NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY

NOVEMBER 2005

6th-12th...A tornado with winds exceeding 158 mph ripped a path of
destruction through western Kentucky and Indiana as residents slept
early Sunday, reducing homes to splinters and leaving entire blocks of
buildings in rubble. At least 22 people were killed and 200 others
injured. Rescuers who reached the hard-hit Eastbrook Mobile Home Park
shortly after 2 a.m. found children wandering in the broken glass and
debris, looking for their parents, as parents called out for missing
children. One child was pulled alive from the debris more than 12 hours
after the storm hit. But searchers said they were uncovering more
bodies than survivors _ at least 17 victims in the mobile home park
alone. "They were in trailer homes, homes that were just torn apart by
the storm," Deputy Vanderburgh County Coroner Annie Groves said. "It's
just terrible." All around, broken tree limbs, chunks of insulation,
furniture and children's toys littered the ground as rescuers listened
for survivors and used forklifts to move crushed mobile homes and cars.
The tornado, the deadliest to hit Indiana since 1974, struck a horse
racing track near Henderson, KY, then crossed into Indiana. "It was
just a real loud roar. It didn't seem like it lasted over 45 seconds to
a minute, then it was calm again," said Steve Gaiser, who lives near
the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park in Evansville. Five people were
confirmed dead in neighboring Warrick County, east of Evansville, where
the Ohio River city of Newburgh was hit.
Chad Bennett, assistant fire chief in Newburgh, told CNN that sirens
sounded,
but most people didn't hear them because it happened in the middle of
the night.
Three members of a family _ the mother, eight months' pregnant, her
husband and
their young son _ were killed in their farmhouse near Degonia Springs,
Warrick
County Sheriff Marvin Heilman said. A teenage girl died near Boonville,
and her
father was critically injured, he said. No deaths were reported in
Kentucky. The tornado developed in a line of thunderstorms that rolled
rapidly eastward across the Ohio Valley. Ryan Presley, a weather
service meteorologist in Paducah, KY, said a single tornado touched
down near Smith Mills in western Kentucky, jumped the river and cut a
15 to 20 mile swath through Indiana's Vanderburgh and Warrick counties.
The tornado appeared to be at least an F3 on the Fujita scale, which
ranges from F0, the weakest, to F5, the strongest. An F3 has winds
ranging from 158 mph to 206 mph, and the tornado that hit on Sunday may
have been even stronger, Presley
said. Tim Martin, 42, was inside his parents' mobile home at Eastbrook
when they heard the wind, and then the tornado picked up the home and
shoved it into a
neighbor's yard. Martin and his parents escaped unharmed, but they
heard several neighbors calling for help. "All I could see was debris,"
he said. "I thought it was a bad dream." A nearby mobile home was
overturned, and another had been obliterated. Patty Ellerbusch, 53,
said she and her husband were in bed at their hilltop home in Newburgh
when a relative called and warned them of the tornado.
They ran for the basement, but her husband didn't make it before the
tornado hit. He was blasted with shattered drywall, wood and other
debris as the tornado shredded the home's roof, she said. "He was
running down the hallway, and it knocked him down and ripped his
glasses off. He said it felt like being in a wind tunnel," she said.
About 100 of the 350 mobile homes at Eastbrook were destroyed, and 125
others were damaged, Indiana homeland security spokeswoman Pam Bright
said. Bright said it was the deadliest tornado in Indiana since April
3, 1974, when an outbreak of several tornadoes killed 47 people and
destroyed 2,069 homes. The Ellis Park racetrack, between Evansville and
Henderson, Ky., had significant damage to barns, the grandstand and
other buildings, and some workers were injured, said Paul Kuerzi, the
track's vice president and general manager. Kuerzi said three horses
died from injuries suffered in storm. He said it was too early to know
if any other horses were injured. About 150 horses in training were
stabled there. Another tornado hit downtown Munfordville, in
south-central Kentucky, a few hours later, destroying at least 25 homes
and damaged dozens of others, as well as businesses. "It was frankly a
miracle that no one was killed," Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said.
