EF1 tornado, Little River to Stephens Xrds, South Carolina, September 5, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

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

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

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

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

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

6. EF5over 200 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

EF1

Date

September 5, 2019

Touchdown

4:37 AM EDT (08:37 UTC)

Lifted

4:48 AM EDT (08:48 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

4.8 miles (7.7 km)

Path width

75 yards (69 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

Horry County

Touchdown point

33.868, -78.615

Lift-off point

33.892, -78.692

Record number

1909050237-01

85 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ILM, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Worst damage to this mobile home in Waterway View mobile home park (screened in porch completely destoyed, severe roof damage and bedroom completely destroyed on NE side of mobile home. Tracked across Waterway View mobile home park into Carolina Keyes condo complex with worst damage between Gardenia Ave and Tanglewood Ave.
• front truss heavily damaged, lots of shingles damaged on surrounding homes near fence post lane.
• shingles missing, gutter damage
• corner of corn flower and fence post lane

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Hurricane Dorian strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane as it moved through the Bahamas, with devastating damage. It weakened as it moved up the eastern seaboard. The hurricane was a strong Category 1 as it passed just east of Bald Head Island. The hurricane spawned many tornadoes across eastern South and North Carolina. Rainfall amounts along the coast ranged from ten to fifteen inches with lesser amounts inland. Hurricane force winds remained offshore, with several sites along the coast reporting gusts over 60 mph. Damage was due mainly from the tornadoes, with many reports of flash flooding. Power outages were minimal. The hurricane exited the region by the afternoon of September 6th.

The tornado began to impact the Little River area around 4:37 AM |EDT. The first observed damage occurred to a dock and several |large trees near the end of Park Road at the Intracoastal |Waterway. One large section of wooden dock was thrown |approximately 150 yards. Several trees in the Little River area |south of US Highway 17 were uprooted, broken and snapped. ||The tornado crossed US Highway 17 around 4:39 AM EDT and |continued to damage the neighborhood on the north side of Little |River. Several hardwood trees and pines were snapped with shingle |damage to area homes consistent with EF-1 damage and 105 MPH wind |speeds. Around 4:42 AM EDT, the tornado crossed through several |housing developments near Horseshoe Road in the vicinity of River|Hills Golf course where tree damage continued. After crossing |Eagles Nest Golf Course and Golf Avenue, trees were snapped on |the west side of the golf course before tracking into swamp land |north of Heritage Trust Road. ||After passing through the swamp, damage resumed in The Retreat |neighborhood along Retreat Place. Shingle, siding damage to homes,|and partial roof loss were observed in The Retreat neighborhood |along with uprooted tree damage. The tornado crossed State Highway|57 North and snapped large pines and some hardwood trees, as well|as shingle damage to the nearby home consistent with EF-1 damage.|The tornado continued and crossed Highway 9 East and damaged |trees and shingles to Community Motors. Damage continued near |Surfride Blvd with an awning ripped off the local strip mall. The |tornado likely dissipated around 4:48 AM EDT.

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

27 minutes of warning. NWS ILM issued a tornado warning for this county at 08:10 UTC, 27 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:20 UTC and running to 20:00 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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:44 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.

North Myrtle Beach (CRE), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Wilmington radar (KLTX), 24 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 08:39 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in South CarolinaEvery tornado in South Carolina since 1950Warnings in force in South Carolina nowThe forecast where you are

24 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.