by Kellea Croft

Created on: July 31, 2008

Some of the worst tornados in history

Tornados are a scary concept and event to live through. In 1972, when I was 10 years old, a small F2 came visited our neighborhood in Oklahoma taking out some shingles from our home. It was very traumatic being forced into the bathtub and a mattress thrown over our heads. My brother and I were worried for our parents whom did not join us in there.

Then in August of 1992 I was living in Florida during the hit of Hurricane Andrew. We lived on the other side of the state in Tampa and were hit with seven tornados in the neighborhood. My son and I were having breakfast when his picnic table slammed the house outside then all the lights went out. I grabbed him out of his highchair and went to wake my parents. We took shelter and listened to the raging war of the winds outside. Our house survived with no damage, but across the street roofs were gone from the homes. As we ventured out you could see the paths the different funnels took curving around the streets. The lumberyard that I worked at lost a warehouse I kept supplied. I'll never forget the emotions of that day.

There are many recordings in history with some death tolls being far worse before the science could develop warnings and shelters were built sufficient enough to protect. This is a small listing of some of the worst in history.

Super Outbreak of 1999
From May 3rd until May 6th in 1999 there was a severe outbreak of tornados across 13 states. It is called the Super Outbreak. The largest was an F5 that first touched down in Chickasha to Midwest City, Oklahoma. There were 148 confirmed tornados through those three days. It had a combined path length of 2,600 miles. Never before had so many large funnels been observed in a single time period, there were six F5 and 24 F4 tornadoes. There were so many on the ground at one time that forecasters were upset they couldn't keep up with them all. At least 747 people were killed and 2,298 were injured.

The Great Tri-State Tornado
On March 18, 1925 a tornado crossed Missouri through Illinois and into Indiana. There were 695 confirmed deaths. It was a continuous 219 miles of destruction for the F5 rated funnel. It set records for speed and path length, but there was no distinct visible tunnel through much of it. There is evidence that there many have been double funnels in some sections. In Gorham, Illinois virtually of the town was destroyed and over half of the population was killed or injured. Murphysboro, Illinois had the largest death toll with 234 in its total. It was so clouded by debris and dust that a funnel could not be seen and many did not seek shelter for a tornado.

The Natchez Tornado
In 1840 Natchez, Mississippi was hit with a devastating funnel. It ran northeast following the Mississippi River killing many rivermen. Death toll on land listed 48 and river death 269. The river was the main mode of transient in those days so many flatboats and steamers were sunk to attribute to the river deaths. A report that "hundreds" of people were killed on plantations in Louisiana, there were possibility more as slave deaths were not always counted.

The Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak
On April 11, 1965 there were 78 tornados hitting the Midwest. There were 271 people killed and 1,500 injured, most of those being in Indiana. They occurred from Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. The 51 significant and 21 violent funnels lasted 11 hours. Many of these people were attending Church services and did not receive warnings.

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