Where Tornadoes Caused The Most Damage This Weekend

A powerful tornado and vibrant lightning striking over a rural countryside landscape.

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A massive storm system swept the country this past weekend, delivering a succession of wind, rain, snow, hail, dust, and fire from California to Alabama. The most destructive parts of the storm system took hold in the South and Midwest, where a series of tornadoes caused at least 24 deaths across four states.

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While the full scale of the damage is yet to be determined, the NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit provides an early survey of the destruction. From March 14 to 18, NOAA surveyors logged over 1,000 instances of tornado damage, including the full destruction of hundreds of homes, electric wires, and other critical infrastructure. A closer look at the data reveals the counties where tornadoes caused the most damage this past weekend.

To determine where tornadoes caused the most damage this weekend, Climate Crisis 247 reviewed data on post-storm damage assessments from the NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit. Counties were ranked based on a custom tornado damage impact score, a weighted aggregation of the severity of all NOAA damage assessment points within a given county. The severity is the product of the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale value and an NOAA-assigned Degree of Damage (DoD) score. The tornado damage impact score gives greater weight to larger buildings like manufactured homes and family residences that sustained greater degrees of damage, such as complete destruction or collapse of exterior walls. NOAA storm data is for the period March 14 to 18, 2025.

15. Talladega County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 61 points
Number of storm damage reports: 29 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 120 mph
Summary of property damage: 1 small barn or farm outbuilding, 1 one- or two-family residence, 3 single-wide manufactured homes, 7 junior or senior high schools, 1 electrical transmission line, 6 hardwood trees, 9 softwood trees

14. Champaign County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 71 points
Number of storm damage reports: 31 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 110 mph
Summary of property damage: 13 small barns or farm outbuildings, 7 one- or two-family residences, 1 electrical transmission line, 1 hardwood tree, 4 softwood trees

13. Orange County, IN

Tornado damage impact score: 75 points
Number of storm damage reports: 32 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 100 mph
Summary of property damage: 6 small barns or farm outbuildings, 3 one- or two-family residences, 1 single-wide manufactured home, 1 strip mall, 1 electrical transmission line, 11 hardwood trees, 9 softwood trees

12. Piatt County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 84 points
Number of storm damage reports: 33 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 115 mph
Summary of property damage: 9 small barns or farm outbuildings, 4 electrical transmission lines, 1 free-standing tower, 12 hardwood trees, 7 softwood trees

11. Mitchell County, GA

Tornado damage impact score: 85 points

Number of storm damage reports: 33 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 95 mph
Summary of property damage: 2 small barns or farm outbuildings, 3 one- or two-family residences, 1 double-wide manufactured home, 1 low-rise building, 1 metal building system, 1 electrical transmission line, 13 hardwood trees, 9 softwood trees

10. Johnson County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 90 points
Number of storm damage reports: 34 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 115 mph
Summary of property damage: 5 small barns or farm outbuildings, 4 one- or two-family residences, 1 single-wide manufactured home, 1 double-wide manufactured home, 2 electrical transmission lines, 21 hardwood trees

9. Perry County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 90 points
Number of storm damage reports: 33 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 130 mph
Summary of property damage: 2 small barns or farm outbuildings, 7 one- or two-family residences, 2 double-wide manufactured homes, 1 automobile service building, 1 low-rise building, 6 electrical transmission lines, 1 free-standing tower, 11 hardwood trees, 2 softwood trees

8. Shelby County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 99 points
Number of storm damage reports: 34 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 90 mph
Summary of property damage: 1 small barn or farm outbuilding, 1 single-wide manufactured home, 1 low-rise building, 4 metal building systems, 1 free-standing light pole, luminary pole, or flagpole, 1 hardwood tree, 18 softwood trees

7. Kane County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 111 points
Number of storm damage reports: 35 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 70 mph
Summary of property damage: 3 small barns or farm outbuildings, 1 one- or two-family residence, 1 electrical transmission line, 27 hardwood trees, 1 softwood tree

6. Pickens County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 149 points
Number of storm damage reports: 40 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 110 mph
Summary of property damage: 5 small barns or farm outbuildings, 4 one- or two-family residences, 1 single-wide manufactured home, 2 hardwood trees, 28 softwood trees

5. Fayette County, IL

Tornado damage impact score: 199 points
Number of storm damage reports: 47 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 94 mph
Summary of property damage: 5 small barns or farm outbuildings, 16 one- or two-family residences, 1 double-wide manufactured home, 15 hardwood trees, 8 softwood trees

4. Tallapoosa County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 201 points
Number of storm damage reports: 49 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 120 mph
Summary of property damage: 2 small barns or farm outbuildings, 2 one- or two-family residences, 4 single-wide manufactured homes, 2 metal building systems, 11 hardwood trees, 28 softwood trees

3. Lake County, IN

Tornado damage impact score: 216 points
Number of storm damage reports: 61 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 86 mph
Summary of property damage: 1 small barn or farm outbuilding, 13 one- or two-family residences, 1 institutional building, 1 service station canopy, 25 hardwood trees, 12 softwood trees

2. Pike County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 220 points
Number of storm damage reports: 65 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 120 mph
Summary of property damage: 7 small barns or farm outbuildings, 5 one- or two-family residences, 3 single-wide manufactured homes, 2 double-wide manufactured homes, 2 junior or senior high schools, 3 metal building systems, 2 service station canopies, 1 electrical transmission line

1. Chilton County, AL

Tornado damage impact score: 311 points
Number of storm damage reports: 72 assessments
Maximum reported wind speed: 119 mph
Summary of property damage: 6 small barns or farm outbuildings, 9 one- or two-family residences, 6 single-wide manufactured homes, 7 double-wide manufactured homes, 10 hardwood trees, 32 softwood trees