NWS tracks strongest local tornado since 2021

WNIN | By Tim Jagielo

Published May 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM CDT

On Saturday, May 17, Utility workers enter the backyard of an Evansville resident, whose garage was severely damaged by a fallen tree, which also knocked out power. The Evansville area narrowly avoided direct contact with tornadoes, though they did occur in Illinois and northwestern Kentucky.

More than eight tornadoes — including an EF-4 — struck tristate area Friday May 16; deaths reported in Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri

According to The Evansville/Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency, London-Corbin (Kentucky) Airport took a direct hit from a tornado on May 16, which destroyed several aircraft including two medevac helicopters, one AirEvac and one PHI. Flight crews are OK, but fatalities were reported in the area.

An EF 4 tornado touched down south of Marion, Illinois, with estimated 190 per-hour peak winds according to the National Weather Service (NWS). It lasted from 06:15 to 6:32, lasting more than 16 miles.

The NWS said this tornado is the strongest to impact the NWS Paducah area of responsibility since the long-track EF-4 tornado that impacted western Kentucky on December 10, 2021.

Overall, tornadoes were in Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Those tracked by the NWS in Paducah saw a range of EF-1 to EF-4.
The EF is the 'enhanced Fujita' scale which includes factors such as wind speed and potential damage to develop a rating. EF-5 is the highest.

Locally there were tornadoes on the ground in the areas of Corydon and Robards, Kentucky sending debris falling from the sky in Evansville, according to forecasters Ohio Valley Weather Watch, which were closer to an EF-2 with winds up to 135 MPH.

But overall storm damage was not widespread. Ohio Valley Weather Watch owner Tony Meriweather commented about how some areas completely avoided damage, during their Friday evening live storm coverage.

“We have stressed that in every single update that we posted — not everybody was going to see severe storms unless it came through in a line,” he said. “That line never formed. And we are very fortunate, we dodged a bullet that that line did not form.”

Still, deaths were reported in Missouri, London Kentucky and one in Linton, Indiana.

After the Friday evening storms, nearly 3,500 CenterPoint Energy customers in the Evansville area were without power. By Monday morning, most had their power restored.

On Saturday morning John Barabe was without power. A small generator is running outside his Powell Avenue home to keep the refrigerator on — “… and television, so I can watch golf,” he said, adding that this is the second time recently that he’s lost power.

“The first time was when what storm was April 1, and then we had no power for four days,” he said.

Everyone around Barabe lost power, and his next door neighbor’s garage was severely damaged by a falling tree.

In a statement, CenterPoint said repairs were completed and service has been restored to all customers who can safely receive power.

The utility said it’s monitoring the potential for more severe this week. “Our crews, equipment and support teams remain positioned across our service area, and we’re continuing to coordinate with local officials and share updates through our communication channels,” read the statement.