On May 4th, 2021 from approximately 4:23pm to 4:29pm, an EF1 tornado went through Rion, SC, passing over the Fairfield County Airport and flipping a tied-down airplane.
At 1:30, you can see the initial gust front cross the runway, stranding a pilot taxiing their airplane. Someone coming to help decides to grab their truck to retrieve him but struggles to fight the winds.
At 3:43, as the two are waiting for the rain to die down so they can tie down the airplane, the winds suddenly pick up. Seconds later, you can see the swirling winds of the tornado pick up the tied down airplanes and loft one 100 yards into a field between runways. The plane that the pilot was in was briefly lifted from the ground. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.
Finally, at 4:28 transformers begin to blow out on the horizon. The tornado passed by in less than 15 seconds but left an airplane totaled and a hanger damaged with a portion of two external walls pushed outward.
Thank you to Fairfield County for providing this security footage.
#SCwx #weather #southcarolina #severeweather #tornadoes #wind #thunderstorms
5 май 2021
