Clockwise from top: The tornado taken near Holly Bluff after crossing the Mississippi River. The town sign for Yazoo City, Mississippi, along with the ruins of a large brick building. Doppler radar imagery of the tornado near peak intensity with a debris ball evident on reflectivity. | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | April 24,2010,10:09 a.m. CDT |
| Dissipated | April 24,2010,12:53 p.m. CDT (UTC–05:00) |
| Duration | 2 hours,44 minutes |
| EF4 tornado | |
| on the Enhanced Fujita scale | |
| Highest winds | 170 mph (270 km/h) |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 10 |
| Injuries | 146 |
| Damage | $364 million (2010 USD) |
| Areas affected | Madison Parish,Warren County,Sharkey County,Yazoo County (specifically Yazoo City),Holmes County,Attala County,Choctaw County,Oktibbeha County |
Part of the Tornado outbreak of April 22-25,2010 and Tornadoes of 2010 | |
During the morning hours of April 24,2010,a massive and long tracked rainwrapped tornado struck the southern side of Yazoo City,Ebenezer,Durant,and Hesterville in Mississippi,resulting in 10 fatalities and injuring a further 146 people during its 149 miles path. The tornado was the strongest and deadliest of the tornado outbreak of April 22–25,2010,and the deadliest tornado of the year.
Contents
The intense supercell produced the tornado a few miles east of Tallulah and almost immediately intensified to EF3 strength,maintaining that intensity before crossing the Mississippi River. The tornado briefly weakened before strengthening back to EF3 intensity. The tornado intensified further to low-end EF4 south Yazoo City. Severe homes and businesses were demolished and heavy deforestation occurred. The tornado soon weakened to high-end EF3 intensity and maintained that strength before restrengthening to low-end EF4 intensity few miles southwest of Durant. Following this period of restrengthening,the tornado weakened,fluctuating between EF1 and EF2 strength before strengthening back to high-end EF3 intensity in southern Choctaw County.
The tornado rapidly weakened before lifting north of Sturgis. This long-track and devastating tornado became the fourth longest in Mississippi history,and was,at the time,the largest tornado in the state's history. Alongside that,the tornado was the first violent tornado to happen in Mississippi during April since 1978. [1] [2]
