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F2 tornado in De Kalb County, Georgia

Tornado April 8, 1998 · De Kalb County, Georgia

Rating

19.0 mi

Whole path

800 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$75.0M

Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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 damage path began just northeast of Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody and extended well into Gwinnett county. There was significant widespread damage to trees and homes. One person was killed when a tree fell on his home. DeKalb College's north campus was closed after several buildings sustained major damage.

Began near Dunwoody (33.9500, -84.3300).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

2 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

F2 Cobb County F1 Haralson County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5639755. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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