F3 tornado — Hamilton County, Tennessee

F3 tornado in Hamilton County, Tennessee

Tornado March 29, 1997 · Hamilton County, Tennessee

Rating

8.0 mi

Path length

100 yd

Path width

Injuries

$45.0M

Damage as recorded

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 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.

The wider storm

In Hamilton county...the tornado first touched down in the Tiftonia community just west of downtown Chattanooga around 1:10 am EDT. As the tornado moved due east across the southern part of the county, 50 homes were completely destroyed. Another 600 homes and one business were heavily damaged. Most of the damage was concentrated in the East Brainerd community. There, about half of the 180-unit Hickory Villa apartment complex was destroyed, and 18 of 23 townhomes of the Hickory Trace complex were destroyed. Two more apartment complexes, Hickory Valley and Ledford Apartments, were severely damaged. Around 20000 homes were without electricity after the storm. Most power had been restored by Monday morning. In Bradley county...the tornado destroyed 5 poultry farms, 4 homes, and 4 mobile homes. Another 45 homes, 16 mobile homes and 3 poultry farms were damaged.

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5596926. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

F3 tornado in Hamilton County, Tennessee

The wider storm

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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