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EF3 tornado in Franklin County, Arkansas

Tornado May 24, 2011 · Franklin County, Arkansas

EF3
Rating
45.7 mi
Whole path
2,200 yd
Path width
4
Deaths
27
Injuries
$9.1M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Franklin County → Logan County → Franklin County → Logan County → Franklin County → Johnson County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 2,200 yards (1.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

This is the fifth of six segments of this tornado. The tornado crossed the Arkansas River, moving back into Franklin County from Logan County. The tornado crossed Carbon Plant Road and W Creek Road, destroying a mobile home and killing another person. It continued northeast across the town of Denning where it destroyed numerous permanent homes and mobile homes. At least 10 injuries occurred in Denning as the mile-wide tornado moved through the town. Several of these injuries were serious or critical and one of the victims died from her injuries on June 14th. She was in one of the many mobile homes that were destroyed in town. Ten 100-foot metal power poles were bent over at the ground by the tornado and many other power poles were snapped throughout the Denning area. Many large trees were also snapped or uprooted. Maximum estimated wind speed in this segment of the tornado based on this damage was about 145 mph.

The tornado moved northeast from Denning and crossed Highway 64, severely damaging the roof of a permanent home and snapping or uprooting numerous trees. The tornado continued into Johnson County, Arkansas.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms developed along a dry line over central Oklahoma during the afternoon hours. Very unstable air and strong wind shear east of the dry line supported supercell thunderstorm structures, which persisted as the storms moved into northwestern Arkansas late in the evening. These severe storms produced tornadoes, large hail, and damaging downburst wind across portions of northwestern Arkansas. One of the tornadoes was especially intense, resulting in considerable damage to several towns as well as three fatalities in Franklin County.

Began near Denning (35.4065, -93.7968).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 313010. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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