By Nathan Straus
nstraus@jacksonvilleprogress.com
The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes touched down in Cherokee County during a Dec. 23 tornado warning.
Both tornadoes occurred during the afternoon and were classified as zeroes on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado damage, making them the weakest tornadoes in strength.
Lara Keys, an intern at the NWS center in Shreveport, said one tornado hit about a mile northeast of Jacksonville Club Lake on the east end of County Road 4218.
“There was not too much damage,” Keys said. “A few trees down, mostly.”
According to Keys, a second hit northeast of Baron’s Lake on CR 4619, north of Farm-to-Market Road 13. She said this twister also did most of its damage to trees.
NWS agents are still out at storm scenes evaluating damage, she said.
Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department officials said very little, if any, damage was reported in the county.
Jacksonville Fire Department firefighters said no complaints of damage came to them.
Keys said at least three more tornadoes hit East Texas.
“There was an EF 1 in Union, southeast of Clayborn, an EF 2 in Longview in the east and an EF 3 in south Lufkin,” Keys said.
She said the Lufkin tornado was the most damaging one at a width of about 300 yards and a four-mile path length. Keys said it did major damage to a funeral home and destroyed a welding shop, but the NWS is still waiting on a dollar estimate in damage.
An EF 0 tornado, according to meteorologists, can move as fast as 72 mph with gusts of between 45 mph and 78 mph.
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