May 1989 tornado outbreak

May 1989 tornado outbreak

Date of tornado outbreak:	May 5, 1989
Duration1:	~ 7 hours
Maximum rated tornado2:	F4 tornado
Tornadoes caused:	17
Damages:	$169 million (non-normalized)
Fatalities:	7
Areas affected:	Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia
1Time from first tornado to last tornado 2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

The May 1989 tornado outbreak occurred on May 5, 1989. The outbreak spawned 17 tornadoes in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, and was responsible for a combined total of $169 million dollars in damage in the four states. It also caused 7 deaths and 168 injuries.

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed Total	Confirmed F0	Confirmed F1	Confirmed F2	Confirmed F3	Confirmed F4	Confirmed F5
17	0	8	5	1	4	0

Sources: [1]

F#	Location	County	Time (EST)	Path length	Damage
Georgia
F1	near Gainesville	Hall	03:20	1 mile	Minor damage northeast of Gainesville.
F2	near Toccoa	Stephens GA, Oconee SC	04:00	8 miles	Tornado crossed from Georgia into South Carolina near Toccoa and Westminster. $2.9 million in damage.
South Carolina
F1	near Walhalla	Oconee	04:40	2 miles	Brief touchdown.
F4	near Chesnee	Spartanburg SC, Cherokee SC, Rutherford NC	05:20	9 miles	2 Deaths, 35 Injuries. First violent tornado of the outbreak passed close to Chesnee before crossing the NC/SC state line into SE Rutherford County. Homes swept away S of Chesnee.
North Carolina
F4	SW of Henrietta	Rutherford	05:35	6 miles	Homes and businesses damaged (several destroyed) in the SE corner of Rutherford County. Tornado moved N.
F4	Belwood, Vale	Cleveland, Lincoln, Catawba	05:50	14 miles	4 Deaths, 52 Injuries. Half-mile wide, multi-votex tornado causes severe damage in the communities of Belwood and Vale. Storm began NW of Lawndale; 15 homes destroyed in Cleveland County. Deaths in the Toluca community in Lincoln County, where homes were destroyed and several cars were carried 300 yards. Tornado weakened and dissipated as it approached Newton.
F2	Durham	Durham	06:20	9 miles	Second tornado family begins with this tornado, which moved through southern and eastern Durham. $15,000,000 in damage; no deaths or injuries, although nearly 75 buildings were damaged or destroyed.
F2	near Lenoir	Caldwell	06:28	15 miles	Moderate damage near Lenoir.
F4	Indian Trail	Union	07:00	13 miles	1 Death, 6 Injuries. 20 miles SE of Charlotte; tornado began west of Monroe, before moving through the SE edge of Indian Trail and dissipating in the rural town of Fairview. 12 homes completely destroyed along a path up to 1/3 mile in width; another two dozen homes heavily damaged.
F1	west of Oxford	Granville	07:05	3 miles	Second and last tornado from the Durham supercell.
F2	Clemmons	Forsyth	07:45	1 mile	Moderate damage from brief touchdown in the Winston-Salem suburb of Clemmons.
F3	Winston-Salem	Forsyth	07:50	11 miles	2nd Forsyth County tornado produces over $25 million in F3 damage on a SW to NE track through the city, striking colonial-era neighborhoods and just missing downtown. Storm criss-crossed old I-40 in multiple locations. Widespread downburst damage in many locations around Winston-Salem.
F2	near Morven	Anson	07:50	5 miles	SE of Wadesboro. Several homes damaged, one destroyed.
F1	Oakboro	Stanly	08:00	0.5 mile	Very brief touchdown, from the same storm producing the earlier Indian Trail tornado.
F2	north of Walkertown	Forsyth	08:05	6 miles	Third Forsyth County tornado, formed almost immediately after the Winston-Salem tornado dissipated, and continued along an extension of the same path. 30 aircraft at Smith-Reynolds Airport were damaged.
F1	Burlington, Elon	Alamance	unk time	3 miles	Tornado produces F1 damage in western Burlington and Elon.[1]
Virginia
F1	near Louisa	Louisa	09:00	2 miles	Isolated tornado touches down between Charlottesville and Richmond. F1 damage on a short, but wide path.
F1	near Louisa	Louisa	09:50	2 miles	Second Louisa County tornado touches down from separate thunderstorm, several miles east of previous Louisa tornado.

Georgia and South Carolina

Outbreak death toll

State	Total	County	County total
North Carolina	5	Lincoln	4
		Union	1
South Carolina	2	Spartanburg	2
Totals	7
All deaths were tornado-related

The first tornadoes of this outbreak were reported between 1 and 2 P.M. near Gainesville, Georgia and Toccoa, Georgia. During the mid-afternoon, severe storms began moving northeast into the northwest corner of South Carolina, spawning additional tornadoes in Oconee County.

The first violent tornadoes (F3 or F4 intensity - see Fujita scale) of the outbreak were reported shortly thereafter, north and northeast of Spartanburg and Gaffney, South Carolina. These tornadoes crossed into North Carolina, entering Rutherford County in North Carolina.

North Carolina and Virginia

Other F4 tornadoes soon formed just to the north (on a path from northern Cleveland County to southwest of Hickory), and also in Union County, southeast of Charlotte. The Cleveland-Lincoln-Catawba tornado caused 30 injuries and $20 million in property damage in the Belwood community, before then causing 4 fatalities and 19 additional injuries in the Vale community in northwestern Lincoln County. Weaker tornadoes were noted in the NC foothills near Lenoir, and the Union County supercell later spawned F1 tornadoes in nearby Anson and Stanly counties.

Later in the afternoon, a strong F3 tornado produced $25 million in damage on a southwest-to-northeast path through the city of Winston-Salem. Damage from this storm was visible along Business I-40 and US 421 in southwest Winston-Salem. The historic Old Salem area was also hard hit; many century-old trees in Salem Square and God's Acre were heavily damaged by the tornado and had to be removed. In the surrounding areas of Forsyth County, NC, two other tornadoes were confirmed between 5:30 and 6:15 P.M. Strong winds associated with the same squall line downed a radio transmission tower in nearby High Point. Winds toppled large trees and caused roof damage in the Emerywood neighborhood of the city. At about the same time, a series of weaker and short-lived tornadoes nonetheless also managed to produce $27.5 million in damage in northern Durham and southwest Granville counties.

Later in the evening, the last two tornadoes of the outbreak produced minor damage in Louisa County, between Richmond and Charlottesville.

Ultimate toll

Large hail and wind damage reports were widespread - golf-ball sized hail was recorded near Columbia, South Carolina and Monroe, North Carolina, with severe wind reports from over 100 counties from Georgia to Maryland. Some form of storm damage was noted in almost every North Carolina county between I-95 and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

See also

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

References

1. ^ http://www.alamance-nc.com/d/fire-marshal/emergency-management/the-storm/during-the-storm/tornadoes/what-are-tornadoes/north-carolina-tornadoes.html