INDIANA — It has been 20 years since a tornado touched down in Indiana and tracked 112 miles, the longest tornado track in Indiana history. September doesn’t typically bring severe weather but on September 20, 2002, there were 13 tornadoes that caused millions of dollars in damage.
It was on this night a tornado hit the YMCA on the south side of Indianapolis and leveled buildings on the southeast side and continued to do significant damage all the way up into Blackford County.
Longest tornado track in Indiana history
The longest tornado track began in Ellettsville at 12:59 p.m. and tracked northeast through Martinsville, the south and east sides of Indianapolis, Anderson, and lifted near Hartford City, 2 hours and 21 minutes later at 3:20 p.m. The warning issued for Indianapolis included “tornado emergency” wording within the warning.
There were no deaths but that tornado left behind $156 million in property damage and injured 130 people. It was rated an F3 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 160 mph.
September 20, 2002 tornado event
Throughout the event, several tornadoes were tracked across the state. One was an F2-rated tornado that struck near Poseyville and another F2 struck near Monroe City.
Pictures of the damage from this event can be found here.
