List of tornadoes striking downtown areas

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1 North America
2 South America
3 Europe
4 Africa
5 Asia
6 Notable absences
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

This article is a list of tornadoes that have impacted the central business district (downtown) of a large city.

It is a common - and definitely false - myth that tornadoes do not strike downtown areas. The odds are much lower due to the small areas covered, but paths can go anywhere - including over downtown areas. St. Louis, Missouri has taken a direct hit four times in less than a century^[1] and Windsor, Ontario, Canada was also struck three times in 50 years. Many of the tornadoes listed were extremely destructive or caused numerous casualties, and the occurrence of a catastrophic event somewhere is inevitable^[2]

It should also be noted that this list is not exhaustive (listing every single tornado that has struck a downtown area or central business district of any city), as it may never be known if a tornado struck a downtown area, or if it was just a microburst (powerful downward gust of wind, which cause much of their damage from straight-line winds), particularly for older events or from areas with limited information. Downbursts often accompany intense tornadoes, extending damage across a wider area than the tornado path. When a tornado strikes a city, it is occasionally very difficult to determine whether it was a tornadic event at all or if the affected area was indeed the "downtown" or "central business district", as opposed to other heavily urbanized/built-up parts of the city or suburbs. It is sometimes also difficult to determine tornadoes that strike urban cores before 1950, when tornado records (particularly in the US) started to be consistently logged with detail. Before this, lack of details on information from the events, as well as that most cities were far smaller in area and population complicates the record.

For the list of cities that are not listed here for certain reasons, see below.

[edit] North America

North America Note: The F-Scale was superseded by the EF scale in the U.S. in 2007 For tornadoes and cities in: United States, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Cuba, Central America, and The Caribbean
F#/EF#	City	Date	Deaths	Event
F3	St. Louis, Missouri	March 8, 1871	9	1871 St. Louis tornado
F3	Chicago, Illinois^[3]	May 6, 1876	2
F2	Kansas City, Missouri	May 13, 1883	3
F2	Washington, D.C.	September 16, 1888	0
F2	St. Louis, Missouri	January 12, 1890	4
F4	Louisville, Kentucky	March 27, 1890	76	Mid-Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak of March 1890
F2	Dallas, Texas	January 20, 1894	1
F4	St. Louis, Missouri	May 27, 1896	255	St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado
F3	St. Catharines, Ontario	September 26, 1898	4	The Merritton Tornado
F4	Regina, Saskatchewan	June 30, 1912	28	Regina Cyclone
F5	Omaha, Nebraska ^[4]	March 23, 1913	103	Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado (1913)
F3	Indianapolis, Indiana	May 18, 1927	2
