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EF2 tornado in Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Tornado April 9, 2009 · Caddo Parish, Louisiana

EF2
Rating
37.2 mi
Whole path
500 yd
Path width
2
Injuries
$13.2M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Harrison County, Texas → Caddo Parish → Bossier Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 500 yards (0.28 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 storm developed over eastern Harrison County about 6 miles northwest of Waskom. This tornado first touched down about one half mile west of FM 134, continuing east across FM 9 about 3 miles north of Waskom, before entering western Caddo Parish. Numerous trees were uprooted and snapped, especially east of FM 9, and across Highway 169. This tornado followed North Lakeshore Drive, with numerous homes damaged, some of which had their roofs partially removed. In addition, one of the homes was moved off of its foundation. Near I-220 and Blanchard Road, 12 empty railroad cars were blown off the track, with intermittent damage along Blanchard Road going into downtown Shreveport. Large tree limbs and power lines were downed, while road signs were downed as well. The tornado crossed the Red River south of the Diamond Jacks Casino, where numerous homes were damaged due to trees between Arthur Ray Teague Parkway and Barksdale Blvd. On Barksdale Blvd itself, numerous power poles were downed, with many businesses damaged, and damage to the west gate of Barksdale Air Force Base. The tornado lifted in eastern Bossier Parish along Highway 157 south of Haughton. This tornado was rated an EF2, with winds of around 120 mph, and the most extensive damage found in the Lakeview Subdivision on the north side of Cross Lake in Caddo Parish. The total path length from Harrison County Texas through Bossier Parish Louisiana was 38.5 miles. The path width fluctuated through this continuous track, varying from between 100 to 400 yards. There were 2 injuries reported in Caddo Parish...the first was in the Lakeview subdivision and the second was a female who was trapped in her car after a tree fell on the automobile.

The wider storm

A strong upper level storm system along with a surface dry line/front

over northeast Texas moved east during the evening hours of April 9th into the early morning hours of April 10th causing long lived supercell thunderstorms. These thunderstorms caused long track tornadoes to occur across southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas, northeast Texas, and north Louisiana.

Began near Longwood (32.5326, -94.0432).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 154454. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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