EF3 Tornado — Rush, Indiana

2008-06-03 · near Moscow, Rush, Indiana

Event narrative

The tornado touched down in Shelby County at 2004 EST 200 meters north of the County Road South 500 East and County Road East 500 South intersection. The tornado tracked to the east northeast for 2.93 miles before entering Rush County at 2012 EST near County Road South 1000 West just south of County Road East 450 South. The tornado continued to the northeast for 6.75 miles until lifting at 2030 EST. The tornado lifted 200 meters east of County Road South 400 West and 400 meters north of West State Road 244. The tornado was on the ground for a total of 9.68 miles and 26 minutes. The tornado was an EF-0 with wind speeds around 75 miles per hour while in Shelby County, however intensified to an EF-3 tornado while in Rush County with wind speeds around 150 miles per hour. The tornado had a width of 150 yards. The tornado formed from a supercell storm. While in Shelby County the tornado damaged 34 structures with the hardest hit areas being Middletown and Waldron. 27 of the damaged structures were in Middletown with 4 of these being completely destroyed. Trees and powerlines were also blown down and a semi-trailer was blown off Interstate 74. In Rush County 8 people were injured including a man and a woman who were pinned beneath a wall in Moscow. A 67 year old woman in Moscow was injured from a large tree limb that impaled her in the chest and later passed away due to those injuries on August 17th. The historic Moscow Covered Bridge was destroyed in addition to extensive damage to the Moscow school. Dozens of houses were severely damaged or destroyed including some houses that were swept completely off the foundation. Approximately 200,000 dollars in damage occurred in Shelby County and approximately one million dollars in damage occurred in Rush County.

Wider weather episode

A powerful weather system moved through central Indiana on the night of June 3rd. Associated with this system were damaging straight line thunderstorm winds and tornadoes. Three tornadoes developed from supercells. An EF-1 tornado moved through Decatur County, an EF-2 tornado moved through Brown and Johnson Counties, and then weakened to an EF-1 in Shelby County, and another tornado began as an EF-0 in Shelby County and intensified to an EF-3 in Rush County.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 114633. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.