A violent tornado devastated the community of Xenia, Ohio on April 3, 1974. Numerous businesses in downtown Xenia were heavily damaged or destroyed, and several people were killed at the A&W Root Beer stand as the building was flattened. There were recorded F2/F3 damages left throughout the area. "It won't be that way for myself and my generation, but for future generations hopefully it'll come back to the same beautiful area it was along the Ohio River," Ster said. [31][60] However, the rating of the second Tanner tornado is still disputed by some scientists; analysis in one publication estimates F3-F4 damage along the entirety of the second storm's path. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [32] The tornado itself had contradicted a long-time myth that a tornado would "not follow terrain into steep valleys" as while hitting Monticello, it descended a 60-foot (18m) hill near the Tippecanoe River and heavily damaged several homes immediately afterwards. Reportedly, only one of the citys five sirens sounded due to power outages. NWS surveyors noted that a pickup truck in this area was carried a half block over the roofs of five homes before being smashed to the ground. The station remained on the air delivering weather bulletins and storm-related information until well into the early morning hours of April 4. Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana . Aftermath [55], While rescue efforts were underway to look for people under the destroyed structures, few were aware that another violent tornado would strike the area. The experience prompted the NWS to adopt the F0F5 Fujita scale as a standard for describing the severity of a tornado; its since been updated as the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The Lessons We Learnt from Xenia Tornado - GradesFixer Laurie Arshonsky and her husband Stephen were asleep when a tornado hit their Montgomery Woods home before dawn in 1999. Major damage in the Northfield neighborhood of Louisville, including a vehicle partially wrapped around a tree. "It lasted about a minute and then I looked and everything was gone the roof, the walls, everything. A total of 11 tornadoes were reported in those 24 hours. But rebuilding was a tangible goal, and Xenia rebuilt. David Graham died in 1999 . Damage was reported in Cullman from the storm before it lifted. Here, the tornado reached F5 intensity as it slammed into Sayler Park. The most damaging and deadly touched down in Xenia, Ohio, where the F5 tornado leveled half of the town in just nine minutes. Aerial photos of the Xenia debris fields and Cincinnatians snapshots of the Sayler Park funnel cloud helped scientists unravel what happened in the chaos. He is a graduate of Stebbins High School who earned a bachelors degree from Ohio University and its E.W. The funnel cloud tore through sections of Hartwell, Arlington Heights, Reading, Amberley Village, Deer Park, Silverton, Madeira, Indian Hill and Terrace Park, according to storm data. However, the 46.5 miles (74.8km) section of the original path, from Decatur to Hytop, was determined later to be from the F3 tornado listed below. Despite the fact that no one was killed or seriously injured at the college, 32 of the college's 33 buildings were damaged, including two that were completely destroyed and six that sustained major structural damage. When the tornado struck on April 3, 1974, many of the Brandenburg residents at that time had also experienced a major flood of the Ohio River that affected the area in 1937 as well as numerous other communities along the river, including Louisville and Paducah. Tanner was the first community to be hit, and many structures that were left standing after the first tornado were destroyed in the second one. how the Enhanced Fujita Scale, adopted in 2007, measures tornadoes. It continues to be in the top 10 of costliest tornadoes on record. 1974 Super Outbreak: Aerial Damage Photos - National Weather Service What did the strongest tornado look like? Homes swept away and scattered across fields near Hazel Green, Alabama, as a result of the second F5 tornado to impact the area. The Super Outbreak set in motion a host of changes to weather reporting, including outdoor warning sirens, emergency power backup, and wider use of radar at NWS stations. Remarkable electrical phenomenon was reported as the tornado passed through Huntsville, with reports of luminous clouds, ball lightning, and multi-colored flashes and glowing areas in the sky as the storm moved through the city. The roof was sheared off of Lakeshore Drive Apartments on Galbraith Road. Many trees and power lines were downed leaving more than 7,000 people without electricity. Her husband and two other sons were severely injured,but survived. A nearby house was lifted from its foundation and thrown into the river. When a tornado roars into a