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EF2 tornado in Sampson County, North Carolina

Tornado August 7, 2024 · Sampson County, North Carolina

EF2
Rating
4.7 mi
Whole path
40 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Pender County → Sampson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 40 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A weak EF-0 tornado touched down in far northern Pender county before crossing into Sampson County along Willard Road. Multiple tree limbs and skinny hardwood trucks were found snapped as it crossed into a field where corn stalks were laid out in a wavy

convergent path. The tornado continued on the ground northwest to US-421 achieving EF-1 strength, causing minor roof damage to a one-story residence, snapping a softwood tree in addition to several small 1-3 inch branches. After traversing a vast canopy of thick tree coverage and little road access, it reemerged and crossed over Wildcat Road and Bland School Road where it strengthened into a low-end EF-2 and caused significant damage to multiple well constructed residences. The first was on the

western flank of the circulation and ripped off a portions of the tin roof and scattered personal belongings into the front yard in addition to snapping thick 1-2 foot branches from a large hardwood tree. The second house suffered multiple windows being blown in and likely was the initiating factor in blowing of 50% of a well attached roof and displacing it in the corn field behind the residence. The tornado continued for roughly another 0.5 miles through an open field and lifted before reaching Belvin Maynard

Road.

The wider storm

Tropical Depression Debby slowly made its way through Florida, off the South Carolina coast, then back inland through the western Piedmont of North Carolina during the evening hours of 8 August 2024. Ahead of the storm, numerous feeder bands brought periods of heavy rain to central North Carolina, resulting in widespread 4-6 inch rainfall amounts across the western Piedmont, with higher amounts to the east. In addition, numerous tornadoes occurred with this event, with one on 7 August and an additional 6 on 8 August including a rare EF-3 tropical cyclone tornado.

Began near Newtons Xrds (34.6834, -78.1485).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1208445. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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