F0 Tornado — Clayton, Georgia

2001-01-19 · near Forest Park, Clayton, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage survey, conducted by National Weather Service personnel from the Peachtree City, Georgia office, determined that an F0 tornado briefly touched down at the Forest Square Shopping Center on Georgia Highway 54, Jonesboro Road, near the southwest corner of Fort Gillem. This is about 3 miles southeast of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. Six buildings sustained considerable damage, mainly to roofs, windows, and to exteriors. A pawnshop in the shopping center lost part of its roof and a Pizza Hut, immediately next door, lost all of its windows. Several other buildings in the area lost windows from flying debris. A nearby Pep Boys Auto Parts store lots a large portion of its roof and exterior awnings. The flying debris from the roof of the damaged buildings, particularly the Pep Boys store, caused damage to 15 to 20 cars parked nearby. Many of the cars had their rear windows shattered out and appeared as if they had been hit with a major hailstorm, although no hail was reported in the area. It is believed that rock pebbles from the roofs of the damaged buildings were largely responsible for this occurrence. The flying debris and glass caused injury to 8 people. The injuries were described as being mainly cuts and bruises, although one person suffered a broken arm. Power lines were also reported down in the same area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.6167, -84.3667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5230760. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.