Flint-Worcester Tornadoes

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The Flint-Worcester Tornadoes were two tornadoes, one occurring in Flint, Michigan on June 8, 1953, the other in Worcester, Massachusetts on June 9, 1953. These tornadoes are among the deadliest in United States history and were caused by the same storm system that moved east across the nation. The tornadoes are also related together in the public mind because for a brief period it was debated in the U.S. Congress whether recent atomic bomb testing in the upper atmosphere had caused the tornadoes. Congressman James E. Van Zandt (R-Penn.) was among several Members of Congress who expressed their belief that bomb testing created the tornadoes. They demanded a response from the government. Meteorologists quickly dispelled such an assertion, and Congressman Van Zandt later retracted his statement.

The Flint-Worcester tornadoes were the most infamous storms produced by a larger outbreak of severe weather that began in Iowa and Wisconsin, before moving across the Great Lakes states, and then into New York and New England. Other F3 and F4 (see Fujita scale) tornadoes struck other locations in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire and Ohio.

[edit] Tornado table

[edit] The Flint tornado

tornado track map, showing the times and paths of the June 8, 1953 tornadoes in the Flint, Michigan area, and around Lake Erie, in northern Ohio.

An F5 tornado hit Flint, Michigan on June 8, 1953^[1] . The tornado moved east-northeast 2 miles north of Flushing, Michigan and devastated the north side of Flint and Beecher. The tornado first descended about 8:30 p.m. on a humid evening near a drive-in movie theater that was flickering to life at twilight time. Motorists in the drive-in began to flee in panic, creating many auto accidents on nearby roads. The tornado dissipated near Lapeer, Michigan. Nearly every home was destroyed on both sides of Coldwater Road. Multiple deaths were reported in 20 families. It is, as of March 2007, the last single tornado to kill more than 100 people in the United States. One hundred and sixteen were killed^[2], making it the ninth deadliest tornado in U.S. history. It is also one of only three F5 tornadoes ever to hit in Michigan. Another F5 would hit in Hudsonville on April 3, 1956.

[edit] The Worcester Tornado

The storm system that created the Flint tornado moved east. As radar was relatively primitive in 1953, this led to inadequate severe weather predictions. The Weather Bureau in Buffalo, New York, merely predicted thunderstorms and said that "a tornado may occur." The Weather Bureau in Boston feared that the word "tornado" would strike panic in the public, and refrained from using it. Without warning, an F4 tornado struck central Massachusetts in the late afternoon hours on June 9, 1953. The tornado descended over the Quabbin Reservoir in Petersham, Massachusetts at 4:25 P.M., witnessed by boaters on the reservoir. It then slammed into the rural towns of Barre and Rutland, followed by suburban Holden, before killing 60 in heavily populated northern Worcester. Ironically, residents of Massachusetts were coming home at that hour of the day to pick up their evening newspapers with front page headlines of the tornado that had struck in Michigan the previous day. Some wondered if it was the exact same tornado that was now impacting them. Two visitors from Pittsburgh died when a tree crushed their car. Shrewsbury and Westborough each suffered numerous fatalities. The tornado did its final destruction at the Fayville Post office on Route 9 in Southborough, and dissipated nearby over the Sudbury Reservoir, eighty-four minutes after it formed. Ninety-four people in total were killed.

This tornado was on the ground for nearly an hour and a half. In that period it traveled 46 miles, reached one mile in width and injured 1,300 people. Barre suffered the first 2 fatalities. The tornado then renewed its vigor in Rutland center with 2 more deaths. The funnel widened to 1/2 mile in Holden, where 9 were killed, the worst-hit areas being Winthrop Oaks and Brentwood.

At 5:08 P.M., the tornado entered Worcester and grew to a width of one mile. Damage was phenomenal in Worcester, which is the second largest city in Massachusetts, and in some areas equaled the worst damage seen in the history of U.S. tornadoes. Hard-hit areas included Assumption College, where a priest and two nuns among the faculty were killed. The Burncoat Hill and Great Brook Valley neighborhoods were leveled, with houses simply vanishing and debris swept clean from their original sites. A bus was picked up, rolled over several times, and thrown against an apartment building, resulting in the deaths of two passengers. The Brookside Home Farm, a city-operated dairy facility and laundry, sustained total damage, with six men and most of its 80 Holstein cows killed. Wrecked houses and bodies were blown into Lake Quinsigamond. According to John O'Toole's book (see references), at least one victim definitely perished when suction from the tornado ripped open his chest due to his lungs rapidly expanding. Airborne particles of debris were strewn eastward, reaching an observatory 35 mi (56 km) away, and even out over Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

This storm maintained a 1-mile width throughout much of Shrewsbury, and was still doing maximum damage when it moved through downtown Westborough, where it began curving towards the northeast in its final leg. Coincidentally, around the time it ended in Southborough at 5:45 P.M., a tornado warning was issued, although by then it was too late. A separate weaker tornado also descended roughly about the same time in the nearby communities of Franklin and Wrentham in Massachusetts, injuring about 17 persons. Another tornado did minor damage in Rockingham County, New Hampshire.

The Worcester tornado was a milestone in many regards, not only because of its enormous size and unusual geographic location, but also due to the fact it was the nation's costliest tornado in raw dollars at the time, and its 1300 injuries still stands as the 4th worst in U.S. history. In terms of fatalities, it is the last tornado (as of December 2006) to kill 90 or more people, making it the 20th worst on record.

The severity of this epic storm remained in dispute for a long period within the meteorological community. Observations classified this tornado as F4 in many communities, but damage was inflicted consistent with an F5 tornado in some locales. As a result of this debate, the National Weather Service convened a panel of weather experts during the spring of 2005 to study the latest evidence on the wind strength of the Worcester tornado. The panel considered whether or not to raise the designation of the storm to F5, but finally decided to keep the official rating at F4 during the summer of 2005. The reasoning for this was that many of the destroyed homes were of recent postwar construction, making them less able to withstand high winds than older homes.

[edit] 1953 tornado season in perspective

Even though the 1953 tornado season only saw 422 tornadoes (which is half the nationwide average), the year saw some of the deadliest tornadoes, which included the Waco Tornado that hit on May 11.

[edit] Trivia

The Worcester Tornadoes, an independent league baseball team, are named for the event.

[edit] References

• Chittick, William F. (2003). The Worcester Tornado, June 9, 1953. Bristol, RI: Private Publication.

• O'Toole, John M. (1993). Tornado! 84 minutes, 94 lives. Worcester: Chandler House Press. ISBN 0-9636277-0-8

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Southeast Michigan Tornado Climatology. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
2. ^ 1953 Beecher Tornado. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.

[edit] See also

• List of tornadoes and tornado outbreaks

[edit] External links

• Beecher Tornado - Flint Public Library Archive
• Beecher Tornado - Flint Journal Beecher Tornado Anniversary
• 1953 Worcester Tornado Slideshow - City of Worcester
• Worcester Telegram and Gazette site on Worcester tornado