Published photographs of this storm reveal a very wide debris cloud and wall cloud structure, with no visible condensation funnel at times. The Monticello family consists of tornadoes labeled 7 to 14. All three storms swept through communities leaving a deadly and destructive wake. [9], This tornado outbreak produced the most violent (F4 and F5) tornadoes ever observed in a single tornado outbreak. A nearby house was lifted from its foundation and thrown into the river. Heaviest hit was Xenia, where an F5 tornado with winds between 261 and 318 mph decimated nearly half of the city. 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. Past Harvest, the tornado abruptly dissipated northeast of town, having a peak width of 500 yards. Data courtesy of NOAA Severe Weather Database. The twister was part of one of the worst tornado breakouts in US history. The Tornado touched down around 4:40pm just outside of downtown Xenia. Bridgecreek 1999. Those tornadoes killed five people in Hamilton County and sent more than 200 injured to hospitals. XENIA Its an anniversary people would rather not celebrate. When it crossed the river and blasted into Sayler Park, virtually all communication was shut down. [8], While violent tornado activity increased over the warm sector, a third band of convection developed at about 16:00 UTC and extended from near St. Louis into west-central Illinois. Hundreds of trees were down, completely blocking every campus road. A curtain rod was found speared deeply into the trunk of one tree in town. Per the SPC, it continues to be in the top 10 of costliest tornadoes on record. 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. [70] President Nixon approved federal aid for Fayette, Greenbriar, Raleigh, and Wyoming Countieson April11. [49] Crossing the Tennessee River into Limestone County as a large waterspout, the tornado flattened a -milewide swath of trees on the opposite bank. I'm definitely feeling lucky. how the Enhanced Fujita Scale, adopted in 2007, measures tornadoes. 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. Earlier in the day, the famous Xenia, Ohio tornado was also an F5 in this outbreak (32 killed). "This boggles the mind," Ohio Gov. [6] On Wednesday, April 3, severe weather watches already were issued from the morning from south of the Great Lakes, while in portions of the Upper Midwest, snow was reported, with heavy rain falling across central Michigan and much of Ontario. Twenty-five years ago this weekend, the town of Xenia, Ohio was crushed by . The tornado quickly became violent as it moved into Meade County, producing F4 damage as it passed north of Irvington, sweeping away numerous homes in this rural area. A powerful springtime low pressure system developed across the North American Interior Plains on April 1. The F5 tornado led to the. The most recent official National Weather Service records show that both[58][59] of the Tanner tornadoes were rated F5. Photograph courtesy of United States Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Eighty-eight buildings in southern Kenton County were destroyed, including Janet Cooper's 175-year-old home. But rebuilding was a tangible goal, and Xenia rebuilt. The Tri-State may not be part of "Tornado Alley," but springtime tornadoes and severe storms almost seem like a regular occurrence. Train cars near the plant blown off the tracks and thrown into the building. 1:25. [28] It also struck portions of six other counties, with the hardest hit being White County and its town of Monticello. A man who was at the fairgrounds ahead of Old Timers Days was killed when a tree fell and crushed his car, trapping him; volunteers and emergency personnel worked to free him. About 6:57 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, 1969, a tornado formed near the Williamsburg Apartments in Hartwell, then touched down at Galbraith and Reading near Interstate 75 at 7:20 p.m. "We're driving down the roads. Four classrooms were destroyed and the roof was removed from the school and placed on the cars of the faculty. 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. It was later recovered several miles downstream. There were recorded F2/F3 damages left throughout the area. 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. In 2012, Patty Ballard watched a tornado barreling across the horizon toward her home in Northern Kentucky. The tornado continued its 22-mile (35km) journey northeast where it demolished most of Audubon Elementary School and affected the neighborhoods of Audubon, Cherokee Triangle, Cherokee-Seneca, Crescent Hill, Indian Hills, Northfield, Rolling Fields, and Tyler Park. There was a reported F5 tornado touchdown. There were seven F5 tornadoes[10] and 23 F4 tornadoes. 