F3 Tornado — Champaign, Illinois

1996-04-19 · near Ogden, Champaign, Illinois

Wider weather episode

A tornado touched down half a mile to the southwest of Ogden and travelled to the northeast right through the middle of the town. The tornado destroyed 68 homes, 12 businesses, 3 churches, the library, and a grade school. Once east of town, the tornado crossed I-74, where it killed a woman who was riding in a semi with her husband. The semi and trailer were picked up and rolled into a field. The woman, who had been in the sleeper portion, was thrown about 30 yards from the truck. She was killed instantly. After rolling the semi, the tornado damaged 2 more homes before lifting and dissipating 1 mile north northeast of Ogden. Back in Ogden the damage was variable. One house would have significant damage, when a nearby structure would only have minor damage. In addition to the destroyed homes and businesses, 128 homes and 8 businesses sustained major damage and 51 homes and 12 businesses had minor damage. With it's larger width, it appears that this tornado had multiple circulations within the parent tornado. Overall, one woman was killed and thirteen people were injured. No damage estimate was available yet.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.1200, -87.9500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5543905. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.