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F3 tornado in Monroe County, Indiana

Tornado September 20, 2002 · Monroe County, Indiana

Rating

112.0 mi

Whole path

150 yd

Path width

127

Injuries

$103.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Monroe County → Morgan County → Johnson County → Marion County → Hancock County → Hamilton County → Madison County → Delaware County → Blackford County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 150 yards (0.09 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

The wider storm

One of Indiana's longest tracking tornados formed along a squall line on the morning of September 20. The tornado touched down near Ellettsville in Monroe county and then remained on the ground for 112 miles before lifting in Blackford county. The tornado produced F3 damage at its strongest points. Nearly 100 single family homes were destroyed, along with several mobile homes. Some apartments were also destroyed. Many businesses and hundreds of homes received damage. Several counties were declared disaster areas.

Began near Ellettsville (39.2333, -86.6167).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5315471. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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