F3	St. Louis, Missouri	September 29, 1927	28	St. Louis Tornado Outbreak of September 1927
F3	Nashville, Tennessee	March 14, 1933	15	March 1933 Nashville tornado outbreak
F4	Greensboro, North Carolina ^[5]	April 2, 1936	14	1936 Cordele-Greensboro tornado outbreak
F2	Charleston, South Carolina	September 29, 1938	27	Charleston, South Carolina Tornadoes
F4	Windsor, Ontario	June 18, 1946	18	Windsor - Tecumseh, Ontario Tornado of 1946
F3	Richmond, Virginia ^[6]	June 13, 1951	0	Richmond, Virginia Tornado of 1951
F5	Waco, Texas	May 11, 1953	114	1953 Waco tornado outbreak
F4	St. Louis, Missouri	February 10, 1959	21	1959 St. Louis Tornado Outbreak
F5	Topeka, Kansas	June 8, 1966	12	1966 Topeka tornado
F5	Lubbock, Texas	May 11, 1970	28	Lubbock Tornado
F3	Windsor, Ontario	April 3, 1974	8	Windsor Tornado of 1974 (Super Outbreak)
F2	Shreveport, Louisiana ^[7]	April 17, 1978	0
F4	Bossier City, Louisiana	December 3, 1978	2	Bossier City, LA Tornado
F4	Woodstock, Ontario	August 7, 1979	2	Woodstock Tornado
F3	Kalamazoo, Michigan	May 13, 1980	5	Kalamazoo Tornado of 1980
F4	Barrie, Ontario	May 31, 1985	12	1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak
F4	Huntsville, Alabama	November 15, 1989	21	November 1989 Tornado Outbreak	November 1989 Tornado Outbreak
F4	Panama City, Panama ^[8]	1992	12 (50 injured)	Panama City Tornado of 1992
F4	Petersburg, Virginia ^[9]	August 6, 1993	3	1993 Virginia tornado outbreak
F1	Houston, Texas ^[10]	November 16, 1993	0 (26 injured)
F0	San Antonio, Texas ^[11]	March 27, 1994	0
F1	Miami, Florida	May 12, 1997	0	Miami Tornado
F3	Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario	July 2, 1997	7	Southeast Michigan Tornado Outbreak
F3	Nashville, Tennessee	April 16, 1998	1	1998 Nashville tornado outbreak
F0	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ^[12]	January 18, 1999	0
F3	Little Rock, Arkansas	January 21, 1999	2	January 1999 tornado outbreak sequence
F3	Clarksville, Tennessee ^[13]	January 22, 1999	0 (5 injured)	January 1999 tornado outbreak sequence
F1	Hull, Quebec (Gatineau) ^[14]	May 8, 1999	0 (6 injured) ^[15]	List of 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak tornadoes
F2	Salt Lake City, Utah	August 11, 1999	1	Salt Lake City Tornado
F3	Fort Worth, Texas	March 28, 2000	3	Fort Worth Tornado
F2	Guelph, Ontario ^[16]	July 17, 2000	0	2000 Guelph Tornadoes
F0	Jacksonville, Florida	August 12, 2004	0	Tropical Storm Bonnie
F1	New Orleans, Louisiana	February 2, 2006	0	Tornadoes_of_2006#February_2, also struck Louis Armstrong Airport
F2	Iowa City, Iowa	April 13, 2006	0	Easter Week 2006 Tornado Outbreak Sequence
EF2	New Orleans, Louisiana/Kenner, Louisiana	February 12-13, 2007	1	Tornadoes_of_2007#February 12-13
EF0	St. Louis, Missouri	March 31, 2007	0	Late-March 2007 Tornado Outbreak
EF1	Des Moines, Iowa	October 2, 2007	0	Tornadoes_of_2007#October 2
EF1	Pensacola, Florida	October 18, 2007	0	Mid-October 2007 tornado outbreak
EF1	Springfield, Missouri ^[17]	January 8, 2008	0	January 2008 tornado outbreak sequence
EF2	Atlanta, Georgia	March 14, 2008	1	2008 Atlanta tornado outbreak

