AUSTIN (KXAN) — As the National Weather Service continues to survey the damage caused during the March 21 tornado outbreak, they’ve started releasing detailed reports about each tornado.
The “Giddings Tornado” as it will be known, started and ended in Lee County and was only on the ground for four minutes.
The supercell thunderstorm that produced this tornado had already produced a tornado earlier in the day near Kingsbury in Guadalupe County.
After that tornado dissipated, the storm moved northeastward through Bastrop County into southwestern Lee County. The tornado developed southwest of Giddings just west of FM 448 along Private Road 4481. Part of the metal roof of a barn was blown off.
The storm continued northeastward and tore a hole in the roof of another metal building on the west side of FM 448 and then crossed the road. As it crossed the Giddings city limit, it damaged the roofs of two more metal buildings. One had minor damage with a small panel peeled up. The other had an approximately 10 foot by 20 foot section peeled off.
In this same area, a small wooden shed had its roof torn off. The storm turned slightly to the east crossing Highway 77 and blew down a fence at a house on Whispering Oaks Drive.
The last of the damage was on Sunrise Avenue, where the cross on the steeple of the First Baptist Church Giddings was bent and across the street some small tree branches were broken off.
The worst damage was rated EF-1 with maximum winds of 95 mph. The maximum path width was 50 yards.
The National Weather Service notes this information is preliminary and subject to change pending a final review.
