Deadly Tornado: Evansville Indiana Nov 6, 2005

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On the evening of Saturday Nov 5, 2006 I was out of town visiting a friend in Louisville KY.  That particular day was very strange.  Here it was the month of November and we were outside wearing short sleeve shirts and shorts because of the unseasonably warm weather that we were enjoying.  The weather was so nice that day that my friend and I took advantage of the nice weather to take some personal photo's.  One of the pictures taken of me that day is posted below.  We had no idea what was in store for that evening or the next few days.

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We had made several comments about how the weather was, "too nice" for this time of year.  We had no idea how right we were that afternoon.

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It was strange but on this particular "road trip" I took my miniture daschund Sophie with me.  She normally stayed back home in Evansville with my family and to this day I cant recall why I decided to take her with me.

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That particular night we went out to dinner and laughed and joked.  We were suppose to go out to some bars that night but for reasons unexplained we decided to just say in and watch tv.  Around midnight that night I ran Sophie outside one last time to use the restroom before going in for bed.  While outside I noticed the temperature was even warmer than earlier in the day and that the winds had really picked up.

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Around 2 am that night I awoke to Sophie crying and running about the bed.  She would not sit still and or calm down.  This was very odd behavior for her.  It was raining VERY hard outside and the lighting was really lighting up the Louisville sky.  The winds were bad, but not nearly as bad as at home.

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I layed back down for the night and held Sophie.  I thought, in part, her odd behavior was from being in a place that she was unfamilair with.  At some point I fell back to sleep.  That was until around 7 am when my cell phone rang.  It was a family member in Evansville of whom did not know I was out of town was calling to make sure I was ok.  

I jumped up and asked what she meant and she then informed me of the tornado that had ripped through my hometown.  At that time a lot of the city was without power so most people had no idea of the true destruction that was there when the sun finally rose.

I turned on CNN News and my heart dropped.  Right there live on television they were showing  the mass destruction to an area of Newburgh Indiana that was located apprx 5 miles from my home.

I had a horrible "pit" feeling in my stomach as I knew lives had to have been lost.  

Unfortunately most of my early morning phone calls went un-answered as the city was in a state of emergency and many cell phones were not working because of tower damage.

I recall the horrible feeling in my stomach as I gathered my belongings to make a quick trip back to Evansville.

My oldest brother (who lives in Nashville) was alerted about the tornado via friends in his city.  He too, was worried as he could not reach family memebers back home.  I informed him that I was out of the city and would call him as soon as I got information about friends and family members alike.

Upon returning to Evansville that morning/afternoon I recall driving home thinking about the horrible destruction I had seen on CNN news that morning.

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At approximately 1:30 am a tornado warning was released but unfortunately most people were asleep and had no idea of the F3 tornado heading straight for them.  The tornado first cut across the KY/IN state boarder near the Ohio River and destroyed Ellis Park, a horse race track facility.

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Ellis Park Horse Track--Henderson KY  Nov 2005

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One can see just how stronge the winds must have been by looking at the damage to the horse track inside retaining wall

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After causing major damage to Ellis Park around 1 :30 am the tornado followed a path down I-64 straight for a mobile home park.  Most of the people living in the trailer park had no idea of the tornado heading their way and those that did had very little time to take shelter.  

Of the 25 people that died this day, 21 occurred in this particular mobile home park.

Below is a map of the tornadoe's path across the tri-state area.

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At approximately 2 am the tornado struck the Eastbrooke mobile home park.

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Eastbrooke Mobile home park.  Evansville Indiana

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These poor people never had a fighting chance that night.

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So many heart breaking stories came out of the loss of life from the particular location.  Several small children lost their lives as well as many adults, and family pets.

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After destroying the Eastbrooke mobile home park the tornado continued on into Newburgh Indiana, again hitting most people with very little or no warning.  The tornado was caught on tape that night from a local hospital's outside camera's.

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The tornado continued on (a 41 mile path alltogether).  Luckily, despite large scale destruction, no loss of live was recorded in Newburgh Indiana.  

Scene below is one of the local newspapers front pages  in the days following the tornado.

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The tornado cut right through the middle of Newburgh Indiana, destroy many residental neighborhoods.

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Looking at the damage, it is a miracle more lives were not lost.

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You can only immagine how strong the winds were to puncture this car window with this piece of wood.

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Many of the homes in Newburgh had to be completely leveled.

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Newburgh Indiana Nov 2005

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Evansville Indiana, near the Ellis Park Horse track

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I myself was very fortunate and did not know anyone personally affected by the deaths of the tornado.  Nontheless, the entire tri-state hurt from this horrible night of events. It was the deadliest tornado in the United States for the year of 2005.  And the most deadliest recorded since May of 1999.

Today, in January 2007 most of the damage has been repaired.  The Eastbrook Mobile home park will never bee the same.  Most of the people who lived there could never go back to the sight and thus a good portion of the park remains empty.

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Here is a map showing the area's affected by the tornado.

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Aerial view of the Eastbrooke Mobile home park the morning after.

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Sadly, 4 years after the fact, most of this mobile home park still sits vacant, because most of the people never returned after the tornado.