EF2 Tornado — Evangeline, Louisiana

2008-09-03 · near Basile, Evangeline, Louisiana

Event narrative

A strong tornado began near Duralde, and ended near Mamou. Along the way, a home on Valentine Road lost part of its roof, causing one minor injury. A home of Highway 374 was severely damaged when it was knocked off its foundation. Along Duculus Road, two homes lost most of their roofs. One unoccupied, tied-down mobile home was tossed to the northwest over 100 yards and split in half. Another mobile home was thrown in a counter-clockwise motion over 200 yards and was destroyed, resulting in two fatalities and one serious injury. Near the end of the path on Highway 104, a home lost part of its roof. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down along the path.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Gustav caused wind damage, flash flooding, and several tornadoes across southwest Louisiana.

Hustav made landfall in Terrebonne Parish in the morning of September 2nd as a category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 110 mph.

Gustav moved northwest, almost up along Highway 90 across St. Mary, Iberia, St. Martin, and Lafayette Parishes. The highest measured wind gusts were 85 mph at a research site near Abbeville, LA in Vermilion Parish. However, wind speeds were estimated between 75 and 85 mph from St. Mary Parish to Evangeline Parish.

Storm surge was a minimal impact because southwest Louisiana was on the west side of the onshore winds for most of the event. The highest recorded storm tide was 4.77 at Amerada Pass in St. Mary Parish.

However, rainfall was a large impact. In central Louisiana, over 20 inches of rain fell in Rapides Parish, with a CO-OP observer recording 20.43 inches 7 miles east of Alexandria. This resulted in widespread flooding of the Alexandria-Pineville region, where over 200 water rescues were performed. Significant flooding also occurred in New Iberia, where over ten inches of rain fell, resulting in widespread flooding in and around New Iberia.

Several tornadoes were seen across southwest Louisiana, with the worst one occurring in Evangeline Parish near Mamou, where two people were killed when their tied-down mobile home was thrown for over 200 yards.

Other fatalities in the region were considered indirect. Two men died in Calcasieu Parish from carbon monoxide poisoning from a generator running in their home. A woman died in St. Martin Parish when her home caught fire from burning candles after she lost power.

Total property damages were estimated near 750 million dollars in southwest Louisiana. Agricultural loses were estimated to be over 225 million dollars.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (30.5379, -92.5113)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 136811. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.