2005 Evansville tornado

This tornado occurred in a small outbreak of nine tornadoes that span from November 5 to November 6, taking place across the Mississippi Valley and the Midwest.

Meteorological synopsis

The system formed on a warm front that tracked across the Midwest and stretched from the northern Great Lakes into Tennessee. The front was enhanced by a strong jet stream and warm, humid air ahead of it, allowing thunderstorms to develop. A severe thunderstorm watch was issued for the region just west of Evansville as the main threat appeared to be straight-line winds. The system had formed into a squall line but at about 1:30 am CST (0730 UTC), the squall line broke up in the Ohio Valley area, as the low-level jet intensified, allowing embedded tornadoes to form rapidly out of newly formed supercells. They were fairly isolated (only nine were confirmed across the entire region over 24 hours) but three significant tornadoes formed from two simultaneous supercells in southern Indiana and western Kentucky — one of them was the F3 tornado. Dew points were in the upper 50°s along with CAPE reaching up to 1,000 J/kg. The threat for damaging winds was expected to lessen throughout the night due to stabilization in the atmosphere. By the time the squall line reached southern Indiana and portions of Kentucky, the chance of an isolated tornado threat was noted by the Storm Prediction Center. SRH in the 0-1 kilometer (0-0.6 mile) portion of the atmosphere had reached 340 m2/s2.

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Tornado Summary

In the early morning hours of November 6, at around 1:39 am CST (0739 UTC), this devastating and deadly F3 tornado touched down 2 miles (3.2 km) north-northwest of Smith Mills in Henderson County, Kentucky. The tornado moved northeast, snapping numerous trees, destroying a farmhouse, and throwing a pickup truck into a field. The tornado then crossed the Ohio River and moved across a rural peninsula of Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Few structures were impacted in this rural area, though a two-story house built in 1875 sustained major roof damage, and tree branches were embedded into the walls of the house. One farm equipment shed was demolished, and another sustained major damage. A 10,000-pound truck was flipped over, and heavy farm equipment was moved several feet. Aerial surveys revealed distinct spiral-shaped scour marks in farm fields in this area. The tornado crossed the river again back into Kentucky, causing extensive tree damage on both sides of the river.

The tornado crossed the Ohio River a third time into a small portion of Kentucky situated on the north bank of the river. Almost immediately after crossing the river, the tornado tore through the Ellis Park horse racing facility. There was extensive damage to grandstands and housing facilities for jockeys. A few racehorses were killed there. The tornado then re-entered Indiana and moved across the southern fringes of Evansville. Here, the tornado ripped directly through the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, obliterating numerous mobile homes and killing 20 people. Of about 350 mobile homes in the park, 100 were destroyed and another 125 were damaged. The coroner reported that most of the victims were probably killed instantly, many by spine and skull fractures. Several bodies were carried almost two hundred yards. The tornado then crossed into Warrick County, Indiana at the Angel Mounds State Historic Site. Several permanent homes were destroyed in this area, along with many others on the north side of Newburgh. Past Newburgh, the tornado reached its peak intensity of high-end F3 as it tore through an industrial park near Paradise, completely destroying several buildings at that location. Further northeast, the tornado passed just south of Boonville and caused a fatality in a mobile home. The tornado then tore directly through the small community of DeGonia Springs, tossing vehicles and destroying homes. Some of the homes in the community were leveled, and three people were killed in a mobile home in this area, including a woman who was 8 months pregnant. The tornado began to rapidly weaken as it passed just south of Tennyson and dissipated near Gentryville as it crossed into Spencer County, Indiana. Overall, the tornado damaged or destroyed 500 buildings, killed 24 people, and injured 238 others.

Tornado warnings were in effect at the time and issued on average about 30 minutes before the tornado hit, but few people were alerted as many were asleep as the tornado hit in the overnight hours. The local NOAA Weather Radio transmitter was experiencing technical difficulties at the time, causing some weather radios to not sound an alarm.

Other tornadoes

November 5 event

November 6 event

Aftermath

On August 12, 2006, a granite monument memorial was built at Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, along with a new playground dedicated to the children lost in the tornado. It was part of a campaign launched by two parents that lost children in the tornado. In addition, Rep. Phil Hoy introduced a bill called "CJ's law" which mandates that manufacturers of mobile homes install an operating weather radio with a separate power outlet in order to alert residents. It was named after victim C.J. Martin, who was two years old. Vanderburgh County also passed legislation toughening safety standards for their 3,100 mobile homes, requiring them to be more securely anchored with additional straps and braces.

Ellis Park was rebuilt and reopened on June 1, 2006, for training. The first races at the rebuilt facility were held on July 19, 2006.

The Evansville Chapter of Habitat for Humanity launched construction of "Operation Home Again," the New Haven Subdivision, which are new homes dedicated to the survivors of the tornado at Green River Road and Fickas Road. The subdivision has 55 homes and a playground/park. There are four streets in the subdivision – Inspiration Street, Healing Street, Promise Street, and Belief Street.