F3 Tornado — Columbus, North Carolina

2006-11-16 · near Riegelwood, Columbus, North Carolina

Event narrative

Tornado touched down among manufactured homes just north of Old Lake Road and tracked across an area of more substantial homes and businesses along NC Highway 87. There were 13 homes (mobile and brick) destroyed and more than two dozen damaged. Damage was rated as F3 due to construction of structures that were damaged and destroyed - if structures were better constructed the damage may have been rated higher. The wind speed was estimated to be around 200 mph. As the tornado tracked north of NC Highway 87 toward the county line, the tree damage was rated as F1.

Wider weather episode

A fast moving tornadic thunderstorm moved ashore on the coast of Brunswick County. There was no damage found until the storm moved across extreme eastern Columbus County and then extreme western Pender County. The tornado produced F3 damage through Riegelwood and diminished to F1 intensity as it crossed a wooded area to the Cape Fear River and into Pender County. This was the second deadliest tornado to hit North Carolina in the last 50 years.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3400, -78.2400)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 3485. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.