At least one confirmed tornado hit Bethany on Monday, July 8, 2024 in the wake of Hurricane Beryl’s remnants, the Panola County Sheriff’s Office said. (Meredith Shamburger/Panola Watchman)

The National Weather Service in Shreveport has identified 36 tornadoes and one wind streak from Beryl across the Ark-La-Tex region, including tornadoes in East Texas.

The NWS issued 67 tornado warnings between 12:19 p.m. and 8:20 p.m. Monday. That’s the highest number of tornado warnings ever issued by a National Weather Service office during the month of July, meteorologist Ryan Knapp said. It’s also the highest number of warnings issued by the weather service in Shreveport during a single-day event. The previous record was 36 set Dec. 27, 2015.

Survey reports were released this week after NWS teams spent time looking at damage sites. The following tornadoes were reported:

Harrison County

A tornado that hit northeast Harrison County southwest of Karnack has been added to the National Weather Service’s count of storms resulting from Tropical Storm Beryl.

The NWS on Friday morning said an EF-1 with estimated peak winds at 107 mph traveled about 10 miles from about six miles east of Scottsville on FM 134 to seven miles west-southwest of Uncertain.

“It traveled just east of Bill Coleman Road snapping and uprooting hardwood and softwood trees before turning north, crossing Marshall Leigh Road, and traveling north again,” the NWS said. “Damage was inaccessible between Marshall Leigh Road and FM 2682 due to a lack of roads. However, a consistent Tornado Debris Signature on the KSHV WSR-88D lends high confidence that the track was continuous. More tree damage was observed as the tornado crossed Highway 43 and then moved along Peter Chapel Road. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Baldwin Road and Peter Chapel Road.”

East Texas Regional Airport

A short-lived EF-0 with estimated peak winds of 85 mph caused damage south of the East Texas Regional Airport in Rusk and Gregg counties, the NWS said.

“The tornado first started producing some minor tree damage on the north and south sides of Lake Cherokee on Lake Road and Post Oak Trail where some large branches fell,” the NWS said. “The tornado then continued to track to the northwest towards the airport, where there was very sporadic tree damage through this area. As the tornado moved through the southern portion of the airport, it caused damage to a number of hangars by knocking down or twisting the large hangar metal doors, and ripping off some side paneling to the hangars.”

The NWS survey team also described an “intriguing” scene: two stop signs twisted from the base, rather than bent or knocked over. There is no damage indicator for this, the NWS said.

The tornado produced additional tree damage on the west side of Texas 322 across from the airport before lifting, the NWS said.

Tatum to Hallsville

An EF-1 with estimated peak winds of 110 mph traveled just shy of 10 miles from Tatum to Hallsville. The tornado began just southeast of Texas 43 along FM 959, with some sliding or roof damage to a few houses there, along with snapped and uprooted trees and tree damage at a park nearby.

The NWS survey team found tree damage along County Road 3207 South, after which the tornado crossed into Harrison County along a private drive, crossed West FM 2625 and then crossed FM 2625road again about a mile and a half north.

“We did notice the damage was not as significant as it crossed the second time,” the NWS said. “The last road we were able to find the had tornado crossed was on West FM 968 just to the west of South FM 450 before the tornado lifted.”

Bethany and Waskom

One EF-1 tornado hit Bethany in northeastern Panola County, Waskom in southeastern Harrison County and Longstreet and Four Forks, Louisiana in DeSoto and Caddo parishes. The NWS said this tornado had estimated peak winds of 110 mph and traveled 26.10 miles, starting in Longstreet and ending in Waskom. Near Bethany, the NWS said it came close to being an EF-2 tornado.

“This very strong EF-1 tornado originally began east of Longstreet in western DeSoto Parish and continued along a north, northwest trajectory, uprooting and snapping numerous trees and downing powerlines and snapping power poles along its track,” the NWS said. “The storm moved towards the town of Keachi, damaging a few structures as it crossed the DeSoto Parish border and moved into far southwest Caddo Parish. Tree damage was extensive in Caddo Parish, especially from near Four Forks and west of Spring Ridge but damage was especially extensive in Bethany, Louisiana where the tornado appeared to be its strongest, very close to EF-2 rating.

“Several structures were damaged by downed trees in the Bethany area. The storm continued moving to the northwest, entering extreme northeast Panola County and extreme southeast Harrison County when the storm finally lifted near the Waskom-Elysian Fields Road.”

Joaquin and Tenaha

Another EF-1 had estimated peak winds at 100 mph and traveled 5.13 miles, starting about five miles west of Joaquin in Shelby County and ending about six miles north-northeast of Tenaha in Panola County.

The NWS said damage was found along U.S. 84 East east of Paxton.

“As this tornado tracked to the northwest it snapped and uprooted a number of trees along County Road 439 and County Road 430 about 1.5 miles to the east of FM 699,” the NWS said. It then crossed County Road 430 again near County Road 4353. We believe this is the point that the tornado begin to lift with some additional minor damage found along County Road 437 just east of FM 699 where we found some large branches down.”

Mt. Enterprise

An EF-0 south of Henderson had an estimated peak wind of 85 mph and traveled 3.73 miles starting along South U.S. 259 about 9.5 miles north of Mt. Enterprise to West County Road 377 before lifting, the NWS said.