[edit] South America

South America has no default tornado strength measurement system, so the storms here will be listed using the Fujita Scale.

F#	City	Date	Deaths	Event
F?	Buenos Aires, Argentina	November 22, 1951	Unknown, 45 injured
F?	Encarnación, Paraguay	October 25, 1965	Unknown
F?	Vichero, Uruguay	October 25, 1968	1, 12 injured
F3	Barranquilla, Colombia	September 16, 2006	0	Barranquilla, Colombia Tornado
F?	Bogotá, Colombia	August 26, 2007	Unknown	2007 Bogotá Tornado

[edit] Europe

Europe Note: The UK uses the TORRO scale
T#/F#	City	Date	Deaths	Event
T8/F4	London, England	October 23, 1091	Unknown, destroyed London Bridge	London Tornado of 1091
F?	Vyšehrad (now Prague), Bohemia	July 30, 1119	Unknown	Vyšehrad Tornado of 1119
F?	Prague, Bohemia	April 8, 1255	Unknown	Prague Tornado of 1255
F4	Valletta, Malta	September 23, 1551 (or 1556)	600	Valetta, Malta Tornado
F3	Utrecht, Netherlands	August 1, 1674	Unknown	Utrecht, Netherlands Tornado, damaged Dom Tower and Cathedral of St. Martin
F5	Woldegk, Germany	June 29, 1764	1
F5	Hainichen, Germany	April 23, 1800	0
T8/F4	Portsmouth, England	December 14, 1810	Unknown	Portsmouth UK Tornado
F5	Monville, France	August 19, 1845
F3	Frankfurt, Germany	Summer of 1860	Unknown	Frankfurt Tornado of 1860
F3	Madrid, Spain	May 12, 1886	45 dead	The most catastrophic and deadliest tornado in Spain in the past 200 years but not the most powerful
F0	Munich, Germany	May 27, 1897	0	Munich Tornado of 1897
F4	Cologne, Germany	August 7, 1898	3	Cologne Tornado of 1898
F4	Moscow, Russia	June 29, 1904	>10	Moscow tornado of 1904. The destroyed areas are within the city limits today, but were suburbs in 1904
F?	Berlin, Germany	July 25, 1909	Unknown	Berlin Tornado of 1909
F3	Chemnitz, Germany	May 27, 1916	0	Chemnitz Tornado of 1916
T5/F2	Düsseldorf, Germany	June 8, 1924	2	Düsseldorf Tornado of 1924
F4	Neede-Berkelland, Netherlands	June 1, 1927
F5	Udine, Italy	July 24, 1930	23	Po - Udine, Italy Tornado
F5 (?)	Lublin, Poland	July 20, 1931	Unknown	Lublin Tornado of 1931
F4	Düsseldorf, Germany	January 10, 1936	2	Düsseldorf Tornado of 1936
F4	Borzymmen (Borzymy), Mazury, Poland	July 15, 1940
F4	Klodzko-Slaskie, Poland	August 20, 1946
F2	Hannover, Germany	September 15, 1950	0	Hannover Tornado of 1950
F3	Castelo Branco, Portugal	November 6, 1954	5 dead 220 injured	Tornadoes in Portugal
F0	Magdeburg, Germany	July 25, 1955	0	Magdeburg Tornado of 1955
F1	Düsseldorf, Germany	October 6, 1955	Unknown	Düsseldorf Tornado of 1955
F1	Szczecin, Poland	August 25, 1956	0	Szczecin Tornado of 1956
F4	Robecco Pavese, Valle Scuropasso, Italy	June 16, 1957
F3	Garac, France	May 18, 1960	No dead and no injured	The Garac tornado is the most powerful tornado that Southwestern France has ever seen in the past 50 years.
F5	Nechobrz, Poland	May 20, 1960
F1	Perm, Russia	June 17, 1960	Unknown	Perm Tornado of 1960
F1	Voronezh, Russia	August 14, 1961	Unknown	Voronezh Tornado of 1961
F5	Palluel, France	June 24. 1967
F5	Venice, Italy	September 11, 1970	30	Venice Tornado of 1970
F3	Nizhni Novgorod, Russia	July 3, 1974	Unknown	Nizhni Novgorod Tornado of 1974
F5	Ivanovo, Russia	9 June 1984	More 400 deaths in the outbreak	Tornado outbreak of the 9 June 1984
F3	Beja, Portugal	September 20, 1987	7 injured	Tornadoes in Portugal
F3	Mangualde, Portugal	December 16, 1989	Unknown	Tornadoes in Portugal
F2	Duisburg, Oberhausen, Germany	July 18, 2004	6 injured
T4/F2	Birmingham, United Kingdom	July 28, 2005	0 Killed 30 injured	Birmingham Tornado (UK)
F2	Hamburg, Germany	March 27, 2006
T4/F2	London, United Kingdom	December 7, 2006	0	London Tornado of 2006
F2	Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany	January 18, 2007	Unknown	Kyrill (storm)
F3	Brandenburg, Germany-Brachwitz, Germany	January 18, 2007	Unknown	Kyrill (storm)
F3	Lauchhammer, Brandenburg, Germany	January 18, 2007	Unknown	Kyrill (storm)
F2	Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany	June 25, 2007	Unknown	Oberad Tornado of 2007

[edit] Africa

Africa has no default tornado strength measurement system, so the storms here will be listed using the Fujita Scale.

