Tornadoes/Floods in Henderson & Owensboro (Louisville, Hopkinsville: insurance, homes, high school)

[goldpolkadots]

Hello
How's the tornado/flood situation in Henderson and Owensboro, KY?
Which areas flood? Which don't?

Do Henderson and Owensboro get tornadoes?
How often? How severe?

Any info is greatly appreciated!
Thanks

[tomocox]

My first 30 years were spent about 20 miles south of Owensboro, lived in Henderson after that for about 10 years. While tornadoes are always a threat to anywhere in Kentucky, Indiana, or Illinois, Owensboro had never been struck by a tornado until an unseasonal January tornado in either 2003 or 04 (I forget). Then within the past month it was hit by another minimal tornado. They do hit the area, but not routinely.

Flooding? Well that's a whole different story. Many area's of Daviess and Henderson County are flood plains. The January 1937 flood is considered the 100 yr flood by which area's are identied for flood insurance. The locals will tell you if specific places flood, if you don't have maps available.

[KYcoyote]

Tom, Madisonville area got hit pretty bad with twister couple months after Hurricane Katrina. Can remember because i registered with Red Cross as emergency standby personnel, driving truck, clearing debris etc at Nawlins and was notified for possible more nearby deployment.

Bunch of emergency response agencies including national guard got hyped and keyed to respond at Madisonville but locals said NO. Basically they unanimously outright refused foreign "rescue" assistance even from Frankfort Governor's office. County Judge Exec was quoted as saying he'd set up his own armed checkpoints to repel national guard from entering at the county line. Gotta admire them for that: the neighbor-to-neighbor community approach looking after its own.

Goldpolkadot, instead of worrying about natural disasters you oughta consider community response. When disaster strikes here, everybody with bucket and shovel pitches in. But am certain you see the same close knit community ther at Indiana. Gotta believe tornado alley here beats forced evac to the stadium everywhere else.

[tomocox]

Coyote, you are absolutely correct. Thank you for reminding me of Madisonville.

As I remember, we would be under a tornado watch several times per year, but even on a countywide basis, it would be rare to have one tornado warning per year. I do remember some pretty hefty damage done by heavy thunderstorm "straight-line" winds occasionally.

Coyote is exactly right about the community response too.

[AdamD723]

Owensboro area is a fine place to live. For 23 years that i have been here the weather patterns have been strange at times. In 2000 an F3 Tornado struck a path across the Southwestern part of town, mre importantly no deaths were reported but nearly 1/5 of the town was destroyed(maybe a little less) within two years you couldnt tell it had even happened. In October of 2007 Downtown Owensboro again was hit by an unseasonal Tornado. It destroyed parts of the downtown area but we were lucky and again we didnt lose any lives. We have had more flooding problems however many in the southern part of the county. We had a flood around 1994 that displaced many families in that southern part of the county.

[EclecticEars]

Originally Posted by goldpolkadots

Hello
How's the tornado/flood situation in Henderson and Owensboro, KY?
Which areas flood? Which don't?

Do Henderson and Owensboro get tornadoes?
How often? How severe?

Any info is greatly appreciated!
Thanks

I've never heard of the city proper of Henderson having tornadoes in recent history. Owensboro has had two in the past five years. Some of the outlying farm areas in Henderson County have been known to have tornadoes in the past few decades.

The tornado number and frequency is increasing across the state, so it seems, but nowhere moreso than western Kentucky--say, the Owensboro-Hopkinsville-Providence triangle. Owensboro, Madisonville, Greenville/Powderly, and Providence have all suffered very large tornadoes with significant damage and at least a few injuries in the past ten years. I'm talking of the F3 through F5 assortment (I know the fujita scale has changed in the last few years, but still...I'm trying to state just how powerful these things were.)

Also, many areas of Henderson and Daviess County flood after a lot of rain. These are two of the lowest-lying counties in the state. Approximately every 20-30 years, a storm will come through that will produce so much rain that much of the counties will be totally submerged. (Same goes for surrounding counties like Webster, McLean, Union, Crittenden, Muhlenberg, western Hancock, eastern Hopkins, etc.)

