An EF-1 tornado touched down Monday in North Macon with winds speeds up to 100 mph, officials say

The National Weather Service released preliminary findings that an EF-1 tornado with winds up to 100 mph touched down on Zebulon Road in Macon, causing extensive damage to storefronts early Monday morning.

The tornado was part of a line of severe storms that killed seven people in Georgia and damaged buildings across the Southeast. National Weather Service Meteorologist Kyle Thiem spoke with The Telegraph on Wednesday and said that the damage left behind by the storm is consistent with that of an EF-1 tornado.

“We go through there and we try to survey the entire damage track and try to find the start and finish and everything in between,” Thiem said. “Looks like we did have an EF-1 tornado that touched down in the Macon-Bibb area. We had wind speeds from 95 to 100 mph.”

An EF-1 tornado is the second level on the Enhanced Fujita Scale and indicates wind speeds from 86 to 109 mph were associated with this storm. Thiem said the analysis is strictly based by the damage on the ground. A Walgreens on Zebulon was severely damaged, as was a gas station. Trees were felled through North Macon by high winds.

“It is completely based off the damage that we see. What we do is walk the track of the tornado and evaluate the damage that has been done,” Thiem said. “Usually, you tend to see common damage indicators to structures… It looks pretty reminiscent of EF-1 damage.”

The National Weather Service currently does not know how long the tornado was on the ground but are planning to release a full report on the tornado once meteorologists have finish collecting and analyzing the data.