EF3 tornado in Webster County, Georgia

A damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, GA concluded that a strong, violent, and long-lived EF3 tornado tracked across southeast Webster, much of Sumter, and far southern Macon counties. The tornado touched down near Chambliss on the Webster/Terrell county line and tracked east-northeast exiting the county into Sumter county near Bottsford. While the overall path length of the tornado was around 40 miles, the path length within Webster county was between seven and eight miles. While the tornado reached its maximum path width of 1.0 mile in Sumter county near Americus, it was determined to be less than this within Webster county. A path of significant damage was noted across southeast Webster county. A concrete block house and two machine shops on East Centerpoint Road just northeast of Chambliss were completely destroyed. Three injuries resulted from the damage here. Twenty-five feet of asphalt in front of the home was also ripped up by the tornado. On a nearby farm, five cows were killed when they were tossed about by the tornado. A tractor-trailer traveling on Georgia Highway 520 near Chambliss was overturned causing it to catch on fire and burn. Very nearby, at the intersection of Georgia Highway 520 and TV Tower Road, a 1096 foot Georgia Public Television transmission tower was destroyed when two-thirds of the tower was twisted off by the tornado and destroyed. Only 150 feet of the 1096 foot tower was left standing after the tornado passed. Numerous trees and power lines were also down in the area.

A major, negatively tilted and closed upper trough rotated through the mid-south and southeast U.S. on March 1st. A 150kt jet was located over the region at 250mb with a strong 50kt low-level jet from central Alabama into central Tennessee. A wedge of cool air was present over much of north central and northeast Georgia. Rain, which spread over this area early in the day, helped enhance the wedge of cool air. Little to no severe weather was noted north of the wedge boundary across north Georgia where the air mass remained relatively cool and stable. Meanwhile...a warm, humid air mass was present across much of central and south Georgia where dewpoints had risen well into the 60s during the afternoon. The strong upper dynamics present over this region combined with the instability just south of the wedge provided a very favorable environment for long lived, strong tornadoes. A total of 14 tornadoes affecting 17 counties tracked across central and east central Georgia and within the Peachtree City, Georgia county warning area during the late afternoon and evening hours of March 1st. This was the second greatest number of tornadoes recorded to have occurred in the Peachtree City, Georgia forecast area within a 24-hour period, second only to the 16 tornadoes, affecting 18 counties, associated with Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005. The March 1st tornadoes spanned an area from Stewart county in the far southwest part of the county warning area to Warren county in the far east central portion of the county warning area. The first tornado touched down in Stewart county at 4:11 pm EST and the last tornado lifted in Marion county at 10:55 pm EST. By far the hardest hit county was Sumter county, and especially the city of Americus, where hundreds of homes and business, including the regional hospital, were heavily damaged or destroyed. Additional tornadoes were reported further south in Tallahassee and Jacksonville's, Florida's forecast areas. Federal disaster assistance had been approved for 1,836 households across the state for a total of $14.2 million. Another $5.8 million had been approved for public assistance of debris removal and to repair infrastructure. The Small Business Association also approved $7 million in disaster assistance loans. Overall damages, however, are estimated to be several hundred million.

Substantial rainfall fell across much of the state, but rainfall amounts of three to five inches were common across central and east central areas. The heaviest rainfall fell in the Hancock, Putnam, and Baldwin county areas, where some spots received in excess of six inches of rain. Some flooding was reported in these areas.