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EF0 tornado in Galveston County, Texas

Tornado April 18, 2009 · Galveston County, Texas

EF0

Rating

1.1 mi

Path length

30 yd

Path width

$50K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 30 yards (0.02 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

The tornado touched down in a marshy area a few miles south southeast of Hitchcock as reported by several witnesses and captured on video. The damage path extended into the Harborwalk community with damage to several homes. Six garage doors were damaged or destroyed. A large wood and steel observing platform was destroyed. There was also some damage to shingles. The tornado was estimated to be a high end EF-0 with winds reaching 80 mph.

The wider storm

On April 18th there were flash floods and severe thunderstorms over Galveston and southern Harris counties.

Began near Highland Bayou (29.2887, -94.9830).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 165135. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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