A tornado touched down in Anderson County on Saturday night, the first of two twisters to cause damage in South Carolina as strong storms moved across the area, the National Weather Service says.
The EF-0 tornado had maximum winds of 85 mph when it touched down near Piedmont, south of Greenville, in an open area at about 8:40 p.m., forecasters said.
Most of the damage was uprooted trees, but “as the tornado entered a residential area it dislodged and destroyed a carport,” the weather service said.
The path was about a half-mile long and 160 yards wide, according to the storm report.
A second tornado Saturday night badly damaged a high school in Kershaw County, near Columbia, at about 10:30 p.m. The EF-2 tornado had winds up to 130 mph as it tore the roof from a school building, collapsed walls and moved school buses, according to the weather service.
Photos from the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office show school buses crushed together and major damage to the school campus.
There were no injuries or deaths reported in the South Carolina tornadoes. But the strong storms were responsible for 11 deaths in the Midwest, the Association Press reports.
by Charles Duncan (2020, Jan 13) The State
