Chattooga County, Georgia Tornado - Apr 25, 2010

Tornado near Cloudland, Georgia
April 25, 2010

On Saturday, April 24, a cold front moved across the southeast United States as surface low pressure lifted out of the southern Plains into the Ohio valley. With the instability and shear ahead of the cold front, showers and thunderstorms developed and at 12:33 am Sunday April 25th produced an EF1 tornado with winds of 105 miles an hour. The damage spanned a 7.8-mile long and up to 300 yard wide path across Chattooga County.

The tornado touched down near the Alabama line on State Line road, or about 3 miles north northeast of Cloudland. Sporadic damage to at least 15 large trees was observed in this area across a one-half mile wide path. The tornado continued eastward, where hundreds of trees were down near Georgia Highway 157 and Gilreath Mill Road. As the tornado continued eastward, across a ridge, it appeared to strengthen with considerable damage noted along the mid to end part of the tornado path. The tornado mid-point was estimated to be between Georgia Highway 337 and Harrisburg road. Significant damage was observed between Hemphill and Harrisburg roads, where eight homes were damaged and two garages, a carport, and several sheds were destroyed. A small grass strip airport suffered extensive damage, where one hanger was destroyed, another was heavily damaged, and two airplanes were flipped over - one an 800lb Ultralight aircraft and the other a 1500lb Cessna. Nearby, a home lost its roof, another suffered extensive shingle damage, and another shed was destroyed. Two large riding lawn mowers were moved 90 feet. Hundreds of large, mature oak, pecan, and pine trees were down between Hemphill Road and the end point of the tornado near Center Post Road. Center Post Road was said to have been blocked from downed trees following the tornado.

Map of damage path... ( click images to enlarge )
Path of EF1 tornado that struck north northeast of Cloudland in Chattooga County.

Damage Photos... ( click images to enlarge )
Tree down on Hemphill Road.	Roof damage to a structure on Hemphill Road.	Tree down on Highway 337.
Riding lawnmower flipped over among debris.	Destroyed hangars at airstrip.	Damage and debris at airstrip.