1974 . The worst and most widespread damage came on April 3, 1974, during the country's deadliest Super Tornado Outbreak. (CVG had radar back then, but Dayton didnt.) Tanner was hit by yet another EF5 tornado during the 2011 Super Outbreak. "It lasted about a minute and then I looked and everything was gone the roof, the walls, everything. The tornado continued to strengthen south of Berry, and two people were killed near the Walker County line when a church was destroyed. 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 most Tri-State deaths nine happened on March 2, 2012, when a tornado skipped from Ripley County, Indiana, to Kenton and Grant counties in Northern Kentucky and to Clermont County in Ohio. This tornado produced heavy damage in the south end of the city, eventually damaging or destroying nearly 1,000 structures. There was $2 million damage just toCincinnati Hills Christian Academy middle and elementary schools. The tornado caused an estimated $100 million in damage in Xenia's Greene County. Reportedly, only one of the citys five sirens sounded due to power outages. [36] Several tombstones in the Cap Anderson cemetery were toppled and broken, and some were displaced a small distance. The Guin tornado was originally believed by Fujita to have had a 132 miles (212km) long path, that went all the way from Vernon, to the small town of Hytop, just a few miles south of the Tennessee state line. [7] Meanwhile, a large mesoscale convective system (MCS) that had developed overnight in Arkansas continued to strengthen due to strong environmental lapse rates. Formula works for Bellbrook in no-hitter at Carroll, Hill sets school record for Beavercreek Sports Digest: April 5, 2025, Transgender woman not guilty of public indecency, County prosecutor presents Victims Rights Week Awards, Children, children advocates honored at breakfast. Crossing into Winston County, the tornado struck the small community of Delmar, destroying additional homes and killing 5 people. Some of the worst affected areas were Bridgetown, Mack, Dent and Delhi. A total of 32 people lost their lives in the tornado, and about 1,150 were injured in Xenia, several of whom took proper shelter. At the same time, a third supercell was crossing the state line near the track of the previous two. [23][24][25] About 1,400 buildings (roughly half of the town) were heavily damaged or destroyed. Fujita initially assigned the Xenia tornado a preliminary rating of F6 intensity 1 scale,[27] before deeming F6 ratings "inconceivable". The tornado ended near the junction of Interstates 264 and 71 after killing three people, injuring 207 people, destroying over 900 homes, and damaging thousands of others. [16] All but 10 homes in Martinsburg were destroyed; and in the Daisy Hill community homes were completely swept away at F5 intensity. Here are 3 of the biggest tornadoes to come through Ohio: April 11, 1965, was the second most dangerous single day for tornadoes in Ohio, (the first happening in 1924). Photograph courtesy of National Weather Service. These factors allowed the northern part of the MCS to accelerate due to efficient ducting, while the southern part slowed as the boundary layer warmed and moistened. [29], A total of 18 people were killed during the storm including five people from Fort Wayne when their mini-bus fell 50 feet (15m) into the Tippecanoe River near Monticello. 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. In fact, it is home to one of the strongest, if not THE strongest, ever recorded, during the Superoutbreak of '74, killing many, and leveling over half the town. A total of 11 people were killed in this storm while an additional 300 were injured. [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. A total of 11 tornadoes were reported in those 24 hours. The Xenia Tornado killed 32 people from Xenia to Wilberforce. [35] Trees and shrubbery in town were debarked and stripped, extensive wind-rowing of debris occurred, and numerous vehicles were destroyed as well, some of which had nothing left but the frame and tires. Yet this forgotten tornado is rarely mentioned, overshadowed by twisters that devastated Xenia, Ohio, in 1974 and Blue Ash and Montgomery in 1999. "There is just no way to calculate the damage. Many homes were badly damaged or destroyed as the tornado passed through residential areas of the city, and a school was destroyed as well. ", "The Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974 