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F4 tornado in Izard County, Arkansas

Tornado April 14, 1996 · Izard County, Arkansas

F4
Rating
44.0 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
7
Deaths
35
Injuries
$7.5M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F4 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F4 meant devastating damage: well-built houses levelled; the scale paired it with winds of 207–260 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.

The wider storm

The Stone County tornado moved into Izard County at Sylamore at 739 pm CDT. The tornado destroyed several cabins. Luckily, the cabins were evacuated before the tornado arrived. Just east of the cabins, the tornado moved into a small subdivision where several homes were damaged and one destroyed. Two occupants in the destroyed home were thrown several hundred feet and killed. The storm continued to track northeastward along Highway 9, where isolated damage was noted. The tornado reached Melbourne around 800 pm CDT, damaging or destroying a number of homes and businesses. A Ford dealership was destroyed with a number of new cars totalled. A housing project and local community college were also damaged in Melbourne. The tornado continued northeast toward the town of Franklin and then lifted 3 miles southeast of Horseshoe Bend. Some downed trees were the only noted damage along the last few miles of the tornado's path. 30 people sustained minor injuries from the storm.Damage along the track of the tornado was mostly F3. However, some damage was consistant with an F4 rating. Initial estimates place the amount of damage at $5,000,000.

Began near Sylamore (35.9300, -92.1000).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5543482. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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