1953 Waco tornado outbreak

Waco tornado
The Dr Pepper Museum, showing damage from the tornado
Date of tornado outbreak: May 9–11, 1953
Duration1: ~2 days
Maximum rated tornado2: F5 tornado
Tornadoes caused: 33
Damages:
Fatalities: 144
Areas affected: Great Plains

1Time from first tornado to last tornado
2Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita Scale

Contents

Confirmed tornadoes

May 9, 1953 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#
Location
County
Time (UTC)
Path length
Damage
South Dakota
F1 N of Huron Beadle 0005 1.9 miles
(3 km)
F1 N of Bryant Clark, Hamlin 0100 6.8 miles
(10.9 km)
Nebraska
F0 SW of Randolph Wayne 0300 1.5 miles
(2.4 km)
F3 W of Belvidere to Milford Thayer, Fillmore, Saline, Seward 0345 46.9 miles
(75 km)		 5 deaths
F2 NE of Sumner Dawson 0500 1.5 miles
(2.4 km)
F0 SW of Staplehurst Seward 0710 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
Kansas
F3 N of Courtland to NE of Republic Republic 0310 13.5 miles
(21.6 km)
Oklahoma
F1 E of Vinson Harmon 0700 3.6 miles
(5.8 km)
F1 SE of Russell Greer 0715 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
F1 SW of Mangum Greer 0715 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
F1 N of Thomas Custer 0720 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
Source: Tornado History Project - May 9, 1953 Storm Data

May 10, 1953 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#
Location
County
Time (UTC)
Path length
Damage
Kansas
F1 W of Bentley to S of Udall Sumner, Ness 0800 42.5 miles
(68 km)
F3 SW of Elmdale to S of Keene Chase, Morris, Lyon, Wabaunsee 1000 52.2 miles
(83.5 km)
F1 N of Cambridge Cowley, Elk 1030 6.9 miles
(11 km)
F1 E of Bassett Allen 1130 0.5 miles
(0.8 km)
Oklahoma
F2 NE of Renfrow, OK to S of Udall Grant, OK, Sumner, KS, Ness 0900 38.8 miles
(62.1 km)
Nebraska
F1 E of Humboldt Richardson 1200 9.7 miles
(15.5 km)
F0 S of Nebraska City Otoe 1930 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
Arkansas
F2 Russellville area Pope 1810 2.3 miles
(3.7 km)
Missouri
F1 SE of Kindersport Texas 2000 0.2 miles
(0.32 km)
Iowa
F4 N of Millerton Wayne 2115 6.4 miles
(10.2 km)
F4 E of Garner to S of Silver Lake Hancock, Cerro Gordo, Worth 2210 26.6 miles
(42.6 km)
F2 SE of Haven Tama 2230 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
F4 SW of Chester, IA to S of Prentice, WI Howard, IA, Fillmore, MN, Olmsted, Winona, Buffalo, WI, Trempealeau, Eau Claire, Chippewa, Taylor, Price 2330 162 miles
(259.2 km)		 2 deaths
F3 E of Froelich Clayton 0000 6.6 miles
(10.6 km)
Minnesota
F2 NW of Clontarf to N of Cyrus Pope 2155 17 miles
(27.2 km)
F2 Maple Island Freeborn 2300 6.9 miles
(11 km)		 6 deaths
Wisconsin
F2 SW of River Falls to E of Gordon Pierce, St. Croix, Polk, Burnett, Washburn, Douglas 0030 105.7 miles
(169.1 km)		 4 deaths
Source: Tornado History Project - May 10, 1953 Storm Data

May 11, 1953 event

List of confirmed tornadoes
F#
Location
County
Time (UTC)
Path length
Damage
Texas
F4 N of San Angelo Tom Green 2015 9.9 miles
(15.8 km)		 13 deaths-A 15-block area of San Angelo was devastated. Approximately 320 homes were destroyed and 197 damaged. Nineteen businesses were hit including a theater that was demolished. A high school was destroyed and 150 vehicles were hit. There were 13 deaths and 159 injuries. Damage totalled $3.25 million which is $25.407 million in 2008 dollars.
F5 Waco to Mount Calm McLennan 2210 20.9 miles
(33.4 km)		 114 deaths, with 597 injured and up to $41.2 million in property damage. 196 businesses and factories were destroyed, 217 sustained major damage, and 179 sustained lesser damages. 150 homes were destroyed, 250 sustained major damage, and 450 sustained lesser damages. Over 2000 cars were damaged or destroyed and the First United Methodist Church was severely damaged. Over half the dead - 61 - were in a single city block bounded by 4th and 5th streets and Austin and Franklin avenues. This tornado tied the 1902 Goliad tornado for the deadliest in Texas and 11th deadliest in the United States.
F2 W of Corinth Leon 0030 9.5 miles
(15.2 km)
Oklahoma
F1 W of McAlester Pittsburg 2100 0.1 miles
(0.16 km)
F1 N of Wynnewood Garvin 2230 2 miles
(3.2 km)
Source: Tornado History Project - May 11, 1953 Storm Data

Event summary

The Waco Tornado struck at 4:36 p.m. The tornado, over two blocks wide, hit the downtown area. Many people on the streets crowded into local businesses for shelter. However, few of the buildings were constructed sturdily enough to withstand the winds, and they collapsed almost immediately. The best-known example was the six-story R.T. Dennis furniture store, which crumbled to the ground and killed 30 people inside. Newer buildings with steel reinforcement, including the 22-story Amicable office building (now called the ALICO Building) just across the street, weathered the storm.

