EF2 tornado in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana

The Whiteville Tornado touched down near Interstate 49 about 2 miles southwest of the community, then moved north-northeastward. Upon reaching Parish Road 5-230, the tornado destroyed an outbuilding and blew down numerous trees along Bayou Boeuf. A home was damaged south of Highway 182 just east of Bayou Boeuf, and two mobile homes received roof damage along Sonnier Road. The tornado then struck the Resurrection Catholic Church, obliterating the building and damaging several tombstones and tombs in the nearby graveyard. A farm located just north of the church received major damage, with one large rice silo blown 50 yards southwestward into the bayou and another rice silo severely damaged. Two tractor trailers at the farm were also damaged, with one blown by the tornado into a jack-knife position, and the other having a large tree fall onto it. Continuing north-northeastward across open fields, the tornado then blew down numerous trees along WPA Road. No damage occurred for the next few miles as the tornado moved across open farmland and crossed into Avoyelles Parish.

A powerful upper level storm system moved across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley from Wednesday, December 23, 2009, through Thursday, December 24, 2009. Numerous showers and elevated thunderstorms, including some supercells, repeatedly developed and moved northward across much of southwest Louisiana and the northern Gulf of Mexico from late Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. As the main upper level system approached Louisiana early Thursday morning, a squall line developed across east Texas and moved rapidly eastward across Louisiana, causing several reports of wind damage in southern Louisiana. Meanwhile, some of the elevated supercells became surface-based and tracked north-northeastward across south-central and east-central Louisiana, spawning at least a dozen tornadoes. In addition, the widespread rainfall caused flooding in some of these same areas.

In total, at least 12 tornadoes affected portions of Vermilion, Acadia, St. Landry, Evangeline, and Avoyelles Parishes within a two hour timespan from 7-9 AM. Seven tornadoes affected Acadia Parish alone, the biggest single outbreak of tornadoes ever recorded in that parish. Three tornadoes were rated EF2, three were rated EF1, and six were rated EF0. Other tornadoes likely occurred that were reported by area residents but could not be confirmed by NWS storm surveys. These included a likely tornado just east of I-49 in extreme northeastern Evangeline Parish, a possible tornado about 8 miles southwest of Gueydan, and another east of Palmetto in far northeastern St. Landry Parish. This was the largest outbreak of tornadoes in the NWS Lake Charles county warning area since November 23, 2004.