten commercial buildings. Four school district buildings sustained major damage as well as 16 mobile school instructional units. Hundreds of trees were down in the area and many power lines were down as well. One indirect death to a 24-year old male and an indirect injury to a female occurred on May 29th when two very large trees fell on two vehicles. These trees were weakened from the tornado that occurred on May 20th.

Wider weather episode

An active and very unstable northwest flow continued across the southeast United States as the polar vortex remained very strong in the northeast United States. A disturbance rotated around the back side of the upper low into the southeast United States during the afternoon and evening. Multiple complexes of severe thunderstorms developed across north and central Georgia during the mid to later afternoon as a result and moved southeast during the evening hours. Large hail was the primary severe weather element observed during this outbreak, however an EF2 tornado developed in Cherokee county and caused extensive damage to hundreds of homes. This was the 45th tornado of the spring season for north and central Georgia.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.1465, -84.5173)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 105754. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.