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F3 tornado in Union County, Illinois

Tornado April 28, 2002 · Union County, Illinois

F3
Rating
19.0 mi
Whole path
400 yd
Path width
1
Death
10
Injuries
$8.0M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 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

The tornado first touched down in very hilly terrain in the Shawnee National Forest and then tracked east, crossing Route 127 just north of Mill Creek. The tornado then directly struck the community of Dongola, where most of the damage and casualties occurred. A 69-year-old woman was killed as she was attempting to flee her mobile home. The woman had just gotten into her car, started the engine, and turned the lights on when the tornado struck. She was blown away from the car and found dead under a structure across the road from where the vehicle was parked and still running. Elsewhere in the Dongola area, a train was blown off the tracks. Several wood houses were demolished, and seven double-wide trailers were destroyed. Approximately 75 homes were damaged. A recreational vehicle was tossed across Lake Dongola and impaled into the ground.

Began near Dongola (37.3667, -89.3333).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5292486. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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