EF3 Tornado — Hemphill, Texas

2007-03-28 · near Canadian, Hemphill, Texas

Event narrative

The tornado developed in southwestern Hemphill County approximately sixteen miles south southwest of Canadian. The tornado moved north northwest at twenty miles an hour and encountered an area of active oil drilling rigs. The tornado hit two drilling rigs. An employee of the first drilling rig that was hit was residing in a single-wide mobile home that was anchored into the ground. The mobile home was destroyed and displaced one hundred yards from its original location and the employee was thrown approximately fifty yards. A semi trailer used for storage was blown over. A structure used to lift the oil-well casing onto the oil derrick was also blown down and severely damaged. The tornado rolled a railroad boxcar one hundred and fifty yards. A series of power poles along County Road W covering a distance of zero point six miles was also blown down.

A second oil drilling rig and production facility were hit by the tornado where another unoccupied and anchored single-wide mobile home was rolled over. Nearby...two goose neck fifth-wheel camper trailers were parked...both unanchored with one occupied. This person was critically injured and later died from his injuries. The camper trailer that was occupied rolled forty-five yards to the northeast while a second unoccupied trailer was blown thirty yards before coming to rest on an oilfield production unit.

By 2041 CST...the tornado was crossing U.S. Highway 60...resulting in severe tree damage. Texas Department of Transportation officials...using light tree damage as an indicator...measured a damage width of zero point eight miles along U.S. Highway 60. At the center of this swath were numerous hardwood trees with trunks that had been broken off halfway up the tree. On the periphery of this area was a home located thirteen miles south southwest of Canadian that suffered only minor damage due to trees falling on the home. Many large trees were snapped twenty feet in the air. A second well built home suffered severe damage to the roof structure. The majority of the steel roofing structure was completely removed and six feet of brick chimney toppled onto the house. Several cedar beams were removed from the roof structure as well as several rafters despite being tied down by hurricane clips. Additionally...a steel feed bunk containing twenty six thousand pounds of feed was turned over on its side.

At 2045 CST...a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train was derailed with over fifty cars blown over. The tornado dissipated around 2055 CST.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms during the evening hours produced numerous tornadoes and large hail across the southern...central and eastern Texas panhandle. Heavy rains caused flash flooding in the eastern Texas panhandle during the late night and early morning hours. One man was killed by a tornado in the northeastern Texas panhandle and another person was injured.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.6863, -100.4891)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 21760. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.