My suggestion would be to actually live in the city limits of Henderson or Smith Mills in Henderson Co. or Owensboro or West Louisville in Daviess Co. Also, some parts of western Daviess Co. are really quite hilly, so you could look out KY Highway 56 or the Audubon Parkway and find some less flood prone areas. Plus, in western Daviess, you'd be 25 minutes from the shopping in Evansville on nothing but 4-lane highway.

[Davart]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

I've never heard of the city proper of Henderson having tornadoes in recent history. Owensboro has had two in the past five years. Some of the outlying farm areas in Henderson County have been known to have tornadoes in the past few decades.

The tornado number and frequency is increasing across the state, so it seems, but nowhere moreso than western Kentucky--say, the Owensboro-Hopkinsville-Providence triangle. Owensboro, Madisonville, Greenville/Powderly, and Providence have all suffered very large tornadoes with significant damage and at least a few injuries in the past ten years. I'm talking of the F3 through F5 assortment (I know the fujita scale has changed in the last few years, but still...I'm trying to state just how powerful these things were.)

Also, many areas of Henderson and Daviess County flood after a lot of rain. These are two of the lowest-lying counties in the state. Approximately every 20-30 years, a storm will come through that will produce so much rain that much of the counties will be totally submerged. (Same goes for surrounding counties like Webster, McLean, Union, Crittenden, Muhlenberg, western Hancock, eastern Hopkins, etc.)

My suggestion would be to actually live in the city limits of Henderson or Smith Mills in Henderson Co. or Owensboro or West Louisville in Daviess Co. Also, some parts of western Daviess Co. are really quite hilly, so you could look out KY Highway 56 or the Audubon Parkway and find some less flood prone areas. Plus, in western Daviess, you'd be 25 minutes from the shopping in Evansville on nothing but 4-lane highway.

I grew up in Zion (outside of Henderson) and my Dad still lives there since 1968 and I remember very few flood and even fewer that flooded homes. I can't think of a single person I knew that ever flooded. The only areas I knew that flooded, flooded often and no one lived there, like areas in the bottoms and horseshoe bend.

[cdc1211]

A lot has been said on this thread about flooding in many areas of the counties.

I would like to know what parts of the actual city of Owensboro tend to flood or not flood. If I move there, I would be living within the city limits.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Kamsack]

I grew up in Madisonville....havent lived there since graduating high school in 1984...but my parents still live there on the north side of town on the way to Hanson. But yes that large tornado back in I think 2005 that hit I saw the damage after returning home for Christmas. It hit the sound end of town on the way to Earlington.

That being said...I followed weather very closely growing up...and now my career is in weather forecasting. Not in that area but way up north where it isnt so hot/humid (I detest the summers down there...but that is another story).... But tornadoes in the M'ville area are rare I think the last one was in 1968. We tend to get quite a bit of high winds and some hail....but again real destructive storms are rare. Overall tornado frequency is a bit higher in southeast Illinois into southwest Indiana mainly north of the Ohio River...at least it seemed that way (carmi il to petersburg in areas).... Flooding is not that common...but anytime you get real heavy rain you will get flooding in low lying areas and near creeks/streams. The Green River at Calhoun and Sebree seemed to flood a lot but again most people dont live in its direct floodplane.

So in other words...the severe threat there is no hugely different than any other areas.... If anywhere in Kentucky seemed to get hit it would be the Louisville area....

I do know the TV stations out of Evansville are great with severe weather coverage....

my two cents

Dan

[kygman]

Originally Posted by jcm1986

Also, many areas of Henderson and Daviess County flood after a lot of rain. These are two of the lowest-lying counties in the state. Approximately every 20-30 years, a storm will come through that will produce so much rain that much of the counties will be totally submerged. (Same goes for surrounding counties like Webster, McLean, Union, Crittenden, Muhlenberg, western Hancock, eastern Hopkins, etc.)

I lived in Union County for almost 30 years and worked on the state highway department for 26 of those. The biggest part of the time, the only roads that would flood were the river bottom roads. About the only ones who used those roads were the farmers who worked the ground and a few sneaking back home after a night at the bar in Shawneetown, Ill. lol
The only major road we have that would come close to flooding was US 60 east. Since the new coal mine was built outside Waverly there are times when water would get to the edge of the highway. We have had to close it twice. The only time the county was totally "submerged' was in '97, when everything along the Ohio and parts of the Mississippi flooded.