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EF1 tornado in Dekalb County, Alabama

Tornado April 28, 2014 · Dekalb County, Alabama

EF1
Rating
6.1 mi
Whole path
100 yd
Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 continued from Jackson into DeKalb County south of Higdon. Most of the damage observed was to trees, with multiple trees uprooted or snapped along the tornado path. The most significant damage occurred along CR 155 near the intersection of CR 823. In this area, minor roof damage and underpinning damage was observed at several mobile homes. One single family house along CR 155 sustained more significant roof, carport, and siding damage. The tornado continued to move northeast, causing additional damage to homes, outbuildings, and one church.

The wider storm

A tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and evening across the central Tennessee Valley on the 28th. Several cyclic supercells produced tornadoes, some of which were strong. Very heavy rainfall occurred in some areas as well. In particular, up to 5 inches fell in just a few hours which led to severe flash flooding in Valley Head.

An additional round of thunderstorms late in the day/evening of the 29th produced a few reports of damaging winds and hail.

Began near Higdon (34.8121, -85.6341).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Limestone County 2 deadEF3 Cullman CountyEF3 Dekalb CountyEF2 Dekalb CountyEF2 Dekalb CountyEF1 Franklin CountyEF1 Madison CountyEF1 Dekalb CountyEF1 Dekalb CountyEF1 Dekalb County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 505304. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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