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F2 tornado in Putnam County, Illinois

Tornado April 20, 2004 · Putnam County, Illinois

F2
Rating
24.8 mi
Whole path
880 yd
Path width
8
Deaths
12
Injuries
$8.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Putnam County → La Salle County → La Salle County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F2 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F2 meant considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted; the scale paired it with winds of 113–157 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.

What the National Weather Service wrote

Rated very high end F2

The wider storm

The low topped supercell that produced 2 earlier tornadoes in Stark and Marshall/Bureau counties continued to be a cyclic tornado producer. The deadliest and longest lived tornado started at 1644 CST, 0.7 miles North Northeast of Florid in Putnam County and moved northeast toward Granville. The long lived nature of the tornado was due to it riding along a warm front pushing through Putnam and La Salle counties. Satellite imagery indicated a strengthening mesocyclone at 1625 CST (2225 Z) with the formation of a new line of feeder clouds into the supercell, and KDVN 88D velocity data showed a strengthening TVS signature by 1635 CST (2235 Z). Witnesses reported a multiple vortex tornado just prior to its arrival in Granville. The tornado hit Granville at 1647-1648 CST which coincided with the failure of the main power feed into town. The town was bisected by the half mile wide tornado with 12 buildings destroyed, 45 with major damage, and 26 with minor damage (mainly residential). The Granville State National Bank lost its roof and Hopkins Elementary School lost the roof over the old gymnasium with damage in nearly all the classrooms. Significant damage also occurred to Granville Drugs, the only drug store in town. In a strange twist of irony, the town had finally recovered from a major fire 4 years earlier that decimated much of the business district. The tornado continued northeast out of Granville and crossed over into La Salle County (WFO LOT) at 1653 CST (2253 Z), 3.8 miles Northeast of Granville. The Granville/Utica tornado was the first significant test of a new statewide mutual aid response agreement. In Granville 5 people were injured by the tornado, including an eldery female who suffered a heart attack during the tornado and was eventually Life Flighted to a Peoria hospital. Injuries were low due to the 32 minutes of lead time before the tornado struck Granville. Damage in Granville is estimated to be at least $8 million with the school suffering at least $3.5 million in damage.

Began near Florid (41.2500, -89.2833).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5394564. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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