Tornado in Georgia, May 2, 1997

Name: Tornado in Georgia, May 2, 1997
Start: 1997-05-02T18:40
End: 1997-05-02T18:50
Location: Georgia

May 2, 1997 · NWS FFC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, 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

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 3
Property damage: $100,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Walker

When: May 2, 6:40 PM EST to 6:50 PM EST
Where: Walker County, Chickamauga to 6 mi of Chickamauga
Rating: F1
Path length: 10 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 3 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $100,000
Coordinates: 34.800, -85.370

The tornado touched down just southwest of Chickamauga in the Ridgecrest Acre mobile home park. Touchdown was noted to be at the intersection of Georgia Highway 136 and 193. Three mobile homes were completely destroyed, and a total of 28 homes/ mobile homes had damage varying from moderate to being totally destroyed. Homes were moved off their foundations and numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted.

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, Walker	1997-05-02	9	Female	Mobile/Trailer Home	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.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Georgia in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Georgia, 1997 Warnings in Georgia, May 1997

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: 5593918.