Outbreak death toll
State Total County County
total
Minnesota 8 Fillmore 1
Freeborn 6
Olmsted 1
Nebraska 5 Thayer 5
Texas 127 McLennan 114
Tom Green 13
Wisconsin 4 Burnett 1
Polk 2
St. Croix 1
Totals 144
All deaths were tornado-related

Waco tornado

According to an old Huaco Native American legend, tornadoes could not touch down in Waco. Most storms in the area travel from west to east and split around the Waco area due to the bluffs around the Brazos River, making tornadoes and extreme weather relatively rare and mild in the city. The 1953 storm, however, traveled against the prevailing winds, and the tornado approached Waco from the south-southwest.

Due to a thunderstorm that was pounding the city with rain, the people of Waco were packed into department stores, banks, and other downtown buildings.

Located on Fifth Street, the five-story Dennis Building was quickly filling up with people who came in to escape the rain. When the tornado struck, it first knocked a large water tank off the roof, then proceeded to blow in the windows onto the terrified customers and employees. Beatrice Ramirez, an employee just one year out of high school, stood still knowing that there was nowhere safe to hide. Ten seconds after the tornado struck, the building was destroyed, leaving dozens of people trapped beneath its ruins. Beatrice was able to crawl out of the rubble into the rain. Many others would not be so lucky that day - twenty-two people died in the Dennis Building alone. Remarkably, eighteen hours after the rescue efforts started and all hope had been lost, rescue workers recovered a survivor: Lillie Matkin, who was a switchboard operator for the store, was saved by a mattress that fell on her.

The tornado's next target was the ten-story Professional Building. The windows were blown out and the roof was taken off. One woman had a very lucky escape from death. Right before the tornado hit, the rain calmed down and Bobbye Bishop decided to make a dash to her car. She reached the car just as the tornado struck. Her car was thrown up into the air, and then fell back to the ground. Seconds later a two-ton vehicle was thrown on top of her car, pinning her inside it. Due to the weight of both vehicles, the tornado was unable to lift her car and she was also protected by flying debris due to the being pinned inside.

Twelve people were killed in cars crushed in the street, one of which was crushed by a traffic light only 18 inches (460 mm) in height. The Dr Pepper bottling plant, today the Dr Pepper Museum, was severely damaged.

Bricks from the collapsed structures piled up in the street to a depth of five feet. Some survivors were trapped under rubble for fourteen or more hours, and it took several days to remove the bodies from the rubble.

114 people were killed in the Waco area, with 597 injured and up to $41.2 million in property damage. 196 businesses and factories were destroyed, 217 sustained major damage, and 179 sustained lesser damages. 150 homes were destroyed, 250 sustained major damage, and 450 sustained lesser damages. Over 2000 cars were damaged or destroyed and the First United Methodist Church was severely damaged. Over half the dead - 61 - were in a single city block bounded by 4th and 5th streets and Austin and Franklin avenues.

The Waco Tornado remains tied with the 1902 Goliad Tornado as the deadliest in Texas history and the eleventh-deadliest in US history. The storm was one of the primary factors spurring development of a nationwide severe weather warning system.

See also

References

External links

Rank Name (location) Date Deaths
1 "Tri-State" (Missouri, Illinois and Indiana) March 18, 1925 695
2 Natchez, Mississippi May 6, 1840 317
3 St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois May 27, 1896 255
4 Tupelo, Mississippi April 5, 1936 216
5 Gainesville, Georgia April 5, 1936 203
6 Woodward, Oklahoma April 9, 1947 181
7 Joplin, Missouri May 22, 2011 159
8 Amite, Louisiana and Purvis, Mississippi April 24, 1908 143
9 New Richmond, Wisconsin June 12, 1899 117
10 Flint, Michigan
 June 8, 1953
 116
11
- - -		 Waco, Texas
Goliad, Texas		 May 11, 1953
May 18, 1902		 114
114
13 Omaha, Nebraska March 23, 1913 103
14 Mattoon, Illinois May 26, 1917 101
15 Shinnston, West Virginia June 23, 1944 100
16 Marshfield, Missouri April 18, 1880 99
17
- - -		 Gainesville and Holland, Georgia
Poplar Bluff, Missouri		 June 1, 1903
May 9, 1927		 98
98
19 Snyder, Oklahoma May 10, 1905 97
20 Worcester, Massachusetts June 8, 1953 94
21 Natchez, Mississippi April 24, 1908 91
22 Starkville, Mississippi and Waco, Alabama April 20, 1920 88
23 Lorain and Sandusky, Ohio June 28, 1924 85
24 Udall, Kansas May 25, 1955 80
25 St. Louis, Missouri September 29, 1927 79
Sources: Storm Prediction Center: The 25 Deadliest U.S. Tornadoes, SPC Annual U.S. Killer Tornado Statistics