In the East, a strong area of low pressure brought numerous rain
showers and strong thunderstorms to the Great Lakes region, the Ohio
Valley, and into the Northeast on Wednesday. The strongest storms were
capable of producing frequent lightning, strong winds, large hail, and
heavy downpours. Quarter size hail fell across parts of Panama, New
York, and penny size hail was reported in both Henrietta, New York and
Batavia, New York. There were also many reports of downed trees and
power lines throughout the region. However, the big story of the day
was the heavy rainfall experienced across many locations. In the
Cventer of the country, the same area of low pressure affecting parts
of the East also produced gusty winds, and rain and snow showers across
the Upper and Middle Mississippi Valley. A mix of rain and snow was
experienced in northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
with little or no new snow accumulations. Rainfall amounts were light,
well under a quarter of an inch. Gusty winds also affected the region
with winds, gusting to 40 mph at times. In fact, a wind gust of 71 mph
was recorded at Keweenaw Point, Michigan. Wind gusts of near 50 mph
were also recorded in Oostburg, Wisconsin and Sheboygan, Wisconsin as
well. In the West, a low pressure system continued to sit and spin off
the southern coast of California, bringing areas of clouds and rain to
the region. In fact, Santa Barbara, California received 1.93 inches of
rain, and Santa Maria, California received 1.01 inches.

13th-19th...Severe thunderstorms rolled across the nation's midsection
late Tuesday, producing funnel clouds that tore off roofs and destroyed
or damaged buildings in at least four states. Tornado touchdowns were
spotted in 12 counties in western and central Tennessee, with some of
the worst damage occurring in Henry County, about 90 miles west of
Nashville. "Numerous homes there were damaged, some completely
destroyed," said Faye Scott, spokeswoman for the Henry County Sheriff's
Department. "It's major destruction." Funnel clouds were also sighted
in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. There were no immediate reports of
serious injuries, and the National Weather Service could not
immediately confirm the tornados. A tornado made a direct hit on Henry
County's emergency management center, forcing authorities to relocate
to another building to handle the disaster, County Mayor Brent Greer
said. The county medical center treated 13 people with injuries, mostly
cuts and bruises, hospital spokeswoman Sandra Sims said. The storm also
ripped the roof off the main shop at the county highway department,
destroyed two smaller shops and damaged a furniture
manufacturer next door, Greer said. Andy Zirkle, a spokesman for the
Indiana Emergency Management Agency, said the storms destroyed at least
nine homes in the southern part of the state. "The wind was just
really, really ferocious," said Julie Wilz, a desk clerk at the Red
Roof Inn in Montgomery, Ind., where about 15 people took shelter during
the storm. Before heading inside, she said she saw the tip of a funnel
cloud. In western Kentucky, storms leveled homes and toppled power
lines. At least 22 people were treated for storm-related injuries
ranging from minor cuts and bruises to head trauma, according to Jayne
Barton, a
spokeswoman for the Regional Medical Center in Madisonville. In
southern Illinois, high winds peeled the roofs off a church and several
barns. Meteorologists said the severe weather was the result of a cold
front moving east and colliding with warm, unstable air across the
central Mississippi and lower Ohio valleys. Elsewhere in the Midwest,
nine tornadoes swept across central Iowa on Saturday, killing one
woman. Though severe thunderstorms and tornados are not uncommon in the
fall, Spaeth said the strength of storm systems that have produced
recent tornadoes suggests severe weather could lie ahead.
Heavy rain fell across much of New England Tuesday as a coastal low
pressure system moved north. Cold air filled in behind the system and
changed the rain to snow in northeastern New York and areas of Vermont.
Chilly air wrapped around the rear of the coastal low. Light drizzle
and snow showers were reported in the southeastern Appalachians and
Great Lakes region. The Mid-Atlantic received heavy rain early in the
day.

