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EF2 tornado in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana

Tornado May 15, 2008 · Lafayette Parish, Louisiana

EF2

Rating

7.6 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

$400K

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Vermilion Parish → Lafayette Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This is a continuation of the tornado that began west of Maurice in Vermilion Parish. It strengthened to EF-2 intensity before dissipating a mile west of the Acadiana Mall. Near the Duhon and West Broussard Road intersection, one permanent home had the roof completely blown off, hitting the neighboring house and causing extensive damage. The two people inside the roof-less home escaped injury. Other homes along the path received minor roof or siding damage, and many trees were blown down.

The wider storm

As a cold front approached, a squall line developed. Additional storms sprung up in front of the squall line, and where storms merged, a few tornadoes touched down. Along the squall line, winds of 60 mph blew down trees and caused minor damage to homes.

Began near Ridge (30.1259, -92.1595).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

7 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Beauregard Parish EF1 Lafayette Parish EF1 St. Martin Parish EF0 Beauregard Parish EF0 Vermilion Parish EF0 Lafayette Parish EF0 Vermilion Parish

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 107647. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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