ALTO, Texas — Sunday afternoon National Weather Service (NWS) surveyors made their way through Alto, analyzing the damage left behind by what they have confirmed as two tornadoes.
"These large branches we would consider because it’s wide enough to be a trunk snapped and twisted,” NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologist Charlie Woodrum said as he pointed out a tree that had been snapped into a right angle.
He pointed out a severely damaged home as clear evidence of EF-2 level damage.
"The roof was removed and carried a little way. That likely, without even looking at our toolkit, is probably along the lines of EF-2 damage at this location,” Woodrum said.
Woodrum said two tornadoes blasted their way through Alto on Saturday, and they left substantial damage behind.
"The first one an EF-2 tornado…damaging a couple of structures. The second one a long track tornado, likely a 30 plus mile path that’s an EF-3 tornado that we’re still surveying right now,” Woodrum said.
One home off highway 21, was pushed off it's foundation. Woodrum explained they use an online "tool-kit" to get an exact idea of the kind of winds that cause such damage.
“We would go in and we’d take a picture of the structure and we use that photo…We go in here to the type of facility, this time it’s a one or two family residence then we go into the degree of damage. In the degree of damage we’ll go in and say entire house shifts off foundation and here it shows you the winds are 121 miles per hour that’s an EF-2 tornado,” Woodrum said.
Woodrum explained they want to be thorough, in order to use the data they collect for future reference.
“We will be surveying as long as it takes to make sure that we document the track of the tornado…we want to make sure that we cover the whole path and have that documented because we need to understand the strength of mother nature and measure that so that we can help better predict it,” said Woodrum.