EF2 tornado in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana

The Gueydan Tornado began about 4 miles southwest of town near Ellis Bridge Road, blowing down a few trees Burnell Road and Humble Road. The tornado then moved north-northeastward causing extensive roof and siding damage to several homes just east of Highway 91 south of Gueydan. One tied-down mobile home was rolled over and completely destroyed, and another mobile home had its entire roof blown off. Trees and powerlines were also blown down in the area. The tornado then moved across Gueydan, causing intermittent damage to homes and trees along a narrow swath. One small outbuilding was blown into the water tower located in the northeast portion of town and destroyed. Continuing north-northeastward, the tornado blew down numerous trees at a farm on the southern end of JD Simon Road, and knocked down a power pole along Highway 713 west of Dallas Guidry Road. The tornado then curved northward, blowing down several tree limbs at a residence along Bill Searle Road west of Calvin Road, before dissipating. In total, approximately 50 homes were damaged by this tornado.

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.