EF1 Tornado — Floyd, Georgia

2012-02-22 · near Forrestville, Floyd, Georgia

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado touched down in Rome just west of the Maplewood Subdivision. EF-1 damage, consisting mostly of uprooted and snapped trees, occurred as the tornado moved in a general easterly direction. The tornado traveled east of Rome and nearly paralleled Kingston Highway, where the most significant damage was sustained near the intersection of Kingston Highway and Freeman Ferry. At this location, a small store lost a significant portion of its roof, and the entire roof was blown off of a single-wide manufactured home. The one indirect fatality associated with the storm occurred at this location, when a 73-year-old woman died of a heart attack after the storm passed. The tornado continued to parallel Kingston Highway, uprooting numerous trees. A couple of outbuildings were damaged or destroyed due to falling trees, and a single-wide manufactured home was heavily damaged when a tree fell on it. The tornado weakened to an EF-0 and finally lifted just east of the intersection of Kingston Highway and Mathis Road.

[02/22/12: Tornado #1, County #1-1, EF1, Floyd, 2012:004].

Wider weather episode

A series of upper level disturbances moved through the Southeast from the 22nd into the 23rd, rotating around the mid-level low pressure system located near the Great Lakes. These disturbances combined with increasing low level moisture and moderate instability as a result of southerly flow around a surface high located in the western Atlantic. Strong to severe thunderstorms moved into northwest Georgia from northeast Alabama on Wednesday evening, and moved across north Georgia through midnight. An EF-1 tornado touched down in Floyd County just east of Rome. Isolated reports of large hail were received as the storms moved across north Georgia.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.2588, -85.1454)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 365156. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.