EF2 Tornado — Effingham, Georgia

2008-03-15 · near Rincon, Effingham, Georgia

Event narrative

An EF2 Tornado was confirmed by a Storm Survey conducted by the Charleston, South Carolina National Weather Service Forecast Office. The Tornado touched down in Effingham county 3.5 miles northeast of Rincon, Georgia and just northwest of the Georgia Power McIntosh Plant around 944 PM EDT and traveled southeast approximately a half a mile before lifting at 945 PM EDT. This Tornado destroyed a water cooling tower, damaged another water cooling tower and several buildings, toppled two high voltage transmission towers, knocked down or uprooted several dozen trees, tossed tractor trailer cargo containers with equipment inside up to 100 yards. In addition, at the time of the survey one of the tractor trailer containers could not be found. A steel hoist roof assembly weighing a couple thousand pounds used to load and unload heavy items was tossed 100 feet. This tornado was up to 100 yards wide and had maximum sustained winds estimated between 120 and 130 mph.

Wider weather episode

A large and intense area of low pressure lifted northward through the central Appalachians, dragging a strong cold front toward southern South Carolina and southeast Georgia. The combination of the approaching cold front along with strong dynamic forcing and plenty of instability resulted in a widespread organized severe weather outbreak across the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.3300, -81.2000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 90612. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.