Evansville Tornado (2005)

This tornado first crossed into Vanderburgh County, Indiana from Henderson County, KY at a peninsula formed by the Ohio River just west of Henderson. This peninsula is Ohio River bottomland primarily used for farming. From the air, scour marks were clearly visible on farmland. There were very few structures impacted in this small part of the county. A two-story house built in 1875 sustained major roof damage. Tree branches were embedded into the house. One farm equipment shed was demolished, and another sustained major damage. A 10,000-pound truck was flipped over. Heavy farm equipment was moved several feet. The tornado crossed the Ohio River back into Henderson County in a sparsely populated flood plain, used mostly for farming.

This was the deadliest tornado in Indiana since April 3, 1974. This tornado tracked a total of 41 miles from Henderson County, KY into Spencer County, IN. A total of at least 500 homes and buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. Much of the damage was upper F-2 to lower F-3 intensity. Although the tornado was up to 500 yards wide, the average path width was 275 yards. Of the approximately 230 injuries, 20 were critical, and 63 resulted in hospital admissions. This tornado was the more northern tornado of a pair of strong supercell tornadoes that occurred simultaneously. The southern tornado occurred in Crittenden and Webster Counties of Kentucky.