Washington, Illinois Tornado Path and Destruction as seen on Google Earth.

This video shows the location, path and destruction caused by the Washington County, Illinois Tornado that occurred on November 17th, 2013. The tornado was rated and EF4 by the National Weather Service.

[@SwegleStudios]

This was my first video lol so its not amazing. I thought maybe 30 people would see it.

[@OperationalOrigin]

And its right next to my town! I went to that walmart and Menards all the time. Went to Washington the day after to see the damage.

[@ejudd2190]

I have downloaded google earth 4 times and still can not do this. Can you (if you ever see this lol) tell me how you are doing this? Where are the layers, how can I chose the year, etc. :) You did so good. Smooth voice, sound quality -expert level. If you hadn't said that it was your first video, you’d never know!

[@roscomcfarland204]

Dude it seems like you are one of the very rare and small number of wholesome channels left on YT. Keep it up amigo

[@trill8967]

@@ejudd2190 I believe he uses another edition of Google Earth called Google Earth Pro.

[@SwegleStudios]

@@ejudd2190 thanks! You will need to download google earth pro from the google earth website.. Up in the toolbar is a button that looks like a clock with a green arrow click on that and choose a year. I'll have a mini tutorial the next time I use it in a video.

[@MythicFool]

We had so many people come in and help us clean up and start the rebuild. I can't thank everyone enough for what they did.

[@USAR8888]

I lived around a mile away from the path at the time of this tornado. I still remember when I stepped outside that morning you could feel in the air that a bad storm was coming. Humid, warm, sultry, and eerily still. My buddy and I were chasing that day and saw it as it happened. The amount of destruction was mind boggling and I remember thinking no one could've survived that. We went looking for people in the rubble right after. It really is a miracle there weren't more fatalities in this tornado. Maybe that's why this tornado really isn't known nationally the way the Joplin and Moore tornadoes are. It was also amazing to see the support and thousands of volunteers come to help with the cleanup after. I remember it actually snowed a week later, which was so weird to see. You just don't expect tornadoes here this late in the year.

[@Mason.Ulick60]

They found the welcome to Washington sign up near Chicago area. Washington is 3 hours away from Chi town.

[@SwegleStudios]

Thats insane

[@thebiblicalprophetbrando5709]

Satan was HERE this is the path Satan TOOK. Think who lives in this area. What is under the ground. Think. Who lived here in the future. Something is going on and you can HELP.

[@musicnerd72]

@@thebiblicalprophetbrando5709 Either you were off your prescribed meds or you were on illegal ones when you commented.... Or both.

[@thebiblicalprophetbrando5709]

@@musicnerd72 you're just salty I'm the biblical prophet and that I was chosen by Jesus Christ.

[@chase20071]

@@thebiblicalprophetbrando5709 your definitely drunk or high

[@plumkey197]

I am in disbelief that you don't have more subscribers for this channel. The way you use Google Earth to compare "before and after" shots really brings this tragedy to life. It's no wonder that quite a few people decided not to stick around for the next storm. I just subscribed to your channel and was pleasantly surprised to find several videos covering other tornadoes, including the Moore, OK, tornado. Your narration and comments are obviously unscripted, and your monologue addss an element to the story that's unique and one-of-a-kind. Tornadoes and bad weather has always fascinated me since I was a small kid. I'm from Louisiana and we have our share of bad weather - mainly hurricanes. But those can be forecasted and preparations can be made ahead of time. Keep doing what you do so well with these history lessons featuring cataclysmic storms. I look forward to seeing the rest of your collection. And greetings from Baton Rouge!!

[@Mason.Ulick60]

I live in Washington, IL and I was at my Aunts house on Kingsbury right infront of Lahood Park. I was in the basement with my cousin, we took shelter in a closet underneath the stairs. I was 13 when that happened. I'm 21 now. Scary scary day. ESPN did a special on our football team because we were preparing for state semi final game against SHG in Springfield.

[@danielcoffman5243]

What causes that loop pattern in the dirt is because in most high end (EF4 & EF5s) (that most of the time can’t be seen) is there’s smaller vortices inside the tornado spinning around like a Merry go round. Which can increase the wind speed in the tornado. A prefect example of this is the may 31st 2013 El Reno Oklahoma Tornado.

