The National Weather Service has confirmed a total of five tornadoes hit Orangeburg, Calhoun and Bamberg counties during the landfall of Hurricane Helene.
The details of the four Orangeburg and Calhoun county tornadoes will be released in the near future. Surveyors on Monday were also going to the eastern part of Orangeburg County near Lake Marion to investigate a potential sixth tornado.
Initial surveys reveal the tornadoes primarily snapped and uprooted trees, with no reports of significant structural damage from the tornadoes.
The NWS confirmed an EF1 tornado began in northern Orangeburg County, crossing western Calhoun County before dissipating in southeast Lexington County near Gaston.
NWS meteorologist Matt Gropp said the tornado touched down near Limestone Creek in Orangeburg County and then crossed over into Calhoun County.
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An EF1 tornado has winds between 86 mph and 110 mph.
An EF0 tornado was confirmed southeast of Branchville. It started near the Orangeburg County line and moved north before dissipating north of Rowesville.
Gropp said the tornado was in a rural area and damaged trees. A house had some siding pulled off.
“There were no trees over homes, just trees on roads,” Gropp said.
Another EF0 tornado began near the Orangeburg County line along Reevesville Road near Rigby Road. It moved north near Bowman before dissipating east of Orangeburg near U.S. Highway 301.
Gropp said this storm took a longer track than the others and there were “more damage points as it came into Orangeburg County near Bowman.”
“There were quite a few trees down,” Gropp said.
EF0 tornadoes pack winds of 65 mph to 85 mph.
The NWS previously confirmed an EF1 tornado hit the Cordova area. The NWS believes the tornado started in the Canaan area near Cannon Bridge Road. Large, uprooted trees are near its starting point.
The tornado moved northwest and, at one point, crossed U.S. Highway 301. Most of the damage was tree damage.
Its maximum wind speed is estimated at 95 mph, based on this damage.
In addition, the NWS previously confirmed a tornado started near Ashton in Colleton County and ended near Ehrhardt in Bamberg County.
The EF1 tornado had estimated maximum winds of 90 mph. It had a path length of 7.8 miles with a maximum width of 150 yards.
It spent an estimated 19 minutes on the ground beginning at 12:52 p.m. Thursday.
The tornado snapped trees and knocked down tree branches, but no structural damage was seen.
Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551. Check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTD.
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