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EF1 tornado in Colonial Heights (c) County, Virginia

Tornado April 28, 2008 · Colonial Heights (c) County, Virginia

EF1
Rating
1.0 mi
Whole path
80 yd
Path width
21
Injuries
$2.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Colonial Heights (c) County → Prince George County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 80 yards (0.05 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

A tornado touched down in spots beginning near the end of the football field near Colonial Heights Middle School. The tornado then continued across Interstate 95 and into the Dimmock Square shopping center. The first of the damage was to a football field clubhouse as a part of the roof was blown off. The storm then lifted across an area of homes and touched down again just west of the interstate and tearing a path through the roof of the Medallion Pools building. Twisted metal was strewn across the parking lot with a few cars damaged from the flying debris. The tornado lifted again across I-95 scattering debris across the Southgate Square parking lot, including a half-ton air conditioning unit blown approximately 300 yards and deposited in front of the Helzberg Diamonds business near SouthPark Boulevard.

The most significant damage occurred with the final touchdown in the Dimmock Square Strip mall. A string of 4 stores around 75-80 yards in width had ceiling tiles blwon out, roof peeled off and windows blown out. Several cars were damaged as some had windows shattered from flying debris. Other vehicles were flipped and tossed about in piles. The storm appeared to lift again, but there was damage to a bank and light poles blown down in a car lot approximately 50 to 100 yards east of Dimmock Square. Cars were also damaged here from the flying debris.

The tornado then lifted and crossed Temple Avenue into Prince George County.

The wider storm

Severe thunderstorms in advance of a cold front produced numerous tornadoes across central and eastern Virginia.

Began near Colonial Hgts (37.2444, -77.3977).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 97254. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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