populated area, the change is often . "This boggles the mind," Ohio Gov. Fujita initially assigned the Xenia tornado a preliminary rating of F6 intensity 1 scale,[27] before deeming F6 ratings "inconceivable". Tornado Anniversary. Multiple locations were found. [54] Trees in town were debarked, ground scouring occurred, and vehicles were thrown and mangled as well. A curtain rod was found speared deeply into the trunk of one tree in town. She served as Xenia mayor from 2010 to 2017 and agrees that her community is resilient, but she cautions that a disaster doesnt wipe out divisions. There was just nothing left," he said. [6] A series of studies by Dr. Tetsuya T. Fujita in 197475which were later cited in a 2004 survey by Risk Management Solutionsfound that three-quarters of all tornadoes in the 1974 Super Outbreak were produced by 30 'families' of tornadoesmultiple tornadoes spawned in succession by a single thunderstorm cell. There was $2 million damage just toCincinnati Hills Christian Academy middle and elementary schools. The fireman on duty at the time took shelter underneath a nearby bridge, and survived without injury. A massive re-planting effort was undertaken by the community in the aftermath of the tornado. [8] This first convective band moved rapidly northeast, at times reaching speeds of about 60kn (69mph) (30.9m/s (111km/h)). It is probably the least-known of the F5 tornadoes in the outbreak as it traveled through rural areas in southern Indiana northwest of Louisville, traversing about 65 miles (105km) through parts of Perry and Harrison Counties. Please Contact Us. The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. About 80 percent of Moscow's homes and businesses were destroyed, but Mayor Tim Suter hoped that someday the rivertown's natural beauty would be restored. A small tornado, spotted in the field along Fairground Road, struck Xenia at 9:35 p.m. April 25, 1989. The storm hit before the disaster warning systems we take for granted today. [6][29], After the tornado struck Monticello, the tornado reached peak strength and completely leveled several farms northwest of town. Xenia Tornado rare footage - YouTube 1964-6-23 - F1 Tornado: 1.9 mi. Past Harvest, the tornado abruptly dissipated northeast of town, having a peak width of 500 yards. They were thrown 30 yards almost to the curb. Questions? The split was related to several factors, including a band of subsidence over eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia; local downslope winds over the Appalachians; and an inversion over the same area. gHWO Weather Service documented 148 tornados in 24 hours, labeling the phenomenon The Super Outbreak. Most people simply remember the catastrophe by the name of the southwestern Ohio town that saw the worst of it: the Xenia Tornado. The fierce 100-123 mile per hour winds damaged 106 houses and 10 businesses, leaving many without power. [55] The tornado then reached Monte Sano Mountain, which has an elevation of 1,640 feet (500m), where additional homes were torn apart. At 5:30 p.m. another F5 touched down near Rising Sun, Indiana, passed into Northern Kentucky and knocked out power at the National Weather Service (NWS) station at CVG. Nothing was left of the plant but a pile of mangled steel beams, and its foundation was partially pushed clean of debris. Xenia Ohio 1974. Today marks the 49th anniversary of the Xenia Tornados, an event that wreaked havoc in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky on April 3, 1974. There were 29 tornadoes in Ohio on July 12, 1992, and 19 on Nov. 10, 2002, the most of any days since 1950. Photograph courtesy of United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Damage was estimated at US$100 million ($471.7 million in 2013 dollars).[26]. Winds topped 418 kilometers (260 miles) an hour. Riddle Elementary School was badly damaged as well. F5 damage was observed near the community of Depauw, where numerous farms were leveled. 1999 F5 tornado . Been googling a bit, and wondered about some of the other ones. Xenias graduation ceremony at the Nutter Center in May 2018 was interrupted by a tornado warning. There was a reported F5 tornado touchdown. Audio will be available later today. T. As wind speeds in the troposphere increased, Large-scale lifting overspread the warm sector. All three storms swept through communities leaving a deadly and destructive wake. One of the few consolations from the tornado was that a century-old bronze bell that belonged to the White County Courthouse and served as timekeeper was found intact despite being thrown a great distance. A total of 315 people died in 11 states died during the two-day outbreak. Damage to the campus alone was estimated at US$10 million. Thirty-three died in the Xenia storm, with countless injuries. At the same time, the forward-propagating MCS spread into the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, where it evolved into the first of three main convection bands that produced tornadoes. The Wawasee Airport was hard hit, where hangars were destroyed and planes were thrown and demolished. [70] The Federal Disaster Assistance Administration (later FEMA) indicated that trailers refurbished after the 1972 Buffalo Creek flood would be used to house displaced persons. The worst tornado to the area was April 3, 1974 an F5 category tornado. Twenty-five years ago this weekend, the town of Xenia, Ohio was crushed by . Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way, PODCAST: High School Insider with Mike Dyer. A look at the biggest and deadliest tornadoes: EF5s - Bay News 9 1974 Super Outbreak - Wikipedia Copyright 2016 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The Enquirer reported thousands of sightseers drove through the devastated neighborhoods, but there were few reports of looting. The Burger Chef sign was a mangled mess. It began as a moderate-sized tornado, then intensified while moving northeast at about 50 mph (80 km/h). Further along the track, many homes were swept away near Moulton. Ohio's tornado history and what to do if you're caught in a twister According to most records (including the presented map of north Indiana), this tornado formed just southwest of Otterbein in northeast Warren County in west central Indiana, and ended in LaGrange County just northwest of Valentine a total distance of about 121 miles (195km). The tornado finally dissipated south of Basham, destroying 546 structures, killing 28 people, and injuring 332 others. [6][65][66] The National Weather Service office at Huntsville Jetplex was briefly "closed and abandoned" due to the severe weather conditions. The Great Tri-State 1925. Click each thumbnail to view the full-size version (1500 x 1000 px). Heaviest hit was Xenia, where an F5 tornado with winds between 261 and 318 mph decimated nearly half of the city. The 1974 Tornado That Destroyed Xenia and Prompted Changes to Weather WCPO photographer Ron Fischer, who retired in 2017 after 50 years on the job, remembered flying in the station's helicopter with legendary anchorman Al Schottelkotte that day and shooting tornado damage. Nick Blizzard is a staff writer for the Dayton Daily News. A list of all F1 or larger tornados that touched down near Xenia, Ohio over the last 75 years. Worst tornadoes in Ohio history - dayton-daily-news [18][19], The tornado that struck the city of Xenia, Ohio stands as the deadliest individual tornado of the 1974 Super Outbreak, killing 32 people and destroying a significant portion of the town. Xenia tornado: Photos of the damage from the 1974 storm - dayton-daily-news Possibly one of the most powerful tornadoes to ever hit Ohio happened in Xenia in 1974. Tornadoes reached F4 conditions, according to Fujita ratings, and killed 60 people in total. [68], On April5, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter declared 13 counties as disaster areas and put in a request to President Nixon for federal aid, citing damage in excess of $15.5million. [42] It was considered the most-photographed tornado of the outbreak. Due to significant moisture advection, destabilization rapidly proceeded apace; the warm front near the Gulf Coast dissipated and then redeveloped northward over the Ohio River valley. [7] Meanwhile, a new band of scattered thunderstorms developed at 15:00 UTC over eastern Arkansas and Missouri; over the next four hours, this band became the focus for several intense supercells, starting in eastern Illinois and southern Indiana. [71] The West Virginia State Department of Highways provided two water trucks. [8] Numerous surface-based supercells began to develop in the southern area, beginning with one that produced an F3 tornado at about 16:30 UTC near Cleveland, Tennessee. Consequently, CAPE levels in the region rose to 1,000 J/kg. [6][43], Dick Gilbert, a helicopter traffic reporter for radio station WHAS-AM, followed the tornado through portions of its track including when it heavily damaged the Louisville Water Company's Crescent Hill pumping station, and gave vivid descriptions of the damage as seen from the air. [34] Past Irvington, the tornado tore directly through Brandenburg at F5 intensity, completely leveling and sweeping away numerous homes, some of which were well-built and anchor-bolted. Bridgecreek 1999. The . The next occurrence of two F5 tornadoes hitting the same state on the same day happened in March 1990 in Kansas, and then in both Mississippi and Alabama on April 27, 2011. [57] The death toll from the two tornadoes was over 45 and over 400 were injured. It was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period and was also the most violent outbreak recorded with 30 F4/F5 tornadoes confirmed. For months afterwards, portions