40 Aircraft Destroyed By Tornado (With Video)

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Key Takeaways:

  • Deadly tornadoes impacted Lee County, Alabama, resulting in 23 fatalities.
  • The Eufaula airport (Wheedon Field) experienced catastrophic damage, with about 40 aircraft and 25 hangars destroyed.
  • Remarkably, no injuries were reported at the Eufaula airport despite the extensive devastation.
  • One of the tornadoes was upgraded to an EF-4 intensity, featuring winds up to 170 MPH and a nearly mile-wide ground track.
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The tornadoes that ripped through the southeast last weekend wreaked havoc in Lee County, Alabama, killing 23, and also cut a path of destruction at the Eufaula airport. At Wheedon Field, approximately 35 miles south of Columbus, Georgia, approximately 40 aircraft and virtually all of its buildings, including 25 hangars, were destroyed.

No injuries were reported, though the Dothan Eagle reports that two firemen at the nearby station survived by “hunkering down” while the tornado whisked through.

Aerial footage reveals the intensity of the tornado, with airplane parts strewn over a wide area and a hangar collapsed on top of a HondaJet.

CNN is reporting that one of the tornadoes that touched down in Lee County to the north had been upgraded to an EF-4 intensity, suggesting winds of up to 170 MPH. The one tornado was said to have a ground track nearly a mile wide.

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