Farmers' Almanac", "TORNADO OUTBREAK OPENED EYES ABOUT MYTHS, SCHOOL SAFETY", "4 Apr 1974, Page 7 - The Courier-Journal at Newspapers.com", "The Indefinitive List of the Strongest Tornadoes Ever Recorded (Part IV) |", "April 3, 1974 Xenia Tornado Memorial Marker", "Inflation Calculator | Find US Dollar's Value from 1913 to 2015", "Monticello, Indiana April 3, 1974: Fort Wayne Girl Survives Van's Plunge", "Monticello, Indiana April 3, 1974: 122-year-old Bell Survives", "Our Meade County Heritage: Forward and Dedication", "Tri-State remembers Sayler Park Tornado of 1974", Times Daily pg 66 Google News Archive Search, "Limestone County Damage Pictures on the Ground", "Madison County Damage Pictures on the Ground", "Never Before Seen Aerial Pictures of Tornado Damage Taken by Madison County, AL", "NOAA and the 1974 Tornado Outbreak Alabama", "The April 3rd and 4th 1974 Tornado Outbreak in Alabama", "Alabama Tornado DatabaseYear 1974 Tornadoes", "3/21/01 EIIP Virtual Forum Transcript: The Lawrence County Supercell, the Forgotten F5", "F5 Tornadoes of the United States: 1950present", "Night of April 3, 1974, marked change in severe weather alerts, preparedness", "Alabama Tornado Database (1974 tornadoes)", "Area Residents Begin Clearing Up Tornado Wreckage", "Red Cross Completes Tornado Damage List", "To Pass S.3062, The Disaster Relief Bill", Learn how and when to remove this template message, Natural Disaster Survey Report: The Widespread Tornado Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974, "WHAS Radio Covers the April 3, 1974 Tornado Disaster," excellent-quality recorded coverage of the tornado at LKYRadio.com, The April 3rd and 4th 1974 Tornado Outbreak in Alabama, The Super Outbreak: Outbreak of the Century (Slide show), The 34 April 1974 Super Outbreak: Outbreak of the Century (Slide show Revised), The Super Outbreak: Outbreak of the Century, Revisiting the 34 April 1974 Super Outbreak of Tornadoes, Potential insurance losses from a major tornado outbreak: the 1974 Super Outbreak example, A website dedicated to the Super Outbreak, Super Outbreak 30th Anniversary Special (WHAS Louisville), WHAS April 3, 1974 Live Breaking News Coverage part 1, WHAS April 3, 1974 Live Breaking News Coverage part 2, 1974 Alabama tornado table including tornadoes from the Super Outbreak Courtesy of NWS Birmingham, Alabama, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1974_Super_Outbreak&oldid=1152323950, 4:47p.m. 6:47p.m. April 3 (UTC05:00), This page was last edited on 29 April 2023, at 14:59. Past Harvest, the tornado swept away multiple additional homes in the Hazel Green area. "[62] Surveyor J.B. Elliot noted that the destruction was so complete, that even some of the foundations were "dislodged, and in some cases swept away." Scripps School of Journalism. The fast-moving nighttime tornado that devastated the town of Guin, was the longest-duration F5 tornado recorded in the outbreak, and considered to be one of the most violent ever recorded. The 1974 tornadoes forced updates to weather technology, storm warning systems, and federal disaster recovery. [40] The tornado weakened somewhat as it continued northeastward, passing through multiple Cincinnati neighborhoods and destroying numerous homes. 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. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [22] It toppled headstones in Cherry Grove Cemetery, then moved through the length of the downtown business district, passing west of the courthouse (which sustained some exterior damage). 0:00. Forste died in the rubble of her house as Gorth and others tried to rescue her. The tornado first touched down near the small community of Mt. [11] The first F5 tornado of the day struck the city of Depauw, Indiana, at 3:20pm EDT. 1 dead, 1 injured following crash into Preble County pond, Highway Patrol serves at One Bistro in Xenia for Everybody Eats Week. The path of the second tornado, which formed at 7:35pm CDT was 83 miles in length, also had a peak width of 500 yards, and the storm formed along the north bank Tennessee River less than a mile from the path of the earlier storm; with much of its path very closely paralleling its predecessor as it tore through Limestone and Madison Counties. But thanks to early warning from an MP picket line on Rideout Road (now Research Park Boulevard (SR 255)), there were only three, relatively minor, injuries. The Sayler Park tornado was among a series of tornadoes that earlier struck portions of southern Indiana from north of Brandenburg, Kentucky, into southwest Ohio. Pete Rose knocked in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth and scored the winning run in the 11th, and baseball, as Terrence Mann would say, would remind us of all that once was good, and that could be again. 