27th-30th...At least one person was killed and dozens of homes, house
trailers and farm buildings were damaged or destroyed when tornadoes
and severe thunderstorms roared through mostly rural areas of Arkansas
on Sunday night. "I can confirm that one person is dead because of the
high winds, and I can confirm that we are lucky that thus far, only one
person is dead," said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State
Police. The single reported fatality occurred when storm winds
overturned an automobile on Interstate 40 near Morrilton, about 40
miles west of Little Rock. There was no immediate accounting of
storm-related injuries. Damage to homes, farm outbuildings and a marina
were reported in nine counties, most of them in central Arkansas. The
high winds also brought down power lines, leaving almost 8,000 homes
and businesses without electricity. The tornadoes developed when a cold
front collided with a mass of unseasonably warm, moist air that had
hovered over the state for several days. A tornado earlier in November
killed 23 people in Indiana.
Crews on Tuesday gradually reopened major highways that had been closed
by the Plains' first blizzard of the season, stranding
post-Thanksgiving travelers. Thousands of people remained without
electricity. Five deaths were blamed on slippery roads in Minnesota,
South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. A sixth person was killed by a
tornado spun off by the huge storm system in Arkansas. Remnants of the
system headed over the upper Great Lakes on Tuesday after the storm
dumped snow as far south as the Texas Panhandle. As much as 20 inches
of snow fell at Kennebec, SD, while Chamberlain, SD, was choked by
drifts up to 8 feet high. Utility officials estimated that 50,000
customers were blacked out across eastern South Dakota on Tuesday, and
many communities in North Dakota had no electricity. Nebraska also had
scattered outages. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday that
electricity might not be restored to some areas for a few days as roads
blocked by drifted snow kept utility crews to finding all the damaged
lines. Power companies in North Dakota said it could take days to
restore power. It was the worst storm to hit eastern and central South
Dakota in nearly a decade, Rounds said. Firefighters in Fairmount, ND,
offered the town's roughly 400 residents rides to the community center,
which has a backup generator,
but the blackout also shut down the town's pumps. "We still have water
but it's getting pretty low here," Fairmount Fire Chief Dave Jacobson
said. Utility crews were out early Tuesday working to restore
electricity in northwestern Minnesota. "Bless 'em, they're just the
cavalry," said Chris Kling, a spokeswoman for Otter Tail Power Co. At
Hankinson, ND, people took refuge at the Dakota Magic Casino, which
also has its own generator, said customer service representative Cheri
Braun. "Our hotel can't hold any more," she said. Interstate 94 was
closed overnight for about 100 miles across eastern North Dakota from
Fargo to Jamestown, but the Highway Patrol reopened it Tuesday morning.
I-29 also was reopened from Fargo south to the South Dakota line, and
South Dakota authorities said their section would reopen by midday.
South Dakota officials said traffic also would be restored on I-90,
which had been closed for nearly 200 miles across the state. In
Nebraska, I-80 was reopened along a 200-mile stretch, the state road
department said. At least 600 travelers were still stranded Tuesday at
community shelters in central Nebraska's Dawson County, said emergency
manager Brian Woldt. "At times they get grouchy. They're wanting to get
down the road, but for the most part they're doing fine," Woldt said.
Colorado and Kansas had reopened more than 400 miles of eastbound I-70
between Denver and Salina, Kan., after two days. The storm also
disrupted mail delivery in the region Monday, and some post offices
were still without power Tuesday. Clem Felchle, the postal service's
district manager in Sioux Falls, S.D., said carriers were back at work
Tuesday but they may have trouble reaching outlying areas.
Almost 1,000 people spent Sunday night in shelters along I-70 in
Kansas, including more than 200 on cots and exercise mats at Fort Hays
State University in Hays, officials said. Among those at Fort Hays
State were Mike and Ilona Dorsey, returning to Denver after visiting
relatives in Topeka.