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EF2 tornado in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

Tornado September 12, 2008 · Evangeline Parish, Louisiana

EF2
Rating
3.4 mi
Path length
20 yd
Path width
$200K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 20 yards (0.01 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

A tornado touched down on the outskirts of Mamou, and damaged 10 to 15 homes near Highway 95 and Fred Street. One home lost its roof. One mobile home was flipped onto the highway.

The wider storm

Hurricane Ike caused wind damage, storm surge flooding, and tornadoes across southwest Louisiana.

Ike made landfall near Galveston, TX early in the morning on September 13th as a strong category 2 hurricane.

Sustained hurricane force winds were confined to extreme western Cameron Parish. The highest recorded winds in southwest Lousiana were at Lake Charles Regional Airport with sustained winds of 46 kts (53 mph) and gusts of 67 kts (77 mph). The lowest pressure reading occurred at Southland Field near Sulphur, LA, with a low of 994.6 mb.

Several tornadoes were reported across southwest Louisiana. The most significant one was near Mamou, where a home lost its roof, and another 10-15 homes were damaged.

Storm surge was a significant event. Water levels ranged from 14 ft in western Cameron Parish, to 8 ft in St. Mary Parish. This resulted in widespread flooding of the same areas that flooded in Hurricane Rita in 2005. Most of Cameron Parish was under water. Over 3000 homes were flooded. This extended north into Calcasieu Parish, where another 1000 homes flooded in Lake Charles, Westlake, and Sulphur. In Vermilion Parish, at least 1000 homes flooded in Pecan Island, Forked Island, Intracoastal City, and Henry. This extended east into Iberia Parish, where another 1000 homes flooded south of Highway 14 and Highway 90. In St. Mary Parish, some of the worst flooding occurred in Franklin, where a man-made levee failed, flooding over 450 homes.

Maximum storm total rainfall ranged from 6 to 8 inches across Cameron, Calcasieu, and Beauregard Parishes.

No fatalities were reported in southwest Louisiana.

Total property damages, however, were high. Loses are estimated to be almost 420 million dollars across southwest Louisiana. Agricultural loses were over 225 million dollars.

Began near Mamou (30.6121, -92.3997).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF0 St. Landry ParishEF0 Vermilion ParishEF0 Vernon ParishEF0 Vernon Parish

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 136888. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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