EF2 Tornado — Sabine, Louisiana

2024-07-08 · near Union Spgs, Sabine, Louisiana

Event narrative

An EF-2 tornado, with estimated maximum winds near 115 mph, touched down on the east side of Toledo Bend Reservoir near the shoreline south of Camp Road and west of Locus Road in far Northwest Sabine Parish west of the Union Springs community. This tornado tracked north near a gas platform where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted. The tornado then tracked north-northwest over Woodlake Drive where additional tree damage was observed along the roadway. A woman suffered a minor injury when debris entered her home along Woodlake Drive. The most extensive damage was found near the intersection of West Cove Court and Woodlake Drive, where one home had much of its roof ripped off and blown into the surrounding neighbors' yards. One of the 2x4 pieces of wood from this roof was found piercing through the home of a nearby neighbor. Aside from damage to this home, most of the trees in this area were either snapped or uprooted, causing additional damage to homes and vehicles and resulting in the low end EF-2 rating. The tornado continued to track to the north-northwest as it crossed Coker Worsham Road, where it snapped and uprooted additional trees. The tornado then lifted in an open field just north of Coker Worsham Road.

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, 25 tornadoes touched down across portions of North Louisiana.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.8176, -93.8321)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1203717. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.