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EF3 tornado in Newberry County, South Carolina

Tornado March 15, 2008 · Newberry County, South Carolina

EF3
Rating
27.5 mi
Whole path
1,320 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$10K
Damage as recorded

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,320 yards (0.75 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

NWS Storm Survey found an EF3 tornado touched down near Silverstreet and continued east through Prosperity then crossed into Richald county where it dissipated. Many homes in Prosperity were heavily damaged. Numerous trees and powerlines were down. There were 2 injuries.

The wider storm

Seven supercells tracked across our South Carolina County Warning Area and produced many long-lived tornadoes that did significant damage. Over 85 homes were destroyed, around 400 had moderate damage, and estimates for the total devastation were around 40 million dollars.

Began near Trinity (34.2300, -81.7600).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Bamberg CountyEF2 Kershaw CountyEF2 Kershaw CountyEF2 Saluda CountyEF2 Lexington CountyEF2 Calhoun CountyEF2 Aiken CountyEF2 Lee CountyEF1 McCormick CountyEF1 Chesterfield CountyEF1 Richland CountyEF1 Clarendon CountyEF1 Bamberg CountyEF1 Kershaw CountyEF0 Fairfield CountyEF0 Kershaw CountyEF0 Aiken CountyEF0 Edgefield CountyEF0 Barnwell County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 75964. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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