Pair of Tornadoes Narrowly Miss Indianola

The National Weather Service completed its survey of tornado damage near the Warren County town of Indianola, just south of Des Moines.  In some areas, the damage was pretty severe.  One of the tornadoes was caught on tape.  You can see that video by clicking here.  The storm quickly developed over the county early Friday evening.  You can see in the map to the left that the first tornado touched down just a few miles east of Indianola.  The NWS survey determined the tornado traveled more than 3 miles.  But the good news is the tornado lifted just west of the community.

In the image above, you can see some of the heavy damage caused by this tornado.  This image from the National Weather Service shows a garage destroyed at one residence.  You’ll notice that the cars are still within the general area of the garage, indicating this was not a strong tornado.

After taking a look at the damage path, the National Weather Service determined this tornado was an EF-1, with winds of 100mph.  The survey also determined the tornado was 150 yards wide.  Fortunately, no one was killed or injured, but the tornado managed to pick roofs off of some buildings and bring down some large trees.

After lifting, the storm passed over Indianola and fortunately did not produce a second tornado until it passed over the Warren County town.  The second tornado developed just east of the town.

You can see in the map above the location of this second tornado.  Unlike the first tornado, this one was very brief, only on the ground for a very short period of time.  As a result, it produced a lot less damage than the first one.  Both tornadoes were ranked EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.

Once again, no injuries reported with this tornado which is the best news of all.  A frightening 30 minutes or so for people living in or near Indianola.  But despite some serious damage, the human toll is minimal.  We can only hope all tornadoes can follow this pattern when it comes to threatening human life.