Stats
Path length: 19 miles
Width: 200 yards
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 55
Rating: F4
County: Wabash, IL / Knox, IN
Tornado Path
Click Map To Enlarge
SPC coordinates: Start: 38.48 / -87.78: End: 38.62 / -87.43
Corrected Coordinates based on damage reports:
Start: 38.494577/-87.762363 End: 38.640940/-87.448921
Veer in path: 38.546473/-87.674497
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Summary
Six tornadoes were produced during the late afternoon/early evening of January 7, 1989. The most significant twister of the day hit the small town of Allendale, IL, in Wabash County. Per the Storm Data Narrative from January 1989, “much of the town was obliterated.” Fifty-five people were injured along the 22-mile path.
The tornado developed four miles southwest of Allendale. As it moved northeast, no damage occurred until it reached about one mile southwest of town, where two farm homes were ripped apart. It continued northeast, and suction vortices raked at the barren farm field, leaving swath marks made from crop stubble.
Now at peak intensity, the twister roared across Adams Road at the intersection with South Division Street in the southwestern corner of Allendale. Four homes were swept completely off their foundations. Two suction vortices, moving in opposite directions, strewed the debris from these dwellings in different trajectories. The Crites’ house was blown westward across South Division Street into a field and bordering ravine. Ms. Crites actually fled the structure and took shelter in this ravine, and emerged with just minor injuries.
Henry Coomer, his wife and kids were in their home when it was thrown onto Route 1 approximately 70 yards away. The threesome tumbled from the debris and landed against a car that was stopped on the highway. Mrs. Coomer was dropped in their backyard. The family all survived with varying degrees of injuries.
About 100 yards to the north in the Galliatt Addition subdivision, a few homes were destroyed, and several more received light to moderate damage. A farm just west of here, on South Division Street, was torn apart.
The tornado crossed Route 1, where it blew down the “Allendale Population 600” sign. A few cars were tossed off of the highway, and at least one motorist was injured. It continued into town, where it chewed apart several homes along South and Marshall Streets. Some of these two-story dwellings were leveled to the ground and swept away. Dale Loveless’s house was churned to a pile of rubbish. Thankfully he and his family were not home during the storm.
The twister devastated the business district on Main Street. The post office was partially unroofed and had all of its windows smashed. Fifty yards away, a mobile home was tossed onto a neighboring mobile home and some cars. Nearby, a newly built apartment had parts of its walls and roof stripped open. The Allendale City Hall and the Allendale Fire Station were both leveled. Historic stained glass windows were busted at the First Christain Church, with the adjoining parsonage receiving significant damage. Other notable places in the main drag of town that were struck include the Masonic Lodge, Old Brick Lodge, First National Bank, and Ingram Funeral Home.
The twister delivered one last devastating blow along North 3rd Street before it exited the town. The three-story brick home of Phillis and Paul Bates was flattened; the only thing left standing was the lower part of a fireplace. An oil tank was torn from its anchoring and rolled 150-200 yards, and a neighboring house was swept away. The twister slashed into the Allendale School. The upper floor was removed from the southern part of the institute. On the northern side of the school, the gymnasium walls crumbled. A few buses were also damaged. At the school’s baseball field, the steel “cyclone fence” backstop was mangled, and several light poles collapsed.
In Allendale, a total of 52 homes were demolished and 54 were damaged. Ten businesses, two churches, and one school were damaged or destroyed as well. There were at least 50 injuries in town. Allendale Mayor Jack Loeffler was quoted in the January 8, 1989 copy of the Evansville Press “You cannot believe there are no fatalities”.
The twister crossed the Wabash River into Knox County, IN, about 2.5 miles NE of Allendale. Most of the 15-mile path in Knox County was in rural farm fields, where 25-30 barns were destroyed. The funnel skirted past Saint Thomas, where the trailer of Timothy Thomas and his girlfriend Lou Ann Murphy was tossed 60 feet and leveled. The couple was injured.
As the tornado crossed U.S 43, three miles south of Vincennes, it tore into the Snider house. The family took cover in the basement and emerged from the rubble, uninjured. Snider’s Auto Body Shop, located nearby, was also damaged. The tornado then moved along Henry Sievers Road as it passed south of Vincennes. Along the highway, 30 homes were ripped apart or unroofed. Three people were injured on Henry Sievers Road; two of the injuries occurred when a tree fell onto a car. The twister just missed the Vincennes Lincoln High School by less than ¾ mile, where 2500 people were attending a basketball game. The twister finally ended its 22-mile-long tirade about 3.5 miles southeast of Vincennes, about one mile east of the Lincoln High School.
Additional Newspaper Clippings
Video
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the January 1989 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Path Length:
- SPC/NCDC have a 19 mile path.
- Storm Data and Grazulis have a 22 mile path.
Width:
- Grazulis has a width of 150 yards.
- Remaining sources have a 200 yard width.
Start Time:
- SPC/NCDC have a start time of 1724 CT.
- Storm Data and Grazulis have a start time of 1719 CT.
Sources:
January 1989 Storm Data Publication
NCDC Storm Events Database Entry-Wabash County (IL)
NCDC Storm Events Database Entry-Knox County (IN)
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1285.
Grazulis, T. P. (2001). F5-F6 Tornadoes. United States: Tornado Project.
“Memoirs of Effort to Unlock the Mystery of Severe Storms during the 50 Years, 1942-1992,” by Fujita, T. Theodore, Wind Research Laboratory Research Paper Number 239, 1994. https://swco-ir.tdl.org/handle/10605/262046
Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency videos
January 8, 1989, Evansville Press
January 9, 1989, Daily Republican Register
January 9, 1989, Muncy Evening Press
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