2007 Anderson, Indiana tornado

the 2007 Anderson tornado was a deadly early-morning tornado that struck the city of Anderson, Indiana around 2:20AM local time. The tornado was a part of the Tornado outbreak sequence of May 14-23, 2007, in total, 38 people died and over 60 were injured. The tornado was one of the 8 violent tornadoes produced by the outbreak sequence, and was produced on the most destructive day of the outbreak sequence (May 19, 2007). The tornado was rated a high-end EF4 by the NWS although the SPC lists the tornado as a EF5 event.

Meteorological history
See main article here: Tornado outbreak sequence of May 14-23, 2007

Around 9:45PM on May 18, 2007...the SPC issued PDS Tornado Watch #197 for portions of Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky until 4:00AM concerning the possibility of many tornadoes, some being long-tracked and very-intense. By 12:45AM local time, the first tornado warnings were being posted in the watch area. The first confirmed tornado with the cell that would go on to produce the Anderson tornado touched down at 1:06AM in east central Boone County and moving in a eastward direction at 15 miles per hour. The tornado caused moderate damage to a house in western Tipton County before lifting at 1:22AM, meanwhile another cell caused a severe thunderstorm warning for central Madison County including Anderson with baseball size hail and 90 mile per hour wind gusts being possible. At 1:45AM the Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Madison County expired, but was quickly replaced at 1:48AM by a tornado warning for the area as the Boone County cell, now southwest of Anderson and moving northeast at about 15 miles per hour, moved into the area. At 1:56AM, local emergency management spotted a very large funnel cloud about 11 miles southwest of Anderson as the storm slowly moved northeast. The funnel cloud touched down for the first time at 1:58AM before lifting. The tornado touched back down at 2:01AM and began rapidly approaching Anderson, the National Weather Service in Indianapolis upgraded the Tornado Warning to a Tornado Emergency for Anderson as the tornado rapidly approached the city. The tornado became a EF2 as it crossed county road 500 throwing a police car almost 30 yards. The tornado then intensified into a EF3 as it approached Interstate 69 in Anderson, bringing traffic to a crawl. The tornado destroyed a overpass of I-69 at 2:18AM reportedly "Throwing cars as if they were toys", the city then lost power as WISH-TV in Indianapolis scrambled to get back their skycam of I-69 in Anderson. In total 26 people died on that overpass. The tornado then plowed into the southwestern part of Anderson as a EF3 tornado before intensifying into a EF4. Many were caught in panic as they attempted to evacuate the city, the tornado crossed into downtown Anderson where traffic was a complete standstill. Reports showed that people climbed out of their cars and ran from the mile wide tornado. The tornado crossed a road in Anderson completely destroying a Office Max and Walgreens, where many people took cover, leading to another 6 deaths. Meanwhile on the road, many people attempting to run away from the tornado as fast as possible were being pummeled or even being knocked out by grapefruit size hail. The tornado began throwing cars around at 2:26AM, the remainder of the deaths occurred on that road. A semi-truck landed on a persons home, leading to a major injury. The tornado continued and completely flattened the commercial center of Anderson around the Mounds Mall at 2:31AM before it moved out of Anderson as a mid-range EF4. The tornado began to weaken and lifted at 2:43AM. Another 6 people would be killed by a satellite EF2 tornado which struck Chesterfield and Daleville, Indiana. In the next advisory issued just under 20 minutes later, due to this cell a small 60% tornado risk was added on for east central Indiana.

Aftermath
Later that morning, the first searching efforts began as many people in Anderson began to recover destroyed media. It was confirmed that afternoon while they were searching the destroyed overpass that 23 bodies were found, with another 3 bodies being found in a car thrown from the overpass. That evening, searching efforts were interrupted by a severe thunderstorm. The NWS surveyed the damage the next day as the storms moved out of Indiana, and found another 4 bodies in a completely destroyed Office Max and 2 in a heavily damaged Walgreens. They also found many bodies in cars tossed from the road. It was declared a statewide disaster. In total over 60 deaths were confirmed, and the NWS finally confirmed a death-toll of 68 in 2011. The tornado was rated a EF4 on June 1, 2007 after a brief EF5 rating between May 29 and May 31.