F1 Tornado — Wilkes, Georgia

2004-09-16 · near Tignall, Wilkes, Georgia

Event narrative

A damage assessment conducted by the Wilkes County Emergency Management Director indicated that an F1 tornado, briefly at the high end of the F1 scale, touched down just south of Tignall near Georgia Highway 17 and continued north from six to seven miles along or just west of Georgia Highway 17 to just north of Norman. The path width of the tornado was mostly between 100 and 200 yards, but briefly was up to 500 yards wide between Mallorysville and Georgia Highway 17. The tornado was believed to have been on the ground from 70 to 80 percent of the time along its path. Large trees were uprooted on six single-family dwellings in the Tignall area and several other dwellings were damaged in Norman. All together 23 structures sustained damage from the tornado, ranging from very minor to major. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down, twisted, or uprooted along the path, many causing additional damage to farm fences along the way. A large communications tower was also destroyed. Georgia Highway 17 was blocked in two places along the path by downed trees and three county dirt roads were also blocked along the path. At least 1000 residents in the area lost power and phone service during the event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.2333, -84.3667)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5424719. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.