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Iberia Parish Tornado
January 4th, 2007
By Kent
Kuyper & Lance Escud�, Senior Forecasters
& Roger Erickson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist
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While the heart of winter isn't normally considered the prime severe weather
season across South-Central Louisiana, it does occur from time-to-time when the
proper conditions come together. On
Thursday, January 4th, 2007, an area of low pressure moved out of the Gulf of
Mexico and
into southern Louisiana, pulling a warm front northward and opening up the
south-central parishes of Louisiana to Gulf moisture. An upper level low
supported the development of showers and thunderstorms over the region ahead of a strong cold front,
which
was moving down from the Plains States. Doppler radar in Lake Charles
indicated a thunderstorm with the potential of producing a tornado in the
vicinity of New Iberia and a tornado
warning was issued for Iberia Parish at 3:40 pm. A tornado struck at 3:45 pm near
the town of Lydia, causing minor damage to trees and barns. As the tornado
raced
northward at close to 50 mph, it strengthened to what would later be classified
as a strong F1 on the Fujita Tornado Scale, with winds approximated near 110
mph. In the area of Neco Town Road and US 90, between Lydia and New
Iberia, three mobile homes were flipped and completely destroyed. Seven people, including children, were able
to crawl out of their homes with only minor injuries.
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Trailers destroyed |
Trailer rolled over |
Trailer flipped onto pickup |
Tin roof hanging in the tree |
Debris in trees |
Cleanup begins |
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Upon crossing highway 90, the storm destroyed another mobile home, fatally
injuring two occupants. As the storm got to LA 674 (East Admiral Doyle
Drive), several brick homes received major damage. The storm continued
north to the eastern fringe of New Iberia, heavily damaging several brick homes
in the Bellaire subdivision. The tornado finally dissipated around 3:50 pm
near the Cajun Sugar CoOp's sugar cane factory outside of New Iberia.
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Garage ripped from its foundation |
Roof destroyed |
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Below are images of the area impacted by the tornado:
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| Image of the areas impacted |
Map of the region impacted |
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Historical information on tornadoes in Iberia Parish:
This was the first tornado in Iberia Parish since 1999.
The last tornado in Iberia Parish hit Jeanerette on March 2 1999.
Tornadoes in January have occurred before - a tornado struck New Iberia on
January 2, 1999.
This was the 20th tornado documented by the National Weather Service in Iberia
Parish since 1950.
The two fatalities associated with this storm were the first ones attributed
to a tornado in Iberia Parish. |
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www.nws.noaa.gov 
