Home / Texas / Angelina

F3 tornado in Angelina County, Texas

Tornado March 30, 2002 · Angelina County, Texas

Rating

49.0 mi

Whole path

440 yd

Path width

Injuries

$6.2M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Polk County → Angelina County → Nacogdoches County → San Augustine County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 440 yards (0.25 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Numerous trees and power lines broken, snapped, and pulled out of the ground along the entire track. Several barns were severely damaged and numerous homes were with missing roofs while others suffered severe roof and structural damage. South of the Ora Community one house was totally blown off its foundation and destroyed. This tornado moved into Angelina County, TX from Polk County, TX and continued into Nacogdoches County, TX and San Augustine County, TX.

Began near Diboll (31.1167, -94.7667).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5281117. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.