F3 tornado, Camilla, Georgia, February 13, 2000

1. F040 to 72 mph

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. F173 to 112 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. F3158 to 206 mphthis tornado

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. F4207 to 260 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. F5261 to 318 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

F3

Date

February 13, 2000

Touchdown

11:42 PM EST (04:42 UTC)

Path length

9.2 miles (14.8 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

11

Injuries

175

Property damage

$20 million

County

Mitchell County

Touchdown point

31.170, -84.270

Lift-off point

31.230, -84.120

Record number

634

A strong tornado tore through two major subdivisions and four mobile home parks just south of Camilla after touching down just east of Branchville. Damage assessments from the American Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency reported 200 homes destroyed and 250 homes were damaged. Two miles south of Camilla on GA Highway 112, a large trailer manufacturing plant was destroyed. Eleven fatalities were confirmed by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, all of which resided in mobile homes. Approximately 175 persons were injured. The American Red Cross and Salvation Army opened several shelters for the homeless. Hundreds of acres of pecan trees were uprooted, pine trees snapped, and power lines toppled. Numerous irrigation systems were damaged. Property damage estimates totalled $20 million with crop losses estimated at $2 million. Mitchell County was declared a federal disaster area. Reported by the Mitchell County EMA.

A strong tornado tracked northeast from extreme northwest Thomas County into extreme southeastMitchell County. Numerous homes were damaged as well as downed trees and power lines. One man died from injuries sustained when the tornado destroyed his mobile home and neighboring woodframe home two miles north of Meigs. Reported by the Mitchell County EMA.

The deaths

12 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

24 minutes of warning. NWS TAE issued a tornado warning for this county at 04:18 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 05:00 UTC.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Albany Municipal (ABY), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Tallahassee radar (KTLH), 90 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:42 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in GeorgiaEvery tornado in Georgia since 1950Warnings in force in Georgia nowThe forecast where you are

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.