[@pmzephyr22]

It's referred to as a scour path. Yes,the inner vortex makes the spiral cuts surrounded by the base of the full tornado following it. If there is a multi-vortex I would think there would be other individual circles as well. In a couple of cases I have seen the vortex had even dug trenches as deep as 2'!

[@Brend.0]

Illinois is particularly vulnerable to these monsters. We haven't had any big ones in a while (thankfully) but the Plainfield twister should be telling at how vulnerable the Chicago and burbs area is.

[@DaAlvaro]

I am 50 miles from Plainfield, in Chicago

[@vindictivetiger]

I hope you do more videos. These are very informative.

[@warrekr]

The tornado actually touched down several miles southwest of where you started. The man who was killed and another man who was severely injured were on School St. in a more rural area a mile or so SW of the main town.

[@sgperformer]

Fantastic analysis! There are a tremendous number of disasters to analyze like this. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc.

[@WeatherSTARIII]

I lived in Peoria my whole life and my uncle, who lived in Washington, IL for many years was lucky enough to survived, but my uncle's house took a direct hit from that tornado. I still remember that fateful day, I was just waking up to watch football, but noticed something just didn't felt right since it was a stormy morning and the day before was about 70°F (a rarity in Illinois for the month of November). I didn't learn from my mother until later that same morning that a tornado had just hit my uncle's house. I was in total shock. The next day, we got to visit what was left over of my uncle's house and it was the first time I experienced the devastation from a tornado in person. It was still the worse thing I've experienced. My uncle's house has since then been rebuilt a year later.

[@CPBreezy80]

The initial damage to the houses directly south of where the tornado first touched down is due to something called RFD. Rear Flanking Downdraft. It alone can be quite powerful and damaging. It is part of the reason, along with suction vortices that a tornado can level a house but leave a neighboring home almost untouched.

[@SwegleStudios]

Thanks for the info.. I'm learning new things every video

[@CPBreezy80]

@@SwegleStudios you’re making great content! I’ve probably watched each video 3-4 times. The most interesting to me is the 2011 Joplin & the Superoutbreak video detailing the scar in Northern Alabama. Another nickname for the RFD is the “Ghost Train” because it can come out of nowhere to level buildings and flip cars while everyone’s focused on the funnel. It’s a crazy Phenomenon. Keep going man there is an audience for this kind of content! I’ve shared with a lot of people. Take care!

[@only1kleigh]

Very interesting to me to be able to see all of this. I am from Virginia but back in November 2013 I went to help with cleanup efforts after this tornado happened in Washington and parts of Peoria. It was completely insane to witness and the raw distraction first-hand. It was all really hard to take in. Everything that happened there. But given the amount of damage it was an absolute miracle that only three people died during the tornado

[@laurarae5683]

Thank you so much for the help 😊

[@Raised-Right]

Cool video of the path man, I work in construction and live about 2 hours south of there and we went up volunteering to help for a few weeks. Unbelievable seeing the wreckage first hand.

[@lauriekayryan5446]

You are doing an amazing job with these. Listening to you is almost exactly what is going through my head at the same time. I love looking at the same stuff you do. Thank you for your time. I am now subscribed I'm looking forward to the presentation of the 12-11-21 tornados activities. 🌪

[@amyw2721]

That swirling pattern in the fields is amazing. I'd never seen that before. Thanks for making this video

[@kimberlyR23-f2z]

This was my hometown. Thanks for covering this! ❤

[@radar_the_fox]

This town did the best job at rebuilding out of any other tornado you covered lol

[@jkikidawe9666]

Hey man you have a excellent idea and doing a great job. There is definitely a corner of tornado genesis to ending with alot of research to do with all these tools Fugita never had. I really enjoy your work.

[@katiehenry7]

I know im late to this video but it just happened to pop up in recommendations...this was a crazy interesting video! Perfectly done! Im fascinated by the tornado swirls left on the ground!

[@kellystephen1429]

I lived in Washington when this happened. My husband and son hunkered down under the stairs in the basement and survived but our entire house was gone. It was a truly terrifying day. Watching this video on the 11th anniversary of this monster tornado is surreal.

