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EF2 tornado in Rockwall County, Texas

Tornado December 26, 2015 · Rockwall County, Texas

EF2
Rating
13.0 mi
Whole path
550 yd
Path width
10
Deaths
468
Injuries
$26.8M
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 550 yards (0.31 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The Garland / Rowlett tornado continued across a small tract of land in western Rockwall County. The tornado continued doing significant damage in the City of Rowlett, before moving onto Lake Ray Hubbard and dissipating over the lake.

The wider storm

A potent storm system brought deadly tornadoes and severe weather to North Texas on the 26th followed by waves of heavy rainfall that resulted in significant flooding across parts of North and Central Texas. Twelve tornadoes were confirmed on the afternoon and evening of the 26th, killing 13 and injuring over 300. The strongest tornado was an EF-4 that struck the Garland and Rowlett areas of Dallas and Rockwall County and where most of the fatalities occurred. Then the waves of heavy rain persisted through the night of the 27th until the upper level low moved past the region. The heaviest rainfall and thus most significant flooding was along and east of Interstate 35 where an average of 3-6+ of rain fell.

Began near Lake Ray Hubbard (32.9150, -96.5180).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 606472. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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