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20 Years Since Deadly November Twister

The November 6th, 2005 tornado illuminated by lightning and captured by a webcam at Deaconess Gateway Hospital
NWS Paducah
The November 6th, 2005 tornado illuminated by lightning and captured by a webcam at Deaconess Gateway Hospital

On November 6th, 2005, an early morning tornado left a path of death and destruction in southwest Indiana

Thursday marks 20 years since a devastating tornado tore through the Evansville area. WNIN’s John Gibson has this remembrance:

During the early morning hours of November 6th, 2005, a twister touched down near the small community of Smith Mills in northwest Henderson County.

The National Weather Service says the tornado quickly intensified and became an F3 tornado moving rapidly to the east-northeast.

WEHT TV meteorologist Wayne Hart was on the air that night as the storm approached the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park:

"It's right there south of I-164 near Angel Mounds. Let me zoom in here and there it is. We're going to zoom down and there you can see the couplet right there. That's I-164, okay, and that's Newburgh on the river."

The weather service says the storm left a 41 mile path of destruction and killed 25 people – many of them at Eastbrooke, where most residents were sleeping.

The storm also damaged Ellis Park, left a path of destruction in Newburgh, and sent more than 60 people to hospitals.

The twister finally lifted in northern Spencer County.

The weather service says it was the deadliest tornado to strike Indiana since a super outbreak in 1974.

More on the tornado from the National Weather Service can be found here.