Southern Middle Tennessee F5 Tornado
At the same time the tornadic storms developed and moved across the Nashville area, severe storms also developed across southwestern Tennessee east of Memphis. One particular supercell quickly intensified due to an outflow boundary left by earlier storms and there were also significant pressure drops across the same area. It begin producing severe hail near Lawrence County before a tornado touched down in Wayne County near Clifton at around 3:50 PM CST. In that county, three people were killed by the tornado including those inside a modular home and another inside a wooden frame home.
No other fatalities were reported as it traveled through sparsely populated areas and did not significantly affect any towns. However, many homes were completely leveled with some swept clean from their foundations. Some of the slab foundation were actually found at least partially scoured away or pulled from the ground. Asphalt was scoured from roads as well. In Wayne County, 34 homes were destroyed and 36 others suffered minor to major damage while other structures were completely demolished including mobile homes. An undetermined number of structures including brick homes were demolished in neighboring Lawrence County and livestock were killed. In Giles County five homes and eight mobile homes were destroyed while a gas tank ruptured. In Maury County, no homes were demolished as it weakened to an F3 but several structures, including homes and businesses, sustained significant damage in the Culleoka area. On many occasions, the tornado was at least one mile wide across Wayne and Lawrence Counties. A total of 36 people were injured and $30 million in damage was done along the 70-mile long path of the tornado which lifted northeast of Culleoka at around 5:30 PM CST.
It is the most recent Tennessee F5 and only official one as the March 11, 1923 Pinson tornado took place before the introduction of the Fujita scale and before records were officially kept.
Read more about this topic: 1998 Nashville Tornado Outbreak
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