TORNADO DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS… The National Weather Service office in Mobile (responsible for our local area) has completed their damage assessments of the tornado/storm paths from Sunday, April 22. Here’s what we know this evening…
YET TO BE RANKED… The storm that likely produced a tornado in Sellersville, AL has not been ranked yet. Damage occurred to trees and at least one mobile home. This was caused by a likely tornado that will be ranked EF0 or EF1.
FORT WALTON BEACH, FL TORNADO… Ranked EF1 with max winds of 105mph. 1.24 miles long with a max width of 50 yards. No fatalities, 2 injuries. The tornado moved ashore on Okaloosa Island and produced significant damage to a home on Sailfish Drive. The tornado then moved across Santa Rosa Sound and into Fort Walton Beach, producing tree damage and broken windows at St Mary Catholic Church and School. The tornado continued northeast across Robinwood Drive and damaged the roofs of several units in an apartment complex, before finally weakening and lifting just north of Jet Drive.
MOLINO, FL TORNADO… Ranked EF0 with max winds of 85mph. 0.13 miles long with a max width of 25 yards. No fatalities, no injuries. There was a brief EF-0 track on Crabtree Church Road. One home suffered shingle damage and a broken window and a mobile home was shifted on its foundation. There were also several uprooted small trees and numerous large branches broken.
FOLEY, AL TORNADO… Ranked EF0 with max winds of 80mph. 1.6 miles long with a max width of 100 yards. No fatalities, 3 injuries. The tornado first touched down at the Anchors Aweigh RV Resort where it overturned 5 RVs. 3 people who were in the RVs were injured. The tornado continued northeast to just east of the intersection of Highway 59 and County Road 20. Minor damage to a convenience store canopy and to the Lowe’s were observed. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Pride Drive and Juniper Street. Spotty minor tree damage was noted along the path.
ELBERTA, AL TORNADO… Ranked EF0 with max winds of 80mph. 1.04 miles long with a max width of 100 yards. No fatalities, no injuries. The tornado first touched down near the intersection of County Road 87 and Chatelaine Drive. A few homes experienced shingle damage. Some trees were also uprooted. The tornado continued moving almost due north, paralleling just east of County Road 87, lifting south of the Dixie Road intersection. Minor tree damage was noted along the path along with isolated instances of very minor structural damage to a few residences.
SUCCESSFUL WARNINGS & ACTION… It truly makes me want to jump for joy knowing that no one died in these storms. Yes, there were minor injuries in Foley and Fort Walton Beach, but no lives were lost! Property can be replaced. People cannot. My thoughts go out to the injured folks and the folks who lost property. THANK YOU again to everyone who HEEDED the warnings! I think we all have lessons we can learn from yesterday (and that absolutely includes me, by the way)… The first of which is ALWAYS take any severe weather risk (even Level 1, marginal risks) seriously.
Thank you so much to everyone who watched our 3 hour live streaming coverage hits here on Facebook or in the RZWeather app. Let me stress again, if you haven’t set up the customized alerts in our app (redzoneweather.com/app is the link for the free download), check out the Alerts tab (lower right corner of app) and tap that big yellow Alerts button to set the alerts you want to receive from us.
Have a great evening!