of classified documents were being returned by farmers in Tennessee and Alabama. Hundreds of trees were down, completely blocking every campus road. [50] The tornado then continued into Madison County and struck the Capshaw and Harvest areas. [51][52], While tornadoes were causing devastation in the northwesternmost corner of the state, another supercell crossing the Mississippi-Alabama state line produced another violent tornado that touched down in Pickens County before heading northeast for nearly 2 hours towards the Jasper area causing major damage to its downtown as the F4 storm struck. All rights reserved. The outbreak caused roughly $843 million USD (~equivalent to $4.58 billion in 2019) in damage, with more than $600 million (~equivalent to $3.3 billion in 2019) occurring in the United States. More than 100 were injured. The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has been making sure the 1969 tornado is remembered by collecting photos of the storm and aftermath to be scanned into the Digital Library and recording oral history interviews. She had five cracked ribs and a collapsed lung. That included an F5 with 300-mph winds that practically destroyed the nearby town of Xenia, Ohio, and killed 33 people and injured 1,150 there. The tornado destroyed several buildings as it passed between Ligonier and Topeka, including Perry School and a Monsanto plant. The highest recorded wind speed was in the. Xenia Tornado rare footage - YouTube 0:00 / 0:09 Xenia Tornado rare footage 677 views May 20, 2021 Rare footage of the 1974 Xenia, Ohio tornado taken from an old news clip. From the archives: Deadly tornado struck Xenia and Cincinnati 46 years ago This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. I just never seen anything like it," Cooper said afterward. [nb 1] In the United States, tornadoes struck Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York. Fifty-one years ago, on Aug. 9, 1969, a tornado struck near Galbraith and Reading roads in Reading, leaving four dead and more than 200 injured. [citation needed], By 12:00 UTC on April 3, a large-scale trough extended over most of the contiguous United States, with several modest shortwaves rotating around the broad base of the trough. CINCINNATI Charles Mara of Sayler Park said he would never forget the terrifying sight of the April 3, 1974 tornado bearing down on his house. Numerous buildings and storefronts were heavily damaged in downtown Jasper, and many streets were blocked with trees and power lines. The 1974 Tornado That Destroyed Xenia and Prompted Changes to Weather Reporting, The Last Days of Cincinnatis Notorious Noodle Factory Saloon, Beauty Boutique Essentiel Opens in Oakley. The tornado continued past Guin and struck the small community of Twin, destroying numerous homes, mobile homes, and businesses at that location, though the damage was less intense than that observed in Guin. She wasnt even born when the 1974 tornado hit, but she was around for the 2000 storm that killed one person, and now shes seen her neighbors respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Zelphia Taylor, 45, and her husband, Norman, were in a car that was flipped several times by high winds at Reading and Galbraith. From April34, 1974, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Ontario. "The house was crashing in and the winds were picking me off the bed and I believed I was about to die," she said. She received head injuries and died the next day. The National Weather Service said the system was part of a. He drove back to Xenia with a reporter later that evening. The 197374 La Nia was just as strong as the 199899 La Nia. OtterbeinMonticelloWolcottville, Indiana, Originally, a series of studies by Fujita and his colleagues in 197475 recorded 148 tornadoes, but one of these was subsequently reclassified as a, List of tornadoes in the 1974 Super Outbreak, List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, List of Canadian tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, List of tornadoes striking downtown areas of large cities, Analysis and reconstruction of the 1974 tornado Super Outbreak, "The Super Outbreak: Outbreak of the Century", "Revisiting the 34 April 1974 Super Outbreak of Tornadoes", "What was the biggest outbreak of tornadoes? Briefing Home destroyed in Piner, Kentucky, in 2012. No warning was sounded; the National Weather Service and public safety agencies had no reason to believe the incoming storm posed a threat to the community, officials said. "You don't realize how much material things really don't mean until you lose someone," Gorth said. The tornado exhibited a multiple-vortex structure, which was described as a "pair of funnels coming together". The worst tornado was an F5 that struck portions of Southeastern Ohio from Wheelersburg to Gallipolis, just north of the Ohio- Kentucky