List of Indian tornadoes


Tornadoes in India are rare, with only ~12 tornadoes being recorded between 1976 and 2010. Most tornadoes in India are deadly, with an average of 80 people killed per tornado. The deadliest Indian tornado on record hit areas near Belda on March 24, 1998, killing 250 people.

Events

Pre-1950s

  • April 8, 1838 – A long-tracked and destructive FU tornado tore through downtown Kolkata, damaging numerous structures and killing 215.
  • May 1, 1865 – A strong FU tornado tracks through rural areas west of Pandua, taking an extremely unusual sharp-turned path and killing 20 people.
  • April 27, 1888 – A relatively brief FU tornado moves through Serampore, killing 7 people.
  • March 13, 1921 – A violent tornado struck Barisal, West Bengal and caused significant damage to property and infrastructure. Homes were razed, trees were uprooted and many person were killed or injured.
  • June 30, 1936 – A "terrific cyclone" in North Malabar affected a large swath of area, causing 2 thousand crore in damage before dissipating.
  • March 2, 1942 – A tornado occurred in Burdwan

1950s

  • March 20, 1951 – A brief and extremely weak FU tornado touches down in the outskirts of Sherpur, causing no damage.

1960s

  • April 19, 1963 – On April 19, 1963, a tornado impacted Cooch Behar district in North Bengal and the adjacent Goalpara district in North Assam, India. The tornado's path spanned 36 kilometres and had a funnel diameter of 100–130 meters, rotating anticlockwise.
  • March 21, 1969 – A weak FU tornado tracks through areas near Ushti, causing little damage and no fatalities.

1970s

  • April 7, 1977 – A brief FU tornado tracks through rural Palashipara, killing 2 people.
  • April 15, 1977 – An FU tornado affects areas north of Contai, killing 10.
  • March 18, 1978 – A freak tornado hit the university campus area in New Delhi killing at least 28 people and injuring over 700 others, about 100 of them seriously.
  • April 16, 1978 – A brief but extremely powerful FU tornado touches down west of Bhadrak, in Purana Bandgoda, killing 150.
  • April 17, 1978 – At least one hundred people were killed and more than 500 injured as a tornado battered Ramachandrapur in the administrative district of Keonjhar, Orissa.
  • April 18, 1978 – a FU tornado hit Karimpur in Nadia district and went on to Murshidabad district. 128 deaths were reported.

1980s

  • April 17, 1981 – A strong FU tornado tracks through populated areas east of Kendujhar, reaching a maximum width of 997 meters and killing ~120.
  • April 12, 1983 – A brief but powerful FU tornado touches down in rural areas surrounding Kanchrapara, destroying crops and other structures in its path. The tornado is estimated to have killed 50 people.

1990s

  • April 9, 1993 – An F2 tornado tracks through densely populated areas south of Berhampore, killing 145 and injuring an unknown number of people.
  • March 24, 1998 – A relatively strong but brief tornado inflicts F2 damage to areas outside of Belda, inflicting damage to buildings and killing 250 people.

2000s

2010s

  • April 15, 2010 – 128 killed by EFU tornado in Bihar caused by a Nor' Wester.
  • May 16, 2012 – An EFU tornadic waterspout formed on the Godavari River in Dummugudem mandel in Andhra Pradesh. The tornado lasted 10–15 minutes and sucked out many fish from the water. No injuries were caused by it.
  • August 26, 2013 – An EFU tornado ripped off at least 40 feet of the roof of the terminal building of Ranchi Airport. It lasted 15 minutes and caused no injuries.
  • April 2, 2015 – A dark and dusty EFU tornado in Bikaner, Rajasthan displaced 50 families and ripped off trees and power lines.
  • May 31, 2017 – A sudden tornado impacted Chagharia and a few other villages in Kendrapada District. 30 thatched houses were damaged, trees were uprooted and 5 people were injured.
  • October 12, 2018 – A Multi-Vortex tornado hit Kharagpur, West Bengal and snapped power lines, downed trees, and caused significant damage to homes. There was a lot of footage of the tornado destroying trees and houses, most of it was posted on Facebook. The tornado was caused by Cyclone Titli.
  • February 7, 2019 – A large tornado struck Faridabad, Haryana, a satellite city of New Delhi, causing downed trees, roof damage and some other Major damage. Along with the tornado, New Delhi, Faridabad and nearby cities, towns and villages, were hit by a hailstorm which caused 40 injuries, and also a rainstorm which caused New Delhi to get 30 millimetres of rain, which is more than the average 22 millimeters of rain New Delhi gets in the month of February.
  • October 1, 2019 – A likely tornado touched down in Talod, Sabarkantha District, Gujarat and caused light damage to cotton and peanut plants. There is only a few videos of the Tornado and several news channels said it was 'Tornado-like cloud' even though the 'Tornado-like cloud' was rotating and had some debris flying around it.

2020s