F#	City	Date	Deaths	Event
F?	Highveld, South Africa (Johannesburg & Pretoria)	November 26, 1948	6	Johannesburg - Pretoria Tornado
F4	Karoo, South Africa (Trompsburg, South Africa)	November 26, 1948	5+	Trompsburg, South Africa Tornado
F?	Albertynesville, South Africa	November 30, 1952	20	Albertynesville, South Africa Tornado
F2	Paynesville, South Africa	December 2, 1952	11	Paynesville, South Africa Tornado
F3	Senekal, South Africa	September 15, 1988	2	Senekal, South Africa Tornado
F3	Mtata, South Africa ^[18]	December 15, 1998	15	Mtata, South Africa Tornado
F4	Mount Ayliff, South Africa ^[19]	January 18, 1999	25	Mount Ayliff, South Africa Tornado Outbreak
F3	Heidelberg, Gauteng, South Africa ^[20]	October 21, 1999	0	Heidelberg, South Africa Tornado Outbreak
F3	Mpumalanga, South Africa ^[21]	September 9, 2002	2	Mpumalanga, South Africa Tornado Outbreak
F3	Klerksdorp, South Africa ^[22]	March 3, 2007	1, 350 injured	Klerksdorp, South Africa Tornado
F4	Bebejia, Logone Oriental Prefecture, Chad	May 9, 2007	14, town was destroyed	Bebejia, Chad Tornado

[edit] Asia

Most of Asia has no default tornado strength measurement system (though Japan has been known to use the Fujita Scale in the past), so the storms here will be listed using the Fujita Scale.^[23]

F#	City	Date	Deaths	Event
F?	Miyazaki, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan	September 26, 1881	16	Miyazaki Tornado of 1881
F?	Dhaka, Bangladesh	April 7, 1888	184 dead, 1200 injured
F?	Yodobashi City, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan	September 23, 1903	10, 14 injured
F?	Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan	November 28, 1941	12 dead, 177 injured, 347 homes destroyed
F?	Tomiye City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan	November 10, 1957	8
F?	Tokyo, Japan	May 24, 1964	480 homes damaged
F?	New Delhi, India	March 17-18, 1978	28 dead, 700 injured	New Delhi Tornado
F5?	Barisal Division, Bangladesh	April 26, 1989	1300+	Daultipur-Salturia, Bangladesh Tornado
F4	Mobara, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan	December 11, 1990	0, 78 injured, 1000 homes damaged	Mobara Tornado
F?	Shanghai, People's Republic of China	August 11, 1995	4
F?	Dhaka Division, Bangladesh ^[24]	May 13, 1996	700+	Jamalpur-Tangail Districts, Bangladesh Tornado
F3	Toyohashi City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan	September 24, 1999	4	Toyohashi City, Japan Tornadoes
F?	Tokyo, Japan	September 12, 2000	0, several homes damaged
F3	Nobeoka, Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyūshū, Japan	September 18, 2006	3	Nobeoka, Miyazaki Tornado

[edit] Notable absences

The 1985 Barrie Tornado that struck Barrie, Ontario would be listed here, had it struck today. It is not listed, however, since the town's population was under 50,000 at the time (May 31, 1985). Similarly, the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak that spawned the deadly F5 tornado which struck Moore, Midwest City, and Oklahoma City is not listed, since those cities had under 50,000 in population as well, and did not reach the downtown core of Oklahoma City. But today, Moore and Midwest City have well over 50,000 people.

Similarly, the downtown areas of two then-small towns (now large cities) were struck during the 1884 Enigma outbreak: Concord, NC and Cary, NC. Downtown Concord was struck a second time by a tornado in May of 1936.^[25],^[26],^[27]

The 1987 Edmonton Tornado is likewise not listed because it struck industrial parks, trailer parks, and suburban areas, and was far away from Edmonton's downtown core, although the Edmonton area has roughly 1.1 million people. The "Oak Lawn tornado" of April 21, 1967 which killed 33 people, mostly those in rush hour traffic at a busy intersection, and moved across southern Chicago onto Lake Michigan is not included because it missed the downtown core. Most recently, the 2008 Memphis tornado on February 5, 2008 also missed the downtown area (by a significant distance).

Another notable absence is the July 7, 1915 storm that struck Cincinnati, Ohio, killing 38 people. This was determined to be most likely a windstorm causing downbursts or even a series of microbursts (with much of the damage coming from the straight-line winds), and not a tornado.^[28]

European tornadoes that are listed before 1950 are for cities that had at least 50,000 people in them at the time. Tornadoes dating back to 1054 are confirmed, due to extensive record-keeping for many weather events and other until-then unexplained weather occurrences.