Murphy, MS F4 Tornado – March 9, 1992

An F4 tornado was confirmed on March 9, 1992. It moved almost 20 miles through parts of Sharkey, Washington, and Humphreys Counties.  The twister developed 1.5 miles SSE of Panther Burn.  It traveled to the northeast through Delta City.  Here, a large steel-framed structure was leveled, and several grain silos were toppled.  A mobile home was “cut in two by a well-fastened strap.”  The tornado in this area was rated F2.

The next stop was the town of Murphy in Washington County.  It was here that the tornado reached F4 intensity.  Seven residential homes (four brick, two wood frames, and one mobile) were completely destroyed.  A large commercial tractor shop was demolished.  One brick home and one wood framed home had some of the structure still standing; the remaining homes were completely removed from their foundations. “One of the brick homes appeared as though it had exploded, and its roof was carried some 300 yards away.”

The tornado moved through a very sparsely populated area of Humphreys County.  Several buildings had roof damage, and there were cotton trailers overturned.  The tornado had weakened to F1 intensity here.