[@emilyjacobson14]

My bus route in highschool went right through where the worst of it happened. The day of it was abnormally warm, but it didn’t stay that way and through about March of 2014 there was still debris everywhere and no thought of rebuilding due to the frigid temps we had that winter. Pretty depressing driving past piles of used to be houses every day. BUT, all things considered we bounced back just fine, though there was a chunk of people that decided to cut their losses and not rebuild.

[@luv2smell]

The striations made in the ground at 6:45 in the video were caused by the suction vorticies of the tornado.

[@SwegleStudios]

Thanks for the info. It's crazy how fine the lines are.

[@luv2smell]

@@SwegleStudios yeah, that suction is all vertical. I once saw a 1100 lb cow get thrown 1/4 mile like a toy.

[@angryfruit4994]

I’ve been revisiting tornado stuff tonight. I remember the day this happened, my aunts house is in the neighborhood that it affected. All that they lost was a fence, luckily, but there were houses just across the street that were completely destroyed. It’s crazy how well I remember the day it happened, over 7 years ago now. I would’ve been 10 years old lol

[@andrewthreadgill8206]

Debris from this strom landed all the way in Streator, there was insulation in the fields north of the town. An interesting one to review would be the Naplate Ottawa tornado on 2/28/17 it crossed a river and hit a factory. The weird thing about it was it crossed the river heading southeast then turned northeast and went back over it.

[@SuperCatman]

Those scars on the fields were the most interesting part. Shows what is happening inside the tornado

[@einfynn]

A legend was born!

[@ep61611]

Although it touched down a couple of times before reaching Washington, from the time it did hit the city limits just southwest of Georgetown Apartments (all were wiped out and the land is still vacant today 2022 - they were never replaced) until it's end just outside of Minonk, it stayed on the ground for almost 18 miles.

[@ZACHNACK]

I still live here in Washington. I remember looking out the door and seeing it tear up homes. It was about three miles from where I was. It knocked down cell towers so my grandparents werent responding. We thought they died. Thier house got a direct hit but everyone was fine. Even the dog survived by hiding in a closet surprisingly. My grandpa was watching it before it hit him over the golf course. If he went downstairs 3 seconds later, he would of died. That was the thing that inspired me to learn and adore tornados. Now everytime I go to that golf course or go to my grandma's house, i think of the 800 yard wide beast that trekked through it. Tornados are beautiful and terrifying.

[@ChaseTOM4]

Now I live 11 miles away from the path and safe to say everyone in my family remembers that day like it was yesterday the fact that it was an ef4 speaks a lot my County Peoria County was hit by a possible EF5 back in the 1940s and hasn't been hit by any violent tornadoes since the fact that this hit so close to home is really heartbreaking

[@ShadowDoc]

That's so cool that you can see the vortices spiraling around along the path of the 'Nader

[@jasondavis3244]

I pulled it up while watching your video and found that the current street view pictures are from BEFORE the tornado, so you can see some of the houses before they were hit, then leave street view and see what happened to them. It's really awful..

[@SenoritaSevilla]

I actually got to go and help clean up some. I drove my 96 geo prizm from Plainfield and back for a weekend. It was so harrowing to see the damage. Sending love to everyone there - I still think of y’all.

[@Hidden-ways]

If you live in the mid west. Have a tornado safe area!

[@melissatrent2500]

When you talk about the bigger circles vs smaller, if i remember correctly, I heard that the smaller the circles the more intense. Like when an ice skater twirls around and they bring their arms to their chest, the faster they go. I may be wrong but I remember hearing that somewhere

[@ericburchett4155]

I had debris raining down on my house from that tornado. I live in Seneca, 78 miles northeast of Washington. They said there was debris from Washington found all the way in Joliet, another 35 miles northeast from my house, about 120 miles from Washington. It got a little windy for us but nothing touched down. Another tornado touched down in Coal City/Diamond, Il where my mother lives. I'm pretty sure there is footage of that tornado here on KZbin. That same storm caused the Bears game to be delayed and everyone had to evacuate the stands. It was a very rare/late storm for this area.

[@joshpeterson2203]

My guess is the tighter the circles the higher the speed I love the camera views you can get on google earth. Fascinating

[@EnoYaka]

If you haven't already, I recommend watching the two POV shots of this tornado from houses in the path.. they're both intense.

