Ga. tornado 900 yards wide, 160 mph at its peak
Feb 01, 2013 | 1525 views | 0 0 comments | 4 4 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Adairsville officials talk damage, recovery from tornado
Adairsville officials talk damage, recovery from tornado
ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Authorities believe a tornado swelled to 900 yards wide -- more than four times the width of the Georgia Dome -- as it tore across northwest Georgia for nearly 22 miles.

The Wednesday twister had an estimated peak wind speed of 160 mph when it slammed into Adairsville, about 60 miles northwest of Atlanta, National Weather Service officials said.

It was the most damaging of Wednesday's tornadoes in northwest Georgia, which together caused an estimated $75 million in insured losses, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner Ralph Hudgens said.

"That figure will rise as new claims are reported," Hudgens said in a statement.

Crews that toured the destruction Thursday rated the tornado, which destroyed more than 60 buildings in Bartow and Gordon counties, as a strong EF3 twister.

The heaviest damage was found at the Daiki Corp. manufacturing plant in Adairsville, where the 160 mph winds struck, the National Weather Service reported. That is just shy of an EF4 tornado, which has winds of 166 mph and above.

The tornado killed an Adairsville man and injured 17 people.

National Weather Service crews have been surveying other areas as well as they work to confirm how many tornadoes struck northwest Georgia.
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