F2 Tornado — Uvalde, Texas

2006-03-19 · near Uvalde, Uvalde, Texas

Event narrative

The most severe level of damage was located approximately 5 miles to the east of the Uvalde airport along Agape Road. This was due to a combination of both severe thunderstorm winds and a strong tornado. The wind damage, which had ended just south of Uvalde, once again was observed beginning just west of the Agape area by the team. The damage continued toward the east nearly one quarter mile to the Agape compound. Roof damage was noted at the first buildings, along with widespread damage to trees. Continuing to the east, the team found a mobile home that had been completely destroyed with the debris deposited about 30 yards to the south. This was the first time damage had been thrown in any direction except to the east and is believed to be just east of the starting point of the tornado. About 50 yards further to the east, an asphalt road was observed to have chunks of the topping removed and tossed toward the southeast. Very nearby, a large three-story concrete and steel-beam gymnasium valued at one million dollars had been gutted by the storm. The windward, west side was not blown inward as would have occurred with severe thunderstorm winds. Instead, it was pulled outward. A 40-foot steel beam had been bolted in a dozen different places to the building. The beam was pulled from the building and thrown back 15 feet to the northwest. Although many of the supporting steel beams held, several were pulled away and tossed. Concrete blocks, filled solid with concrete in their construction, had been ripped out of the building and lay tossed and strewn over the area. Much of the wall structure was destroyed. Pieces of sheet metal were strewn to the east and southeast for nearly one half mile. Additional damage to vegetation stretched for another 2 miles east of the gymnasium. Some of this damage was clearly due to severe thunderstorm winds and some of the damage was due to the tornado. Based on the level of damage of the mobile home and the gymnasium, the tornado was rated F2. The path width was estimated at 50 yards and the path length was estimated at 2 miles. From the reports available, it is thought the tornado developed about 1020 pm CST and dissipated around 1025 pm CST. It is the strongest tornado in South Central Texas since the evening of October 12, 2001, when an F3 tornado struck Stonewall, and an F2 tornado struck Hondo.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (29.2167, -99.7167)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5489793. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.