A tornado touched down along the shores of Lake Murray during Tuesday’s storms.

That’s the word from the National Weather Service, which sent out teams to the Chapin area and a spot along Berl Mar Road near Irmo where tornado sightings were also reported the afternoon of Jan. 9, as a strong wave of storms and wind made its way across the Midlands.

The service has determined that an EF1 “waterspout/tornado that came onshore on the north side of Lake Murray near Chapin,” its Columbia office tweeted, noting that more details are forthcoming.

EF1 is the lowest severity designation on the Enhanced Fujita Scale for grading tornadoes, assigned to ones with wind speeds between 86 and 110 miles per hour.

The National Weather Service reports peak wind speeds of 90 miles per hour for the Chapin tornado, which lasted from 2:10 p.m. to 2:16 p.m. Its path was 3.28 miles long and its max width was 150 yards.

"This is the first tornado to impact our forecast area in 2024 and the first since the EF-1 Turbeville tornado spawned by Idalia at the end of August," the service's Columbia office tweeted.

Per the National Ocean Service, “Tornadic waterspouts are tornadoes that form over water, or move from land to water. They have the same characteristics as a land tornado.”

Lexington County relayed reports of damage near where the tornado touched down Jan. 9, including:

• A tree falling on an Amazon truck at Old Lexington Highway and Mallard Drive in the Chapin area; no injuries have been reported
• Power lines and trees down on Westridge Court in the Chapin area
• Trees down on Tanners Mill Way in the Chapin area

Lexington County seems to have fared far better than Bamberg, located about 50 miles south, where the National Weather Service has confirmed that an EF2 tornado, with peak wind speeds of 125 miles per hour, touched down.

That tornado caused major damage to multiple buildings downtown in the municipality of about 3,000, knocking down storefronts, and leaving bricks and other debris strewn across the street.

The Columbia office of the National Weather Service released a list of peak wind gusts recorded Tuesday:

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated. If you know of other significant damage caused by Tuesday’s storms in Lexington County or experienced damage from the storm yourself, reach out to the Chronicle at news@lexingtonchronicle.com.