Tornado, Orangeburg
- When
- May 15, 12:20 AM CST
- Where
- Orangeburg County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 3.8 mi
- Path width
- 40 yd
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 33.470, -81.030
Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in South Carolina, May 15, 1976
3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 6
- Property damage
- $750,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 5
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
Event by event
3 tornado, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Richland
- When
- May 15, 1:30 AM CST
- Where
- Richland County
- Rating
- F2
- Path length
- 3.8 mi
- Path width
- 40 yd
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Injuries
- 3 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 34.030, -81.000
Tornado, Darlington
- When
- May 15, 8:30 AM CST
- Where
- Darlington County
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 6.9 mi
- Path width
- 30 yd
- Property damage
- $250,000
- Coordinates
- 34.370, -80.180
Thunderstorm Wind, Sumter
- When
- May 15, 11:00 AM CST
- Where
- Sumter County
- Coordinates
- 33.920, -80.350
Thunderstorm Wind, Chesterfield
- When
- May 15, 1:40 PM CST
- Where
- Chesterfield County
- Coordinates
- 34.720, -79.850
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado, Richland | 1976-05-15 | Direct |
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes in North Carolina, May 15, 1976
- Tornadoes in Virginia, May 15, 1976
- Tornado in Florida, May 15, 1976
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Kentucky, May 15, 1976
- Tornado and Damaging Winds in Illinois, May 15, 1976
- Hail in Alabama, May 15, 1976
- Hail in Tennessee, May 15, 1976
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Indiana, May 15, 1976
- Hail in Iowa, May 15, 1976
- Hail in Mississippi, May 15, 1976
- Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 15, 1976
- Hail in Missouri, May 15, 1976
More
Every storm in South Carolina in 1976Every state in 1976This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for South Carolina, 1976
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 10111574, 10111575, 10111576, 10111577, 10111578.