Tornadoes hit Cass County

On March 21 seven tornadoes hit Texas, three of them here in Cass County causing downed trees, power outages and major structural damage. The National Weather Service in Shreveport LA updated their reporting to note that in Cass County that of the three tornadoes one was an EF2 and two were EF1s. It has been reported eight people were injured, but no loss of life. Here in Cass County one lady was reported trapped but was able to free herself and drive to the hospital. However later it was reported that a Grayson County Woman, 73, was killed by the storm. The storm also shutdown Graphic Packaging that supplies water to Atlanta. This caused a reduction in water supply and created a boiling order, and a cancelled school day for Atlanta.

According to the National Weather Service in Shreveport, Louisiana in a corrected Public Information Statement on Thursday, March 24, 2022, the first of the Cass County tornadoes touched down first in central Upshur County ending up in Southwest Cass County, Texas.

The tornado was listed with an estimated peak wind of 135 mph; path length of 40.1509 miles; path width of a maximum of 700.0 yards and seven injuries. The tornado started from about 10:20 p.m., five miles northwest of Union Grove in Upshur County, Texas and lasted till about 11:08 p.m. ending at approximately four miles west of Linden, Texas.

Reportedly “the tornado initially touched down off of FM 2685 and Pomegranate road where it began sporadically uprooting hardwood and softwood trees. It continued on to intensify and develop a widespread damage swath of uprooted and snapped trees as it approached US-271. Just before reaching US-271 the tornado ripped the roof off of a single-family home and tore down a wall of the home. This home had an anemometer on its property that remained intact and wind observations may become available in the coming days. As the tornado continued on, it reached its maximum width of 700 yards or 0.4 miles as it crossed TX-300. The tornado continued on and intensified further as it crossed Azalea Road and TX-154.

“Just before reaching the road, it hit a two-story single-family home, removing the home’s second floor and tearing down a front exterior wall. This led to the tornado’s maximum wind speed of 135 mph. This is the strongest wind speed of an EF-2 tornado rating.”

“The tornado continued on to rip off the roof of a single-family home, and completely destroy one double-wide and multiple single-wide manufactured homes. The tornado also led to structural damage to several two-story family homes with portions of roofs removed and a projectile leading to a large hole in the side of a home. A guest house that had a frame nailed into the ground was wiped clean from its foundation with its occupant hospitalized.”

“As the tornado continued on it led to more structural roof damage to single family homes and complete destruction to manufactured homes between Gilmer and Ore City. On at least three occasions, manufactured homes had residents inside them when they were picked up and thrown by tornadoes. The tornado continued to lead to widespread tree damage and roof damage to homes as it approached Lake O The Pines. Before crossing the lake, the tornado ripped the roof off of the Lake O the Pines Bait Shop before throwing multiple RVs and a motorhome into the Lake O the Pines with four occupants in them that were rescued from the lake.”

“On the opposite side of the lake in extreme northwest Marion County and extreme southeast Morris County, widespread tree damage was observed with hundreds of snapped trees. Off of FM 729, a manufactured home was picked up and rolled with an occupant in it. She suffered injuries and crawled near a half of a mile to FM 729 to get to help. The tornado continued on to completely destroy or lead to significant damage of manufactured homes along Nash Farm Rd. A metal building structure for storage of vehicles had two walls and its roof removed, lifting pillars and throwing them several hundred feet. As the tornado continued on across more rural areas of Cass County it continued to uproot and snap trees with damage becoming more sporadic and narrower as it continued, producing EF-1 damage from just north of Avinger to west of Linden. The tornado finally lifted after it damaged the roof on a home and crossed TX-11 and TX-130.”

The second Cass County tornado hit the north-central part of the county with a EF1 rating bringing estimated peak winds of 90 mph with a path length of 1.8186 miles and a maximum path or 150 yards No injuries were reported from this tornado. It started at 11:21 p.m. three miles Southeast of Douglassville and ended at 11:23 p.m. four miles east-southeast of Douglassville.

“A tornado embedded within a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) briefly touched down and uprooted approximately 10 hardwood and softwood trees along TX-77. A special thanks goes out to TDEM, Cass County Emergency Management, and the Texas Department of Public Safety for their assistance locating this damage via an aerial survey.”

The final tornado hit Northeast Cass County, Texas at 11:29 p.m. with a EF1 rating, bringing winds of 100 mph. The path length was 2.0451 miles with a path width of 200.0 yards. No injuries were reported.

It started four miles southwest of Domino and ended at 11:32 p.m. CDT two miles South Southwest of Domino.

Again, according to the National Weather service in Shreveport, the “tornado embedded within a quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) briefly touched down near US-59 between the Queen City and Domino Community. The tornado mostly uprooted approximately 30 trees and damaged the roofs of manufactured homes before lifting. A special thanks goes out to Cass County Emergency Management, TDEM, and the Texas Department of Public Safety for their assistance with an aerial survey of this damage.”

Governor Greg Abbott issued a Disaster Declaration on March 22 for the “weather which began on March 21, 2022, produced heavy rain, large hail, damaging winds, and multiple tornadoes poses an imminent threat of widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property in Bastrop, Cass, Cooke, Grayson, Guadalupe, Houston, Jack, Madison, Marion, Montague, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Upshur, Williamson, and Wise counties.”

A local church (GT Church) has set up a fund for some of the victims here in Cass County. You can donate here: gtatlanta. church/give.