“Damage with this brief tornado was confined to both hardwood and softwood trees with a few uproots along the path,” the NWS said.

Shelby County

An EF-1 in Timpson had estimated peak winds of 110 mph and took off nearly half of the roof of a business.

“A recreational vehicle was also destroyed,” the NWS said. “Numerous hardwood and softwood trees were snapped in town.”

The NWS identified an EF-1 east of Center in Shelby County that ran 10.39 miles.

“A supercell embedded within the outer rainbands of Tropical Storm Beryl produced this tornado, which first touched down and started producing damage on County Road 2625 about 1.5 miles to the southeast of Shelbyville in Shelby County Texas,” the NWS said. “The tornado then tracked to the northwest, crossing County Road 2100 where it caused significant damage to a number of hardwood and softwood trees. The road network became spotty from here, but we were able to pick up the track again on FM 417 East about a half a mile east of Shelbyville where a large number of trees were snapped and uprooted.”

The NWS says the tornado entered a neighborhood south of Sardis and damaged a number of homes and continued north. The tornado’s path was not fully surveyed because its possible path went through a number of privately-owned land, but the NWS said damage picked up northwest of James before the tornado lifted near Jericho Creek.

An EF-1 was identified in southeast Shelby County on the western part of Toledo Bend near the East Hamilton area. The NWS said this tornado damaged a boat ramp and home along FM 2261 and County Road 2844.

“We believe the tornado started over the lake and move over land across this area. The tornado then tracked well east of County Road 2799 through some private roads that we were unable to access. Thanks to the help of a local oil/gas worker, we were able to obtain drone footage that confirmed the tornado continued along this area with a clear cut path shown. We were able to access and confirm more damage along FS Road 148 and FS Road 135 where a small camp had significant damage to some of their smaller buildings and a number of trees.”

Sabine County

An EF-1 at Holly Park Marina in Sabine County, along the western portion of Toledo Bend off Carters Ferry Road East. The NWS said it first began over the water on Toledo Bend and produced damage along the shoreline, overturned a few RVs at an RV park, threw boats, destroyed a boat dock and fish cleaning station and snapped a number of large trees.

Nacogdoches County

An EF-1 tornado near Appleby in Nacogdoches County, which the NWS said damaged a large number of trees, tore the roof off of a single-family home and damaged the surrounding houses.

Louisiana

An EF-2 in Converse and Stanley, Louisiana that developed from a supercell within Beryl along Highway 174 west of Converse. The NWS said this tornado snapped trees along Old Camp Road, intensified as it entered southern DeSoto Parish and caused extensive tree damage along Barnes Road, Nubin Ridge Road and Lulu Lane. This tornado significantly damaged a church at the intersections of Highways 539 and 481, causing the original church structure’s roof and exterior walls to collapse and sending the church’s steeple about 0.3 miles north-northwest. Other metal buildings at the church were also damage, as well as a manufactured home nearby.

An EF-2 in Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, east of Mansfield, came from a supercell and began along Highway 175. The NWS said this tornado produced sporadic tree damage at first, then widened considerably as it passed through Pleasant Hill, damaged several structures and caused significant tree damage.

An EF-1 northwest of Pleasant Hill, which touched down near Pelican and uprooted or snapped several trees.

An EF-1 in central and south Bossier Parish, Louisiana that snapped and uprooted trees, including through the Loggy Bayou Wildlife Management Area. The NWS noted extensive damage to some structures from fallen trees along Sligo Road before it came to the southeast corner of Barksdale Air Force Base. The NWS said a more thorough survey at BAFB would be conducted to see if the storm remained tornadic on the base itself.

An EF-1 in central and north Bossier Parish, Louisiana that damaged trees, some structures and power poles near Haughton. This tornado also caused a fatality on East Linton Road, when a tree fell on a mobile home and killed a 30-year-old woman. Her two children were also injured, the NWS said.

An EF-1 near Bienville in Louisiana had a relatively short track, the NWS said, that began along Piney Woods Road. The “NWS survey team road access was limited as it passed north through rural Bienville Parish. The team was able to rate damage as it crossed Parish Road 478 where the maximum winds were estimated at 104 mph. A large radar tornadic debris signature blossomed between Piney Woods road and Parish Road 478 and the survey team assumes the worst of the tree damage was likely in areas not accessible by the survey team.”

An EF-1 tornado hit near Plain Dealing. The NWS said the long track tornado dissipated just to the west of Plain Dealing, but the parent storm spawned another tornado southeast of Highway 2 near Dutch John Road, where it began snapping trees, before lifting north of Highway 537.

An EF-1 tornado touched down between Converse and Oak Grove, Louisiana in DeSoto Parish. This tornado snapped trees and downed power lines, and the NWS noted some structures were damaged by fallen trees.

An EF-0 briefly touched down west of Carmel in DeSoto Parish near Highway 509 before lifting near Sloan Road.

An EF-1 in south Caddo Parish began about seven miles northeast of Stonewall on Wallace Lake. The NWS said “a tornadic debris signature was indicated on the NWS Shreveport dopplar radar just south of Cypress Gardens Road over the lake. Multiple trees were snapped and uprooted along the tornado’s path, before affecting several homes along and behind Saint Francis Way in Southern Trace.”

An EF-1 was found to have touched down north of Campti in northern Natchitoches Parish west of Highway 486, and the NWS noted damage was confined to trees.