Boone County Office of Emergency Management
 

Southridge Tornado Damage
November 9, 1998, Columbia, Missouri

Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge. Images provided courtesy of the Columbia Fire Department.

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National Weather Service Statement

ABUS34 KSTL 122120
PNSSTL

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...RETRANSMITTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
315 PM CDT THU NOV 12 1998

...DAMAGE SURVEY RESULTS OVER SOUTHEAST PART OF THE CITY OF COLUMBIA MISSOURI...EARLY TUESDAY MORNING...NOVEMBER 10 1998...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONDUCTED A DETAILED SURVEY IN THE SOUTH RIDGE SUBDIVISION OVER THE SOUTHEAST PART OF THE CITY OF COLUMBIA. ONE PREDOMINANT TORNADO DAMAGE TRACK..HAVING AN OVERALL PATH OF 3/4 MILE IN LENGTH WAS OBSERVED. TWO SMALL SHEAR VORTICES FORMED ON THE RIGHT SIDE (SOUTHEAST SIDE) OF THE PARENT TORNADIC CIRCULATION DURING THE TORNADO/S EARLY STAGES.

THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN ON LARKSPUR COURT (FAR SOUTHWEST SIDE OF SOUTH RIDGE SUBDIVISION) AROUND 200 AM CST. FOUR OF THE FIVE HOMES IN THIS COURT EXPERIENCED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE..ROOFS OF EACH STRUCTURE WERE COMPLETELY UPLIFTED. THE SIDES OF THREE HOMES ALSO SUSTAINED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE. THE WIDTH OF THE DAMAGE AREA AT THIS TIME WAS 30 YARDS AND THE TORNADO WAS RATED F2 AT THIS TIME. THE TORNADO MOVED NORTH-NORTHEAST AND CROSSED CHURCHILL STREET. TWO ADDITIONAL HOMES SUSTAINED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE..THE UPPER HALF OF A TWO STORY HOME WAS NEARLY DESTROYED. AT THIS SAME TIME A SHEAR VORTEX FORMED NEAR THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF THE PARENT TORNADO AND CAUSED DAMAGE TO A HOME ON THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF CHURCHILL AND LUPINE. DEBRIS LAID NORTH-NORTHWEST AS THE SHEAR VORTEX MERGED WITH THE PARENT TORNADO.

BETWEEN CHURCHILL AND SARATOGA DRIVES...SEVERAL HOMES ON LUPINE DRIVE SUSTAINED VARYING DEGREES OF DAMAGE WITH THE GREATEST DAMAGE OBSERVED ON ONE HOME ON THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF SARATOGA AND LUPINE DRIVES. THE UPPER LEVEL OF A TWO STORY HOME WAS NEARLY DESTROYED. THE TORNADO WAS RATED F2 OVER THIS AREA.

THE TORNADO SLIGHTLY INTENSIFIED..REACHING THE LOWER END OF F3 DAMAGE WHERE ONE RANCH HOME WAS COMPLETELY LEVELED ON THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF SARATOGA AND LUPINE STREETS. OTHER NEARBY HOMES SUSTAINED SEVERE ROOF AND EXTERIOR WALL DAMAGE IN THE VICINITY OF THIS HOME. ADDITIONAL SIGNS OF A TORNADO WERE OBSERVED WHERE LARGE TREES AND CORNER ROAD SIGNS LAID IN A CONVERGENT-LIKE PATTERN. THE ROOFS OF FOUR HOMES ON THE WEST SIDE OF PRESCOTT DRIVE (NORTH OF SARATOGA DRIVE) WERE COMPLETELY UPLIFTED. THIS DAMAGE WAS ASSOCIATED THE SECOND SHEAR VORTEX WHICH GRADUALLY MERGED WITH THE PARENT TORNADIC VORTEX.

THE PARENT TORNADO CONTINUED TO TRAVEL ALONG AND NORTH OF LUPINE DRIVE ARCING MORE NORTHEASTWARD. IT CROSSED BALMORAL AND CALIENTE COURTS AND HIALEAH DRIVE. OVER 15 HOMES SUSTAINED CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE..SOME LOSING PARTS OR ALL OF THEIR ROOFS. DAMAGE TO ONE OR MORE EXTERIOR WALLS OF EACH OF THESE HOMES WAS ALSO NOTED. SEVERAL 2 BY 4/S SPEARED THROUGH THE ROOFS OF THREE HOMES ON HIALEAH DRIVE. THE WIDTH OF THE DAMAGE TRACK WAS APPROXIMATELY 50 YARDS.

THE TORNADO MOVED THROUGH SOLANO COURT (JUST OFF BEARFIELD ROAD). FOUR HOMES SUSTAINED VARING DEGREES OF DAMAGE INCLUDE PARTIAL OR COMPLETE ROOF DAMAGE AND DAMAGE TO THE SIDES OF EACH HOME. AGAIN THE TORNADO WAS RATED F2 INTENSITY AT THIS LOCATION.

THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTHEASTWARD..CROSSING BEARFIELD ROAD AND CAUSING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO SEVEN LARGE HOMES ON LEMESA DRIVE. HALF OF THE SECOND STORY OF THREE HOMES WERE SEVERELY DAMAGED. IT IS ALSO INTERESTING TO POINT OUT THAT EXTERIOR WALLS OF THE OUTER TWO HOMES WERE DRAWN IN TOWARDS THE CENTER OF THE TORNADO CENTER AXIS. THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO MOVE RAPIDLY NORTHEAST CAUSING CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO SEVEN DUPLEXES. THE SECOND LEVEL OF THREE OF THE TWO-STORY DUPLEXES WERE PARTIALLY REMOVED WITH DEBRIS EXTENDING TO THE NORTHEAST. THE TORNADO WAS RATED F2 INTENSITY ACROSS THIS AREA. THE TORNADO LIFTED AND CAUSED MINOR DAMAGE NEAR PONDEROSA STREET. THE WIDTH OF THE TORNADO TRACK OVER THIS AREA WAS APPROXIMATELY 40 YARDS.

ADDITIONAL DAMAGE WAS REPORTED BY THE COLUMBIA POLICE DEPARTMENT IN LEMONE INDUSTRIAL PARK (EAST OF ROUTE 63) AND A SECOND SUBDIVISION NORTHEAST OF THE INDUSTRIAL PARK.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE TORNADIC DAMAGE WILL BE FORTH-COMING IN UPDATED PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENTS.

FUJITA DAMAGE SCALE
F0 INTENSITY - 40 - 72 MPH
F1 INTENSITY - 73 -112 MPH
F2 INTENSITY - 113-157 MPH
F3 INTENSITY - 158-206 MPH
F4 INTENSITY - 207-260 MPH
F5 INTENSITY - 261-318 MPH

RON PRZYBYLINSKI
NWS ST. LOUIS 11/11/98