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EF3 tornado in Orangeburg County, South Carolina

Tornado March 15, 2008 · Orangeburg County, South Carolina

EF3
Rating
13.9 mi
Whole path
1,320 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Bamberg County → Orangeburg 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

Extensive damage in Branchville. One home was destroyed and 16 had other moderate to major damage. One mobile home was destroyed and a half dozen had moderate to major damage. Seven buildings in downtown were destroyed, including a couple of 3 layer deep brick buildings. Thirteen others had major damage and 5 had minor damage. Amazingly there were no injuries or deaths.

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 Branchville (33.2400, -80.8650).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Newberry 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 76041. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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