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. 6. The memorial in downtown Xenia lists 34 deaths, in honor of the two Guardsmen. The F5 category tornado brought winds up to 250 miles an hour, bulldozing a half-mile-wide swath through Xenia. On April 21-24, 1968, a deadly tornado outbreak struck portions of the Midwestern United States, primarily along the Ohio River Valley. [69] The National Guard provided four-wheel drive vehicles for search and rescue efforts. [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. Numerous homes were destroyed in residential areas, including a few that were leveled. 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. It is uncertain which tornado was the strongest, as most tornadoes do not have their winds measured. The tornado also brushed the community of China causing additional fatalities.[6][17][19]. Laurie Arshonsky and her husband Stephen were asleep when a tornado hit their Montgomery Woods home before dawn in 1999. Nine schools, nine churches and nearly 180 businesses were ripped apart. [54] Trees in town were debarked, ground scouring occurred, and vehicles were thrown and mangled as well. More than 500 homes were damaged along with the death of four people and multiple injuries. An estimated 180 businesses and 1,200 housesincluding the Arrowhead subdivision where Wilson livedwere flattened, along with 10 churches, two elementary schools, and the junior high. An F-5 tornado went straight through Xenia, Ohio's downtown. A small tornado, spotted in the field along Fairground Road, struck Xenia at 9:35 p.m. April 25, 1989. Thirty-one people have died locally in tornadoes and severe storms since 1968. A portion of Fujita's track analysis focused on the northern portion of the outbreak. +Cincinnati Magazine looks back to see how Cincinnatians of the past made it through their dark days and to the leaders of todays efforts to move forward. Damage to the campus alone was estimated at US$10 million. Then-Governor Wendell Ford commended the station's personnel for their service to the community in the time of crisis, and Dick Gilbert later received a special commendation from then-President Richard Nixon for his tracking of the tornado from his helicopter.[45]. National Weather Service More than 100 were injured. [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. Newscenter 7 meteorologist Jamie Simpson will conduct a live chat about the 1974 Xenia tornado at 12:30 p.m. today at . A violent tornado devastated the community of Xenia, Ohio on April 3, 1974. More than 350 homes were destroyed and hundreds more were badly damaged. One of the buildings destroyed was a publications center for the Nuclear Weapons Training School on the Arsenal. Mobile homes in Delmar were obliterated, with their frames wrapped around trees. The storms killed 307, injured 5,454, and destroyed around 1,400 buildings. I just never seen anything like it," Cooper said afterward. Wilmington, OH1901 South State Route 134Wilmington, OH 45177937-383-0031Comments? It also heavily damaged the Penn Central bridge over the Tippecanoe River. The Glenn'll trailer park was completely destroyed by the tornado, and some sources list a fatality occurring at that location. An F-5 tornado went straight through Xenia, Ohio's downtown. [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. And Mays, coping with the uncertainties of the current health crisis points out that hindsight will always be 20/20. In that pre-FEMA era, help came from the Ohio National Guard, Red Cross, and regional aid workers. [6], Severe thunderstorms on April4 brought 1 to 3in (2.5 to 7.6cm) of rain to tornado-stricken areas of northwest Georgia. And historically, these devastating tornadoes have happened once a decade since the 1970s," said WCPO Chief Meteorologist Steve Raleigh, adding this warning: WATCH long-time WCPO reporter Tom McKee's recollection of the 1974 tornadoes: There have been eight official tornado days here since 1968 and that's not counting a deadly storm in 1986 that caused severe damage in Northern Kentucky to the airport, Fort Thomas, Covington and Newport. Multiple locations were found. The 1974 Super Outbreak was the second-largest tornado outbreak on record for a single 24-hour period, just behind the 2011 Super Outbreak. It flattened the western part of Xenia. A Fairborn medic assists after a tornado hit Xenia in 2000. But the cataclysmic storm system wasn't done. Cathrine Wilson recalls that someone told her mother a bad storm was coming. Activity in the south moved towards the Appalachians during the overnight hours and produced the final tornadoes across the southeast during the morning of April 4. A list of all F1 or larger tornados that touched down near Xenia, Ohio over the last 75 years. 