Home / Louisiana / Beauregard

EF3 tornado in Beauregard Parish, Louisiana

Tornado December 16, 2019 · Beauregard Parish, Louisiana

EF3

Rating

62.6 mi

Whole path

550 yd

Path width

Death

$25.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Beauregard Parish → Vernon Parish → Rapides Parish; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 550 yards (0.31 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado began in DeRidder Louisiana just north of 171 on East 1st Street where it created minor roof damage and took out several overhead doors. The winds at this time were estimated at 78 mph. As the tornado moved northeast, it strengthened near Mac Sterling Road crossing into Vernon Parish near the intersection of John Brewer and Borel Roads. Roughly 40 structures were in the path of the tornado with various degrees of damage. Two homes had exterior walls collapse with the interior remaining intact. Numerous trees and power lines were also downed. The max estimated winds while in Beauregard Parish was 152 MPH.

The wider storm

A cold front pushed across Louisiana with showers and storms ahead of the boundary. A couple storms produce tornadoes with one being long tracked.

Began near De Ridder (30.8471, -93.2657).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

1 more tornado the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF2 Rapides Parish

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 869481. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.