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EF4 tornado in Hamilton County, Tennessee

Tornado April 27, 2011 · Hamilton County, Tennessee

EF4

Rating

48.0 mi

Whole path

800 yd

Path width

Deaths

335

Injuries

$68.2M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Catoosa County, Georgia → Hamilton County → Bradley County → Polk County → McMinn 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 EF4 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF4 is devastating damage: well-built houses levelled, consistent with estimated gusts of 166–200 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

Ringgold-Apison Tornado. An EF4 tornado touched down in north Georgia and continued into southeast Hamilton county, just south of Apison, Tennessee. It tracked northeast across SE Hamilton County before moving across Bradley County and into Polk County. It had a path length of 4.9 mile path length in Hamilton county and a path width of 800 yards. The 190 mph wind completely leveled several homes and an additional 150 homes were damaged. Eight fatalities were attributed directly to the tornado along with 100 injuries. Victims from Apison include a 77 year old grandmother along with her 17 year old grandson as well the 56 year old mother and 31 year old male cousin who died in their home. In addition, a 63 year old man along with his 60 wife died in their home. Also, a 70 year old man died with his 62 year old wife died in their home.

The wider storm

Favorable atmospheric conditions resulted in a deadly tornado outbreak across east Tennessee on the 27th. The thunderstorms produced more than 50 tornadoes across the east Tennessee area with 32 deaths and more than 200 injured. The tornadoes produced from light to heavy damage to hundreds of homes and businesses. Hail as large as baseballs was also reported.

Began near Apison (34.9868, -85.0485).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 296789. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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