Today is the 15th anniversary of the Parkersburg tornado
15 years ago today an EF-5 tornado tore a 43 mile long path across Butler and Black Hawk Counties killing nine people, injuring dozens and causing millions of dollars of destruction.
The tornado began near the Butler and Grundy County line, 2 miles south of Aplington, at 4:48pm on May 25th, 2008. The tornado grew quickly in size and intensity over the next few minutes as it approached Parkersburg. The tornado was nearly three-quarters of a mile wide as it moved through the southern end of Parkersburg at 4:56pm. A third of the town experienced devastating damage with nearly 200 homes destroyed. The tornado dissipated just before leaving Black Hawk County at 5:50pm.
The tornado was rated as an EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Scale, and was the first EF-5 to strike Iowa since June 13th, 1976. The 2008 tornado had estimated top wind speeds of 205 miles per hour.
