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EF2 tornado in Pulaski County, Arkansas

Tornado May 2, 2008 · Pulaski County, Arkansas

EF2

Rating

40.7 mi

Whole path

300 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$9.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Grant County → Saline County → Pulaski County → Lonoke County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This tornado exited Saline County, southeast of East End, and moved into Pulaski County, southwest of Woodson. Altogether, 75 homes (houses and mobile homes) were damaged or destroyed. This number included 21 homes destroyed, 16 with major damage, 26 with minor damage, and the remainder with only slight damage. Most of these homes were in the Hensley and Woodson areas. One woman was killed when her mobile home was destroyed on West Hensley Rd. Two large, steel, electrical transmission towers were knocked down. The tornado exited Pulaski County, east of Wrightsville, and moved into Lonoke County, just northwest of Keo.

The wider storm

A line of thunderstorms pushed into western Arkansas early on the morning of May 2nd. During the morning and afternoon hours, severe thunderstorms developed out ahead of the line and produced tornadoes.

Began near Woodson (34.5116, -92.2453).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Van Buren County 5 dead EF2 Dallas County EF1 Van Buren County EF1 Lonoke County EF1 Pike County EF0 Woodruff County EF0 Monroe County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 92397. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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