[@twowheelindealin5109]

Your narration is 👌

[@conraillock666]

Thank you for the video

[@kelcritcarroll]

Wow…just looking at the trees in the wooded areas bent over as they were sucked in towards the funnel…. That is amazing and scary how powerful the pulling /sucking is with this tornado

[@Raccoonwithab1unt]

if your looking on the map west lake is where my grandparents lived. i saw the tornado form out their lake view window and told them both to get in the basement. i grabbed my mini ebike rode back to my house which was right by georgetown. got into my house and went to the bathroom with my family. the tornado almost directly hit the house but it stood with only a couple shingles gone. but our yard was bad. we had no playground set anymore and no pool(it was 7 feet above and under ground) and they were tossed with no effort. but my trampoline survived... my deck didnt survive. but my airsoft guns(they were out in the yard) survived. makes no sense

[@gang7355]

I was literally 7 years old on my way to Panera after church one morning when this happened. My dad called saying get in the house. Literally 20 minutes later everything was destroyed and gone. It’s so crazy I remember it like it was yesterday.

[@nancyjones6428]

Great explanation of what really happened.

[@paso193]

WTF! Those houses - even entire neighborhoods seemed to have been pulverized! Was never made aware of this incident. There have to have been multiple fatalities based on these images. Very frightening!

[@angryfruit4994]

There were only 3 deaths from the tornado. The houses in that neighborhood are well built, my aunt lives there haha Her house was barely affected but I remember going into the area and it was crazy. My aunt and her family were very lucky as houses just across the street barely survived. Today they’ve pretty much completely rebuilt the area.

[@Matt-ri6oq]

it was really bad, my house luckily was ok but i was right in the middle of it. so many people i know houses were gone

[@Dallas1722]

The Weather Channel did an hour long show "As it happened" on this tornado and has video following the tornado along with survivor stories. It is absolutely riveting and scary as hell.

[@jakewashington1683]

The fact that on November 16th it was in the 20s and the 17th it was 70 degrees by 10:00 am made it obvious something was bound to happen. I live in Chicago.

[@mackenzielamb6513]

I believe around Janesville Wisconsin a tornado occured in the middle of January. It got up to 68 degrees that day. It was very odd weather that year. So, yeah November is pretty late but as seen can happen. Oh, and those smaller tracks in the fields are usually tractor /truck tracks from maintenance and harvest.

[@theabbottagencylive5210]

I remember that day, even though I live less than 25 minutes away, my mom got be to the basement. I even remember going there a year or 2 after the tornado hit seeing some steel tube transmission towers leaning slightly due to the tornado and tons of houses being built.

[@andrewferris8169]

Tornado touched down and caused EF2 damage in East Peoria miles before you started, it even hit the news station there live on air.

[@devon_darko]

I have seen many different answers about spirals in open fields left by the tornado - but if my memory serves me right, this actually happens with many tornadoes due to the fact that the entire funnel moves around in a circle as it tracks. I heard it in a video by the channel weatherbox. I could be wrong, but I think many strong tornadoes do this. So not only are the winds moving in a circular motion in place of the funnel, but the entire funnel also snakes around in a circle as it moves along. It's called ground scouring when it's visible like that. I'm not sure it has anything to do with extra vortices or it being slanted.

[@ViperBloxReal]

And here a legend was born

[@dcnascarboy0514]

Could you do one of these for the 2007 Greensburg, Kansas tornado or 2007 Americus, GA tornado?

[@nathanirby4273]

I know it's slightly out of your wheelhouse, but I'd like to see videos like this but on hurricane damage, like I live in Central Louisiana, and even this far north, Hurricane Laura knocked over entire parts of the Kisatchie National forest , and the damage at places like Grand Isle or Holly Beach were just incredible.

[@nannerz1994]

I remember this day, in fort wayne, IN we had a tornado warning in the civic theater during the last song of the last performance of the play. Since the theater was a concrete box inside a brick box, they just told everyone to stay put and took the cast and crew to the basement to hang out amongst props. Nothing really happened though but I remember hearing about the washing away because my friend was at Illinois state

[@midnitesilverrun8631]

Unfortunately it seems as if tornados like to come to Illinois in late fall/winter.over the last few years we’ve had more and more come in November and December.

