Washington - The Scariest Tornado of All Time

[00:00:02]It's the morning of November 17th, 2013 and Tony Burgard is living a nightmare.

[00:00:09]He's locked out of his house as a violent tornado approaches. Not knowing what to do, he decides to take out his phone and film as an EF4 bulldozes his neighborhood to the ground.

[00:00:19]Thankfully, the tornado misses Tony.

[00:00:22]He's one of the lucky ones. Others lose everything as all across the Midwest an unusual outbreak of tornadoes is just getting started. The strongest of which will destroy Tony's hometown of Washington, Illinois.

[00:00:35]Because overhead, a slam dunk weather system is bringing a unique combination of ingredients to the Midwest, especially for the month of November.

[00:00:43]A picture-perfect dip in the jet stream will be strong enough to draw moist unstable air out of the Gulf, even as winter tries to set in.

[00:00:52]The bright minds at the Storm Prediction Center, however, immediately realized the potential.

[00:00:57]They issue a high risk across the region, the first issued in November in over 8 years.

[00:01:03]But this system also had another ace up its sleeve.

[00:01:06]Normally, the cooler November temperatures lead to weaker instability, but because the wind shear was so extreme, storms wouldn't even need very much instability at all to become tornadic.

[00:01:17]This meant that an unusually long window of tornado production would be possible, perhaps starting as early as sunrise.

[00:01:24]At 8:40 a.m., the Storm Prediction [music] Center would issue a special type of tornado watch tagged as a particularly dangerous situation.

[00:01:32]Forecasters stressed the confidence in a dangerous tornadic environment setting up in the open warm sector ahead of the cold front. And as early as 10:00 a.m., their worst fears came true as a broken line of supercells began to initiate in western Illinois.

[00:01:47]The meteorologists immediately pointed their attention at one storm in particular. It had exploded to life and was showing signs of increasing rotation as as approached the Peoria metro area, home to nearly 400,000 people.

[00:02:00]Suddenly, at 10:52, a tornado touches down in the town of Pekin.

[00:02:05]>> [music] >> It's captured on video as an uncondensed swirl of dust and debris crossing the road.

[00:02:10]The vortex slices across the town at highway speeds, producing EF2 damage as it tears off roofs and partially destroys buildings.

[00:02:18]But, just as quickly as it touched down, the funnel descended back into the sky.

[00:02:23]It's clear the storm is gearing up for something even bigger.

[00:02:27]The supercell begins to cycle, the process in which it sheds its old area of rotation and forms another.

[00:02:33]With the incredible wind shear present, the supercell completes this process at breakneck speeds, and within a few short minutes is ready to produce yet another tornado.

[00:02:43]At 10:59, the next funnel reaches the ground. It would go on to become one of Illinois' strongest tornadoes ever.

[00:02:50]The roar is audible as the vortex strengthens to EF3 intensity almost impossibly fast.

[00:02:56]And now, it has become apparent that it is on a collision course with the highly populated city of Washington, Illinois.

[00:03:03]Passing near School Street, Steve Neubauer is at home with his wife when they are caught off guard by the extreme forward speed of the tornado.

[00:03:10]In the chaos, his wife was just able to make it to the basement. However, Steve refuses to take shelter without his beloved pet cats.

[00:03:19]Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it to the basement in time.

[00:03:23]Steve is remembered as a man who loved his family, his friends, and his pets.

[00:03:29]Elsewhere, cameras are rolling at Highview Christian Church as congregants step outside, only to be met by a strengthening tornado as it really begins to drill down.

[00:03:42]>> There it is.

[00:03:48]It's strong.

[00:03:49]>> Soon, the rear flank downdraft begins to hide their view as the tornado strengthens to violent intensity.

[00:03:55]Now at EF4 strength, the vortex clips the southern end of the Woodridge Trace subdivision, completely slapping homes in windrowing debris.

[00:04:04]It is here where the tornado impacts the home of 84-year-old Army veteran Charles Koontz.

[00:04:09]After a long battle, Charles unfortunately lost his life to his injuries a few months later in January of 2014.

[00:04:16]Charles was remembered as a loving husband and father.

[00:04:20]Remarkably, his honorable discharge papers from his Army days were found over 125 miles away in the town of Lemont, a suburb of Chicago.

[00:04:29]Next, the tornado completely demolishes an apartment complex, miraculously causing no fatalities.

[00:04:36]The damage was so severe that the buildings had to be fully demolished, and to this day, empty concrete slabs sit where the complex once stood.

[00:04:44]Crossing into the heart of the city, the tornado next enters the Washington Estates neighborhood.

[00:04:49]It is here that it inflicts some of the most extreme residential damage recorded in the modern era.

[00:04:55]Multiple homes are completely swept away as the tornado begins to develop its infamous debris-covered appearance.

[00:05:01]An entire Illinois neighborhood is now rotating around the funnel as wind speeds approach 190 mph.

[00:05:08]Around this time, the tornado impacts the home of 82-year-old retired teacher Rosamond Allison.

[00:05:14]After a 2-week battle, she unfortunately lost her life due to injury sustained from the tornado.

[00:05:20]Rosamond was loved by the entire community who saw her as a friendly face who could always teach you something new.