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. They did the best they could, says Bayless. [48] The tornado crossed into Morgan County, causing additional destruction in rural areas near Hillsboro and Trinity. On April 3, 1974 49 years ago much of Xenia was leveled by a powerful F5 tornado. These storms formed the second of three convective bands to generate tornadoes. The same storm would later strike the Cincinnati area, producing multiple tornadoes, including another F5 tornado. 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. A large festival tent at St. GertrudeChurch on Miami Avenue at Shawnee Run Road in Madeira wasblown down, temporarily trapping 100 people inside. I tried to catch the doors which were moving out. Nationally, the total reached $600 million. The storm demonstrated the critical need for research funding research that ultimately led to the development of Doppler radar. The Brandenburg tornado, which produced F5 damage and took 31 lives, touched down in Breckinridge County around 3:25pm CDT and followed a 32-mile (51km) 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. Cars were overturned in the streets. Image courtesy: National Weather Service . The town's downtown area was also heavily damaged, with many brick businesses and two churches completely destroyed. [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. Most of the damage and injuries occurred from Hartwell to Reading. The highest recorded wind speed was in the. "The transition from winter to spring brings these deadly storms. 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. Residential areas in Guin suffered total devastation, with many homes swept completely away and scattered across fields. The adrenaline of crisis galvanized Xenia residents quickly. 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. All rights reserved. [55] The tornado then reached Monte Sano Mountain, which has an elevation of 1,640 feet (500m), where additional homes were torn apart. [41] The tornado took three lives and injured 210 with 190 of the injuries were in Hamilton County, Ohio alone. Aerial photos of the Xenia debris fields and Cincinnatians snapshots of the Sayler Park funnel cloud helped scientists unravel what happened in the chaos. ", The same system that spawned the Xenia tornado first came through Greater Cincinnati. The Guin Tornado traveled over 79.5 miles (127.9km), from the town of Vernon, Alabama, to just south of the small town of Basham, before lifting just after 10:30pm CDT. Firefighters discovered them in the wreckage the next morning. The massive tornado slammed into the western part of Xenia, completely flattening the Windsor Park and Arrowhead subdivisions at F5 intensity, and sweeping away entire rows of brick homes with little debris left behind in some areas. A RESIDENCE ON VAN EATON ROAD, APPROXIMATELY 4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF XENIA. >> MIAMI VALLEY TORNADOES: What you need to know now. 75K views 3 years ago The deadliest tornado of the April 3-4 Super Outbreak! The tornado eventually dissipated near Jacobs Mountain. Questions? On April 9, 1999, an EF4 tornado with 200-mph winds smashed into heavily-populated Blue Ash, Montgomery and Symmes Township just . The outbreak extensively damaged approximately 900sqmi (2,331km2) along a total combined path length of 2,600mi (4,184km). [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. About 1400 of the buildings in the city of 27,000 were damaged and 300 . The Cincinnati/Sayler Park tornado; photo taken near Bridgetown. [57] The death toll from the two tornadoes was over 45 and over 400 were injured. Mom said it was a spring shower, recalls Wilson, then 9. The tornado then crossed Dewart Lake and Lake Wawasee, destroying multiple lakeside homes and trailers. When the storm reached central Xenia at 4:40pm, apartment buildings, homes, businesses, churches, and schools including Xenia High School were destroyed. I guess because we shoot looters, said a member of the Indian Hill Rangers police department. It killed 6 and injured 86 others along its 65-mile path, leveling and sweeping away homes in Depauw and Daisy Hill.
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