EF2 Tornado — Ben Hill, Georgia

2019-12-17 · near Fitzgerald Municipal Arpt, Ben Hill, Georgia

Event narrative

The initial touchdown occurred in an un-reachable area of Irwin County approximately nine miles west of Ocilla. The survey team relied on radar data to estimate the touchdown location. The first area the damage assessment team could access was along Ponderosa Road just north of Wood Rd. where dozens of pine trees were snapped and a farm had several outbuildings damaged. Damage...consisting of snapped trees, destroyed outbuildings and damaged irrigation machinery...then continued along a widening path heading east-northeast toward the Mystic community. Damage was significant in Mystic. Several homes suffered serious roof loss and a couple brick buildings were nearly destroyed. Debris including concrete chunks was thrown hundreds of yards into a nearby field. There were hundreds of snapped and uprooted trees of all kinds in the area. Damage was well into the EF-2 range here with max winds estimated at 125 mph, and the damage path widened to near 400 yards. Continuous damage...mainly downed trees and damaged barns...persisted along a wide path as the tornado continued moving east-northeast. The next area of significant damage was noted in a neighborhood south of Fitzgerald, Georgia at the intersection of Vo Tech and Old Whitley Crossing Roads. More than a dozen homes suffered major roof damage here with several experiencing complete loss. A couple RVs were rolled over and heavily damaged. The tornado continued moving northeast eventually crossing into Ben Hill county along Highway 319. Several more homes suffered roof damage, many barns were destroyed and hundreds of trees were snapped. The last evidence of damage was to a barn and trees along Partridge Road approximately 2.5 miles east of the Ashton community. Damage cost was estimated.

Wider weather episode

A strong cold front moved through the area with showers and thunderstorms. There were several reports of trees and power lines down, and one storm produced an EF2 tornado that tracked from Irwin into Ben Hill county in Georgia. Additional EF0 tornadoes touched down in Early county, GA, Baker county, GA, and Houston county, AL. An EF1 tornado occurred in Miller county, GA.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.6541, -83.2551)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 869734. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.