EF3 Tornado — Choctaw, Mississippi

2010-04-24 · near French Camp, Choctaw, Mississippi

Event narrative

The tornado moved into Choctaw County and crossed Black Road around 128 pm. Here, minor damage occurred to a brick home. Tree damage in this area was more substantial and was in the upper EF2 range. Thousands of trees were uprooted and snapped. Many trees were also splintered in this area. The tornado then crossed Highway 413, just east of French Camp. The tornado reached high end EF3 intensity at this point and produced significant structural damage to a number of structures. Wind speeds ranged from 155 to 165 mph at this location. Three well built brick homes were nearly flattened with only 1 outer wall left standing. Other well built structures sustained major damage to the roof. The Crossroads Grocery was destroyed as the cinder-block structure collapsed on itself. Several vehicles were thrown in this area including at semi-truck. A cell tower was snapped in half. The intense damage continued along the track across Stuart-Weir Road and White Road. Several more structures were severely damaged or destroyed in this area along with significant devastation to timber. Along Pisgah and Dotson Roads, some of the most severe damage occurred and this was the location of the 5 fatalities. Here, dozens of mobile homes and conventional foundation homes were destroyed. Multiple vehicles were thrown with a few landing in trees. The widest part of the tornado was in this general area where it was 1.07 miles wide. The EF3 intensity damage occurred for about 4 miles. The tornado weakened as it tracked toward the Chester Community and crossed Weir-Salem Road and Chester-Mills Road. Here the damage was mostly tree damage with a dozen of homes or so receiving minor to major damage. Some homes had a small portion of roof torn off or shingles peeled away. One well built home was shifted off the foundation with a portion of the back of the home collapsed. Again, timber damage was significant with a large area of pine forest heavily damaged. EF2 damaged was noted there. The tornado continued through Chester and toward Highway 9 and Highway 15. Here mainly EF1 tree damage occurred. The only exception was at and just to the east of the intersection with Highway 9 and Highway 790. Here some low end EF2 tree damage was noted. The tornado then crossed Highway 15 and continued just along and to the south of Macedonia Road. EF1 tree damage occurred in this area as well. The tornado continued into Oktibbeha County just east of of the Reform-Sturgis Road.

Wider weather episode

During the midday hours of April 24th, an intense supercell thunderstorm produced a violent, long track tornado, which ripped a path across the center of the NWS Jackson, MS forecast area. This tornado touched down just south of I-20, west of Tallulah, in Madison Parish. The tornado intensified quickly and became large as it tracked at a fast pace to the northeast. The tornado moved at roughly 55 mph and was on the ground for 149 miles. The actual time on the ground was 2 hours and 44 minutes. The tornado touched 9 counties/parishes along it's path with the most significant damage occurring in Madison Parish, Warren, Yazoo, Holmes, Attala and Choctaw Counties. A great deal of the damage was in the EF2 and EF3 range with a couple locations of EF4 damage in Yazoo and Holmes Counties. Maximum winds peaked around 170 mph. Overall, 10 fatalities occurred along with 146 injuries. Five fatalities occurred in Choctaw County, 4 in Yazoo County, and 1 in Holmes County.

As we try and put this tornado into perspective for the state of Mississippi, this long track tornado ranks as the 4th longest in Mississippi history at 149 miles. It is the widest known tornado with a maximum width of 1.75 miles. It also ranks as the 9th deadliest tornado with 10 fatalities, making it the most deadly since November 21st 1992. Lastly, this was the first violent tornado (F4 or greater) in the month of April since April 18th, 1978.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.2857, -89.3651)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 224615. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.