EF2 tornado in Cumberland County, North Carolina

Tornado April 16, 2011 · Cumberland County, North Carolina

EF2

Rating

29.9 mi

Whole path

800 yd

Path width

Deaths

Injuries

$11.2M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Bladen County → Cumberland County → Sampson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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 exited Bladen County and moved into Cumberland County just west of NC Highway 242. The tornado moved northeast, crossing NC Highway 210 near Smith Road and Peters Creek road. In this area, a few homes were damaged with one home sustaining heavy damage rated EF2. There were four injuries sustained by some of the occupants. Hundreds of trees were also downed in this vicinity. Damage was also observed along Broadwater Bridge Road, east of Smith Road.

The wider storm

A strong storm system that had a history of producing deadly tornadoes across Oklahoma and the deep south on the 14th and 15th weakened as it crossed the southern Appalachians during the early morning hours of the 16th. A squall line descended the Blue Ridge by the late morning hours, and rapidly intensified

as it moved east into the central Piedmont of North Carolina, with four long live tornadic supercells evolving from the linear convective segment. These tornadic supercells went on to produce 9 tornadoes in the Raleigh CWA, including 2 EF3s, and 4 EF2s. The tornadoes left 8 dead with approximately 275 injuries.

Began near Cedar Creek (34.8510, -78.6324).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

9 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Wake County 6 dead EF3 Cumberland County 1 dead EF3 Wayne County EF2 Harnett County 1 dead EF2 Person County EF2 Halifax County EF2 Wilson County EF1 Alamance County EF1 Johnston County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 296491. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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