[@Derek_00Mustang83]

You are correct, I'm down in Montgomery county and have seen a few

[@bigrooster6893]

That shows how powerful the right side of a tornado is compared to the left side.

[@Trippin366]

I also have no degrees in this stuff, but the wind shear patterns look cool and maybe indicate an anti clockwise rotation? Hard to tell…the debris patterns seem to suggest material flying off in all directions? But I also note from your vids that they’re all north east directional. V interesting. You should go chasing. On my bucket list

[@AkarowGamingJwLp]

We want more video you are amazing 🙏🔥

[@SwegleStudios]

Thanks! More videos on the way!

[@AkarowGamingJwLp]

@@SwegleStudios Yeahhh awesome i cant wait for it🔥

[@michaellovely6601]

@@SwegleStudios Have you considered a video on the March 2nd, 2012 tornado in Henryville, Indiana?

[@Kevmaster2000]

11:11 The Google street view shows a house there, but the satellite view shows it empty. One must be old. I don’t know if the street view is from before it was destroyed, or if the satellite view is from before a new house was built.

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

Around what timestamps can you see the houses of Marc Wells and Kris Lancaster? They both took footage as the tornado bore down on their homes (Kris cutting it super close as he froze in place as the tornado bore down on him and he was pulled into shelter at the very last second)

[@Brian.Gardner]

This was a multi vortex tornado. Many tornadoes rotating around. That’s why you see swirls.

[@gioisdying]

I live there and believe me when I say it was horrible. We have a friend who was lifted up by it and then slammed back down.

[@MrMcMuffinJr1999]

I live 30m from there. My moms best friend lived there. I stress the word “lived” because she came home to a flattened apartment complex

[@johnblundy6706]

I still remember those sirens

[@Matt-ri6oq]

i remember i was on my way home from dairy queen and those sirens went off

[@johnblundy6706]

I was watching freaking scooby-doo when it went off

[@jamessummers5946]

I live near Washington (like, probably 10 miles away) and clearly remember this day. my aunt and uncle's was also destroyed in the tornado

[@SwegleStudios]

Hope everyone is doing well now! Did you get a good glimpse of the tornado?

[@jamessummers5946]

@@SwegleStudios no, I live across the Illinois River but I did see plenty of photos of the tornado and damage in the coming week/months afterwards. They are doing alright and the city is practically rebuilt now. you can still tell it occurred (mainly because of how small the trees are where it did) but for the most part the city has recovered and is doing great.

[@mr.m1garand254]

Aye shoutout from a fellow history major

[@kimharpe6074]

So fascinating ❤

[@BrianPeppers42]

awesome videos

[@lisabradley7668]

Fun fact that same day there was a tornado that did little damage in Washington indiana as well i chased after that one but missed it

[@jamesbarron7568]

I know it seems niche, but could you take a look at the 2002 La Plata, Maryland EF5?

[@llwpeaches]

I live in Salisbury, Maryland just across the bay from La Plata. There were little bits of debris found around my area including a store receipt from La Plata just down the street from me. It's always amazing how far storms like that can carry debris from one place to another.

[@jamesbarron7568]

@@llwpeaches WOW, I lived in Gaithersburg when that tornado occurred and heard about the rebuild for a while after that. That is a crazy reference point for me. Debris casually carried across the Chesapeake Bay lol.

[@llwpeaches]

@@jamesbarron7568 That was a scary day. That tornado actually held together as it moved across the bay and headed right for Salisbury. I remember the tornado warning issued for my area and having to take cover in a closet. Thankfully it lifted just before it got to the city. So so fortunate as I'm certain many more would've been injured or killed.

[@literallychromatic]

And thus a legend was born.

[@linnysprojects]

The same exact day, same exact year to me in diamond, Illinois

[@johnolson7430]

This was the same storm cell that hit coal city diamond area where i am typing as we speak.

[@patrickharvey158]

I remember that well about the same time I got to the firehouse after leaving work at the cold storage in Wilmington (watching the storm roll in the sky went from bright blue to purple) we toned out to head down there

[@R.I.P.]

