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EF2 Tornado — De Soto, Mississippi

2009-06-12 · near Olive Branch, De Soto, Mississippi

Injuries

$4.0M

Property damage

2.9 mi

Path length

75 yds

Path width

Event narrative

A tornado touched down at the truck weighing scales on Highway 78 about 1 mile southeast of Goodman Road in Olive Branch. The tornado had a non continuous track to the east-northeast for 2.9 miles and ended a few hundred yards east of Hacks Cross Road about one half mile south of Goodman Road. The maximum estimated winds were 125 mph. There was widespread damage along the tornado track in Olive Branch. Numerous trees and power lines were knocked down. Four homes were destroyed while numerous other homes suffered some degree of damage. Streets that suffered the heaviest damage included Roberta Street, College Street, Blocker Street, Chickasaw Drive, Cherokee Drive, Sequoia Lane, Seminole Drive and Magnolia Drive. Several schools and public buildings were also damaged including the Olive Branch Elementary, Middle and High Schools, the Chickasaw Elementary School, the Olive Branch Community Center and the Olive Branch City Shop. The Olive Branch Middle School alone suffered $500,000 in damage. The tornado cleanup costs totaled $350,000 for the city of Olive Branch. There was one minor injury associated with the tornado in Olive Branch.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front was located across the Mid-South during the day on June 12th, 2009. During the early morning hours, a mesoscale convective system developed over Eastern Oklahoma and tracked east into the Mid-South during the afternoon and evening hours. A derecho tracked across the Mid-South producing numerous reports of damaging winds, large hail and flash flooding. Wind speeds were reported as high as 80 mph. Isolated tornadoes occurred along the bow echo. In addition, scattered thunderstorms developed over ahead of the bow echo and produced large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding as well.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.9518, -89.8428)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 184469. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.