By Jeff Shultz
Managing Editor
May 12, 2008 09:41 am
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By Jeff Shultz
Managing Editor
National Weather Service officials confirmed Wednesday night’s storm did produce a tornado that destroyed the home of Justin and Cindy Ward northeast of Pauls Valley.
At first the NWS reported the cause of the damage to be high winds, but after further investigation the NWS changed its report to state a tornado actually was the culprit.
The tornado was given a F1 status, meaning the twister packed wind speeds ranging anywhere from 73 to 112 miles per hour.
A tornado that size will cause moderate to significant damage including moving mobile homes off of their foundations and possible tipping a mobile home over.
The tornado was true to form as the Wards home was moved off of its foundation and totally destroyed.
Cindy Ward and her son, Cody, were in the house at the time of hit. Just seconds before the twister hit their home she had instructed her son to take cover inside the house.
Cindy suffered a couple of broken toes while Cody was unharmed.
Wednesday’s tornado marked the first time since 1997 a tornado actually touched down in Garvin County.
According to the National Weather Service’s tornado historical data, a F0 tornado touched down seven miles south of Stratford on May 25, 1997. Another tornado that day touched down seven miles south of Maysville.
The largest tornado to ever hit Garvin County was an F4 twister on April 19, 1972. The largest tornado to hit the Pauls Valley vicinity came exactly one year later when on April 19, 1973 a F2 twister touched down northeast of Pauls Valley.
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Photos
This is was the scene Wednesday evening as a strong stom system passed through the Pauls Valley area. The storm briefly produced a tornado that destroyed a rural home northeast of PV. (Photo courtesy of Ricky Manning)