EF1 Tornado — Shelby, Texas

2024-07-08 · near East Hamilton, Shelby, Texas

Event narrative

This is a continuation of the extreme Northeast Sabine County tornado. This tornado, with estimated maximum winds near 110 mph, moved over the western shoreline of Toledo Bend Reservoir near the East Hamilton community, where a boat ramp and a home were damaged along FM 2261 and CR 2844. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, blocking the roadways. The tornado then tracked well east of CR 2799 through some private roads that were inaccessible. Drone footage from a local oil/gas worker confirmed that the tornado remained on the ground through this area, as a swath of snapped and uprooted trees continued. Additional tree damage was found along FS Road 148 and FS 135, where a small camp also suffered significant damage to some of the smaller buildings. The tornado then crossed FS Road 141 near CR 2014, where multiple large trees were downed, blocking the road along FS Road 141, before lifting just to the north.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Beryl briefly strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds as it made landfall along the Southeast Texas coast near Matagorda Bay during the early morning hours of July 8th, and tracked north-northeast across East Texas and into Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon and evening hours. While Beryl weakened into a tropical storm over portions of Deep East Texas by mid-afternoon, very strong wind shear and helicity existed near and east of the center, contributing to the largest tornado outbreak in NWS Shreveport history, as well as with any landfalling tropical system. A total of 43 tornadoes were confirmed through NWS surveys across East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas, before Beryl weakened into a depression by late afternoon over East Texas. As a part of this outbreak, fifteen tornadoes touched down across portions of East Texas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.5880, -93.8400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1200307. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.