EF1 Tornado — Camden, Georgia

2021-07-07 · near St Marys, Camden, Georgia

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado with peak winds near 100 mph touched down along East St. Mary's River Street, just north of the St. Mary's River, where tree trunks were snapped. The tornado strengthened to peak EF1 intensity and produced significant damage to residences along E. Conyers and Norris Streets in St. Mary's before pivoting north-northeastward. The tornado then damaged homes and apartments along Point Peter Road. The tornado reached maximum width near the Eagle Hammock RV Park at EF1 intensity. Multiple recreational vehicles were flipped over, with two completely flipped upside down. One RV was flipped and blown about 200 yards into a lake on the north side of the park. Several hardwood trees at the park were snapped. There was debris from the RVs scattered throughout the RV park area. The last of tornado damage included solar panel damage just south of Crooked River State Park. There were 17 reported injuries and 11 of the 17 had to be transported to a hospital.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Elsa tracked NNE across the western tier of the local forecast area through the day on Wed, July 7th. The storm made landfall along the FL Big Bend coast. The main impacts from TS Elsa for the local area included 3 confirmed tornadoes, downed trees due to gusty winds, and heavy rainfall which caused river flooding. There was one loss of life due to a tree falling onto a car. Peak rainfall amount was near 7.2 inches in Alachua county and the peak recorded wind gust in a squall was 58 mph in Jekyll Island GA.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.7205, -81.5469)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 964937. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.