EF1 tornado in Orangeburg County, South Carolina

Tornado April 19, 2019 · Orangeburg County, South Carolina

EF1

Rating

7.8 mi

Whole path

400 yd

Path width

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

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 400 yards (0.23 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

An EF-1 tornado touched down in Orangeburg Co SC around 1401 EDT (1301 EST) near the intersection of Old Elloree Rd and Odell Dr. The tornado then moved quickly to the north-northeast for nearly 8 miles, crossing Cloverdale Lane, Gramling Rd, Interstate 26, Glenzell Rd, Cameron Rd, Shulmer Rd, and finally Mount Carmel Rd. The tornado then moved into Calhoun Co SC around 1407 EDT (1307 EST) near Church Camp Rd and Moorer Rd. The tornado continued to the NNE crossing Belleville Rd and then lifted around 1409 EDT (1309 EST) before reaching US Hwy 176.

The tornado did considerable damage, snapping and uprooting a large number of hardwood and softwood trees along its path. Trees fell onto several mobile homes, destroying at least 2 of them. At least one home had shingles removed from the roof. An agricultural center pivot irrigation system was also knocked over off of Mount Carmel Rd.

The wider storm

Moderate to strong atmospheric instability and shear led to a line of showers and thunderstorms along a cold front, that moved east across the region during the afternoon, producing wind damage along with some embedded tornadoes.

NWS Storm Survey teams found that a total of 5 tornadoes occurred. Considerable thunderstorm downburst wind damage also occurred. A 3-year-old boy was killed when a large tree, that was downed by strong thunderstorm winds, fell onto his home near Sumter, SC.

Began near Four Holes (33.4939, -80.7892).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Orangeburg County EF2 Clarendon County EF1 Newberry County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 813553. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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