[00:05:27]As word quickly spread throughout the community of the approaching tornado, many stepped outside to try and catch a glimpse and perhaps a video of the beast.

[00:05:35]Chris Lancaster was one of those people, but he never expected to film the destruction of his own home.

[00:05:42]While the tornado continues to grind through neighborhoods, Chris steps out to film the impossible sight. He wasn't really worried. He thought the tornado would turn away and leave him and his family untouched. But the twister continues getting closer and closer, growing larger and louder. Suddenly, bits and pieces of his neighbors' lives begin to rain down from the sky. Part of a roof lands so hard that it becomes impaled in the ground.

[00:06:07]And then, it hits.

[00:06:23]The Lancaster family loses everything, but thankfully, everyone is okay outside of a couple injuries.

[00:06:30]The tornado continues on, still bulldozing houses at high-end EF4 strength. But, impossibly, the tornado wasn't even at peak intensity yet.

[00:06:40]After what seems like an eternity, but in reality was only a few short minutes, the vortex exits the populated neighborhoods of Washington.

[00:06:48]It's still carrying with it thousands of pieces of debris, wearing the fragments of a community like some sort of sick and twisted trophy.

[00:06:55]Tyler G is watching from the corner of North Main Street and Route 24 when he realizes the tornado is headed straight for him.

[00:07:03]He jumps into his vehicle and accelerates away, escaping with seconds to spare.

[00:07:08]The decision saves his life.

[00:07:11]With the city giving way to rural farmland, the tornado impacts multiple farmsteads, completely sweeping them away.

[00:07:17]But, it's not the concrete slabs that tell the story.

[00:07:21]It's the empty farm fields.

[00:07:24]The tornado's extremely violent core begins to leave noticeable cycloidal marks through the plowed fields.

[00:07:30]These are a result of debris deposition and ground scouring from sub-vortices within the core of the tornado.

[00:07:37]Using complex mathematical formulas, scientists from the University of Illinois were able to calculate the average wind speed of the tornado through these marks.

[00:07:46]Their calculations produce average wind speeds as high as 219 mph.

[00:07:51]>> [music] >> They even noted brief instances of wind speeds above 230 mph, well into the EF5 range.

[00:07:59]Meanwhile, debris begins to rain down from the sky miles ahead of the tornado as remnants of Washington are scattered all over central Illinois.

[00:08:08]The tornado has reached a level of intensity seen only in the most violent of twisters.

[00:08:13]The monster continued on for the next 20 miles, mainly impacting open farmland.

[00:08:18]Any structure unfortunate enough to stand in its path, however, was swept away.

[00:08:23]And now the tornado has a second city in its sights.

[00:08:27]Hearing reports of a tornado headed that way from Washington, residents of Minonk step outside and can't believe their eyes.

[00:08:38]The tornado is here and it is still violent as it looks to be headed straight into town.

[00:08:43]For a few agonizing minutes, it seemed inevitable that the smaller city would suffer the same fate as Washington.

[00:08:50]Thankfully, the tornado passes just north, leaving Minonk unharmed. It continues on, now approaching the small town of Dana, Illinois.

[00:08:58]By this point, it had anchored down as a dark, murky wedge tornado.

[00:09:02]Here, you can see the monster display absolutely textbook tornado structure.

[00:09:07]It showcases a thick inflow tail visible on the right side, supplying the tornado with rapidly rotating air that fuels the circulation.

[00:09:16]Finally, over 40 miles from where it began, the vortex begins to get thrown off balance as an approaching cluster of storms impinge from the west. It weakens for a few miles before finally lifting after a 46-mile path and a final rating of high-end EF4.

[00:09:33]And yet, back in Washington, somehow the nightmare still wasn't even over.

[00:09:38]>> We've got some pictures of Washington coming in. I'm going to step out so you can get a good look at these. This is exactly what Alexandria Suter was talking [music] about. I mean it it looks like total destruction. There is wood and debris just about >> Citizens immediately sprang into action, pulling their fellow neighbors from the rubble and helping salvage what little remained.

[00:09:57]In situations like this, the United States has the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to help support the disaster response. But when Illinois representatives requested aid from FEMA, the government organization denied the request, citing that the damage wasn't severe enough.

[00:10:15]Despite the incredible destruction left behind by one of the strongest tornadoes in Illinois history, state and local governments would be left to fund the rebuilding process entirely on their own.

[00:10:27]But over the [music] months and years that followed, homes returned to once empty foundations, and life in the city has finally gone back to normal.

[00:10:34]Washington stands as a testament [music] to the resilience of a community who refused to let that one November morning define them.

[00:10:42]A rain-wrapped or nighttime tornado is terrifying because you can't see them until it's too late. But there is something uniquely [music] horrifying about the approach of a violent tornado in broad daylight. Watching it grow larger by the second, hearing that roar get louder, and knowing exactly what's coming. And realizing that there is nothing you can do except hope and pray.

[00:11:02]For many across central Illinois on November 17th, 2013, that nightmare became a reality.

[00:11:09]And that is why the Washington tornado remains, in my opinion, perhaps the most terrifying tornado of all time.

[00:11:15]>> [music] [music]