Name: Tornado in Louisiana, November 23, 2004
Start: 2004-11-23T20:05
End: 2004-11-23T20:10
Location: Louisiana

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 20
Property damage: $5.0 million
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 23, 3:25 PM CST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 23, 3:25 PM CST, 4 hours 40 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Nov 23, 12:00 PM CST, 8 hours 5 minutes before

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In the hours before

Local storm report, Nov 23, 5:24 PM CST, 2 hours 41 minutes before

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The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, La Salle

When: November 23, 8:05 PM CST to 8:10 PM CST
Where: La Salle County, 1 mi SW of Olla
Rating: F3
Path length: 3 mi
Path width: 300 yd
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries: 20 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $5.0 million
Reported by: NWS STORM SURVEY
Coordinates: 31.883, -92.250

A SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM MOVED INTO EXTREME NORTHWEST LA SALLE PARISH AND TRACKED TOWARDS THE TOWN OF OLLA. THE TRACK BEGAN ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF OLLA AND TRACKED NORTHEAST FOR 3 MILES TOWARDS THE LA SALLE/CALDWELL PARISH LINE. THE LA SALLE PARISH HIGH SCHOOL SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT ROOF DAMAGE WHERE THE TORNADO WAS RATED A LOW END F2. THE DAMAGE PATH EXTENDED INTO THE MIDDLE OF OLLA WERE NUMEROUS HOMES SUSTAINED SEVERE DAMAGE. SOME HOMES LOST THE ROOF...EXTERIOR WALLS AND A FEW INTERIOR WALLS. THE TORNADO WAS RATED AN F3 AT THIS LOCATION. ACROSS THE NORTHEAST PART OF TOWN...5 MOBILE HOMES WERE COMPLETELY DESTROYED AND A PICKUP WAS LAUNCHED 200 FEET AND SMASHED UPSIDE DOWN. IN THE COMMUNITY OF STANDARD...4 HOMES AND A STORE WERE DESTROYED. THE TORNADO WAS RATED AN F3 AT THIS LOCATION. TOTAL DAMAGE CONSISTED OF MINOR TO MAJOR DAMAGE TO 106 HOMES AND THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Tornado, La Salle	2004-11-23	89	Female	Permanent Home	Direct

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Louisiana in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Louisiana, 2004 Warnings in Louisiana, November 2004

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5432590.