EF2 Tornado — Holmes, Mississippi

2017-04-30 · near Pickens, Holmes, Mississippi

Event narrative

This strong tornado started several miles west of Pickens off Highway 432 and tracked Northeast for roughly 23 miles. The tornado impacted areas west of Goodman, Holmes County State Park and a direct hit on the town of Durant. The tornado was very wide and was roughly 1.2 miles wide at its widest point. Across the entire path, thousands of trees were damaged/uprooted/snapped. Hundreds of power poles and power lines were down as well. The large majority of structures that were damaged were indicated by minor to moderate roof damage with singles/siding torn off to partial loss of decking. Multiple structures were more heavily damaged by trees falling on them. Some of the more significant tree and structural damage occurred along Courts Road, Salem Road, Ebenezer Pickens Road and Jordan Road. Four mobile homes were destroyed along Jordan Road, including a new, well secured, mobile home. Significant tree damage also occurred along Highway 51 and along State Park Road just west of Highway 51. The town of Durant took a direct hit. Many buildings and homes sustained minor to moderate roof damage. A few less sound structures were destroyed. Numerous power lines were also down. The tornado continued a bit further to the northeast before dissipating. The total path length was 23.4 miles.

Wider weather episode

During the early morning hours of April 30th, a squall line of severe thunderstorms developed across central Louisiana and pushed eastward across the ArkLaMiss. The line intensified as it approached the Mississippi River and caused wind damage and tornadoes. As the convective system evolved into Mississippi, numerous tornadoes developed along the advancing line, with the most prolific damage occurring along the track of a large meso-scale convective vortex (MCV). This feature tracked roughly from Claiborne County through western Hinds/Madison, eastern Yazoo, eastern Holmes, southeastern Carroll, Montgomery, and northwestern Webster counties. This corridor is where the most significant damage occurred, as well as one fatality. Flash flooding, hail, and other wind damage occurred as these storms moved through.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.9005, -90.0257)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 692096. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.