A tornado that touched down near Enderlin, N.D., on June 20, was upgraded to a rating EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, making it the first tornado since May 2013 to receive the rating.
The tornado, lasting 19 minutes with a 12-mile path, was part of a derecho — a widespread, long-lasting windstorm that accompanied several fast-moving thunderstorms or showers — that caused 41 tornadoes during the tornado outbreak from June 19 to June 22.
The tornado was initially rated EF3 by the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, N.D., but the rating was upgraded in October following a revised survey of the tornado’s damage.
The revised survey was conducted by Tim Marshall, Jim LaDue, Connell Miller, Greg Kopp, David Sills and the Northern Tornadoes Project at the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory of Western University.
Most notably, the survey found that 33 derailed train cars weighing between 72,000 pounds and 286,000 pounds were thrown and landed nearly 500 feet from each other because of the tornado. Researchers and meteorologists found that “analyses estimate potential wind speeds of approximately 230 mph are needed to completely overturn a fully loaded grain hopper car,” The Washington Post reports.
The EF Scale, operational since February 2007, is derived from the Fujita Scale. Its estimated wind speed ranges are based on damage from the tornado. Ratings, which are given from levels zero to five, are assigned based on the highest wind speed that occurred on the tornado’s path.
The previous EF5 tornado prior to the “EF5 drought” in the U.S. was the 2013 Moore tornado, which occurred in Oklahoma.
The tornado caused three casualties and zero injuries. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong declared a statewide disaster on June 21 following the tornado. A month later, he made a request for a presidential disaster declaration for the damage dealt by the storms and tornados; the request was approved in September.
The approval would allow access to the Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
“This much-needed disaster aid will help our state’s communities and utilities recover from one of the most powerful summer storms in recent history,” Armstrong said.
Days after the tornado, over 150 volunteers from different counties in the state helped clean debris from farm fields in Enderlin. Drones were also used to search for missing belongings from damaged houses.
The town will continue rebuilding in the months following the tornado. In fact, mental health services and funds, such as the Enderlin Area Tornado Relief Fund Relief Fund from BankNorth, have been set up for families affected by the storms, including the tornado.
Still, “people don’t realize what it costs to rebuild or they thought their insurance had something, but then they realize it wasn’t what they thought it said it was,” Maggie Peters from the Enderlin Area Tornado Relief Fund said.
