May 16, 2024

NWS: Sunday’s tornado an EF-1

By KYLE WILSON
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A shed behind Sharon Walter's house in Williamson was nearly torn down, with a damaged vehicle inside, and an oil drum leaking oil down the hill outside after a tornado ripped through Adams County Sunday night.

The tornado that destroyed Sharon Walter’s farmstead and damaged several others near Williamson Sunday evening was rated by the National Weather Service (NWS) Monday.

NWS declares that an EF-1 tornado touched down about 8 miles north northeast of Prescott at 6:25 p.m., and stayed on the ground for 25 minutes. Officials said the twister traveled 4 miles with a peak wind gust of 100 mph. The tornado traveled south before turning northeast. No injuries or fatalities were reported with this storm.

Walter said this morning she expects damage at her family farm to reach into the millions of dollars. The tornado threw her New Holland combine through the air 1/8 of a mile.

It pummeled four concrete silos, two machine sheds, numerous vehicles/machinery and a large shop.

“It was a war zone out here yesterday,” Walter said. “But, it looks better today. There were cars lined up along the roads everywhere with people in pickups pulling flatbeds, skid loaders, a crane and hundreds of people walking the bean field. I want to send out a big thank you to everyone who helped.”

Walter said there is still a lot of cleanup left, though. Her house is “salvageable” with one large hole in the roof above the kitchen and several broken windows in her sun room. She said she’s already lined up a carpenter to replace the roof.

The 74-year-old Walter said this morning her family plans to rebuild the structures on the farm that she’s lived at since 1967.