state line, killing seven people and injuring at least 93. "It was pure black. After devastating what was left of Tanner, the tornado continued across rural Limestone County and into Madison County, where the communities of Capshaw and Harvest were devastated once again. The mid-latitude low-pressure center over Kansas continued to deepen to 980mb (28.94inHg), and wind speeds at the 850-mb level increased to 50kn (58mph) (25.7m/s (93km/h)) over portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Local Product Criteria. Tornado outbreak of April 21-24, 1968 - Wikipedia ** The video in the player above details information regarding the deadly tornado in a 2020 newscast ** XENIA, Ohio (WDTN) On Wednesday, April 3, 1974, a dangerous tornado struck the Miami . A collection of dramatic photographs from the Dayton Daily News archive documents the ruin a tornado left in Xenia on April 3, 1974. SEE how the Enhanced Fujita Scale, adopted in 2007, measures tornadoes. But nonetheless, the Shawnee were right. An F3 tornado also occurred in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, killing nine and injuring 30 others there, all of them at the former Windsor Curling Club. [64], The tornado touched down north of Hartselle and moved northeast toward Huntsville. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, "This was the most publicized tornado of the day and perhaps the most well-studied tornado in history, from a wind . The storm came with no warning from the National Weather Service, but the Emergency Operating Center issued a tornado warning. [70] The local Red Cross provided $3,000 to victims in Fayette County and assisted residents with acquiring supplies and dealing with medical bills. There were Xenia Lives bumper stickers and a Spirit of 74 Committee assembled to map the way forward, as city leaders made plans for residential and commercial redevelopment. As thunderstorms moved into the warmer, moister air mass over eastern Illinois and Indiana, they produced longer-lived tornadoesone of which began near Otterbein and ended near Valentine in Indiana, a distance of 121 miles (195km). The tornado then went on to tear through the west side of Rochester, where businesses were destroyed and homes were completely leveled and swept away. 4. A total of 32 people were killed from this storm, and most of the city was either damaged or destroyed. [22] Central State University also sustained considerable damage, and a water tower there was toppled. "I don't know what is was. We have even seen tornadoes in August (1969) and November (1992). Based upon real-time satellite imagery and model data, differential positive vorticity advection coincided with the left exit region of an upper-level jet streak that reached wind speeds of up to 130kn (150mph) (66.9m/s (241km/h)), thereby enhancing thunderstorm growth. A tornado that struck near Monticello, Indiana was an F4 and had a path length of 121 miles (195km), the longest path length of any tornado for this outbreak. The F5 tornado led to the. Nationally, the total reached $600 million. [67], West Virginia Governor Moore declared 14 counties as disaster areas by April5 and requested the assistance of the National Guard. Tornados near Xenia, Ohio - GeoStat.org A caboose was knocked off the tracks into a field. It began as a moderate-sized tornado, then intensified while moving northeast at about 50mph (80km/h). A funnel cloud formed west of the city; the storm hit shortly before 7:30 p.m, following a parallel path just north of the 1974 tornado path. No warning was sounded; the National Weather Service and public safety agencies had no reason to believe the incoming storm posed a threat to the community, officials said. She remembered the sound like a freight train and their house shaking. Just minutes later, at 4:40 p.m. on April 3, 1974, she and her mother and sister hunched together in the bathtub against the roar of the wind and the shriek of exploding windows and ripped-away roofs. On April 21-24, 1968, a deadly tornado outbreak struck portions of the Midwestern United States, primarily along the Ohio River Valley. At one point, the National Weather Service was tracking five funnel clouds on its local radar at the airport. [31] The National Guard had assisted the residents in the relief and cleanup efforts and then-Governor Otis Bowen visited the area days after the storm. ** The video in the player above details information regarding the deadly tornado in a 2020 newscast ** XENIA, Ohio (WDTN) On Wednesday, April 3, 1974, a dangerous tornado struck the Miami The Shawnee Indians who occupied many states in the Ohio River Valley including Ohio long ago referred to the area that would become Xenia as the land of the devil wind or land of the crazy wind, depending on which source you trust.
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