Look at where Georgetown Apts were at ... Ironically , when I first moved to Washington I lived there ... I had a dream 5 years prior to this tornado that one would hit the Apts .. Not soley just for that reason but the next spring I bought a home and moved across town .. My new home , unfortunately was still directly in the path ,, But I just have a feeling if I had not moved I might not still be around .. This was the worst disaster I have ever seen in person ..and I will never forget that Sunday ..

[@mickyr171]

First sign of damage i can see is around 8.5 miles south west of where you show 40°37'7.22"N 89°34'2.98"W

[@JIMJAMSC]

Yeah iirc a F4 "brief" 44 miles+track, 45 minutes on ground, 1/2 mile wide. 1 fatality. The sat image was special requested the day after. Also along the path off to the right, a manufacturing plant was totally destroyed by a F4 just 10 years earlier. This missed by 1/4 a mile. CRAZY!!!

[@gregboam8474]

2:40 That’s Georgetown Common apartments. I use to live there in 2003

[@uncommonsense360]

our church came down and helped clean up. it was shocking seeing cash blow around on the street, and being able to step right into peoples living rooms.

[@Led00t-du9rj]

I guess you could say this is where the twister touched down

[@rhianimal19]

This is why houses built on slabs in the midwest is just insanity Without a safe room, you are fucked

[@SwegleStudios]

Agreed

[@Gdub33]

"This image is very detailed" No sir, you're the one who's very detailed!

[@anthonykhoury9292]

This is my neighborhood it doesn’t even look like a tornado went thru anymore

[@Cfuuu]

I actually live 15 mins away from Washington Illinois

[@codenamelarry6518]

The tornado was slanted, causing a vacuum effect. That might explain the pattern the storm left in the fields it passed through. kzbin.info/www/bejne/npabc6x-hLWop68 If you see the track on Google Earth from 2013, you can see a squiggly line pattern as it passes through the fields. The angle at which the tornado caused more concentrated wind at the ground level, creating the pattern. It also shredded houses that were completely out of the path, which occurs because of the Vacuum effect creates massive suction from the rear end of the tornado. This is my theory for the pattern left in the field based on what I know. I'm no expert in Meteorology, Physics, or Tornadic Storms. I could be wrong here, and tell me if I am, because the pattern it left in the fields really intrigues me.

[@aiyannacarr2179]

Lol that was a really scary day I’m like 5 ish mins from that town, the sky was absolutely dark green before it started

[@katetheflake220]

I'm be curious to see the path of hurricanes on Google earth too

[@copescale9599]

I'm pretty sure the lines are from debris trapped inside of the tornado

[@derk486]

what google earth is this, my satelite imagery looks like doodoo

[@Erfan2016mei]

Washington tornado? I did not found that

[@dalsensmithspraypaintart]

This tornado happened on my 5th birthday

[@Og-Judy]

That big white roof building has a storage facility in one side and a church in the other half. Think it may have been a Walmart at one point? Till they started building the super stores.

[@jaredkinneyjr]

I bet alot of people may have not had insurance or their insurance fought the claim. Insurance companies can be grimy. They do things like, "we cover wind damage but not tornado damage or we cover flood dmg but not hurricane dmg" those kinds of word play games & it probably screwed some people over. Insurance companies are basically gambling that nothing super bad like this happens & when it does, they just go bankrupt & leave people homeless

[@PowerSerge]

What tool is it

[@SwegleStudios]

Google Earth. You can download it for free and use the historical imagery tool.

[@mandamom2many]

From about 3:25 in this video ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/rajIfJuhiJWqqdE ) you get a good look at the subvortices that cause those swirling marks in the field. Quite the impressive tornado!

[@codyquick6776]

My dad worked for the state when this happened and said they would go work all night hauling debris and junk out, very Erie

[@snypa-ck7hn]

3:37.... is this a video from a street at this time stamp? kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnfVmIaMpK-cZ7c - i think this might be the house just to the east ov that 90 degree corner(i have a small amount of drive through footage from just after if ever wanted)

[@planeiron241]

some of those lines you see are drainage pipe lines in the fields,

[@SuperAsdke]

I was near by, It was the day after my 13th Birthday, I was mad because I got GTA V on my Xbox and couldnt play it because the power went out. So young and stupid I was

[@Ghost_Jason]

Fun fact I was in this tornado