A tornado struck Dooly County on April 15, 1999. It's intensity was estimated as F3, with a path length of 14.5 miles long and a width of 0.5 miles wide. The NWS Forecast Office in Peachtree City, Ga issued a Tornado Warning for Dooly County at 1010 a.m. EDT. The tornado struck between 1020 and 1030 a.m. EDT, providing a lead time of 10 to 20 minutes.

           TOTALLY DESTROYED    MAJOR DAMAGE    MINOR DAMAGE

Homes            69                  52             204
Mobile Homes     25                  2                8
Churches          2                  5
Businesses        9                  6

The County School System had building(s) destroyed and damaged along with buses.

Estimated damage totals thus far are $6.2 million, and does NOT include trees and forested areas.

Injuries ranged from 20-25 persons, with the worst being a broken leg.

The tornado touched down at the Flint River, the Sumter-Dooly County line, near the community of Drayton along GA 27. Trees and mobile homes were reported as being damaged and destroyed on Smoke House Road. The tornado traveled east along GA 27, devastating the town of Vienna, GA. It exited the town between two schools, Dooly County High School and Vienna Elementary School. Only minor damage was done to either school. It later crossed I-75 between GA Hwys 27 and 215, blocking the interstate (both the south and north bound lanes) with trees and debris. The path continued across large fields and appears to have lifted between two farm roads, Noble Gin Road and Smyrna Church Road.

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