| Regina Cyclone | |
| Metropolitan Methodist Church and YWCA after the Regina Cyclone | |
| Date: | June 30, 1912 |
| Time: | 4:50 p.m. CST (2245 UTC) |
| Rating: | F4 tornado |
| Damages: | $4.5 million CAD |
| Casualties: | 28 |
| Area affected: | Regina, Saskatchewan |
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The Regina Cyclone is the popular name for a tornado that devastated the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on June 30, 1912. At about 4:50 p.m., green funnel clouds formed and touched down south of the city, tearing a swath through the residential area between Wascana Lake and Victoria Avenue and the downtown business district. It remains the deadliest tornado in Canadian history.
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The tornado formed 18 kilometres (11 mi) south of the city and continued for another 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north before dissipating. It was approximately 150 metres (490 ft) wide.[1] The tornado's wind velocity has been estimated at 800 kilometres per hour (500 mph),[2] though this conflicts with the F4 Fujita scale estimate based on reports of damage and historical photographs.[3]
| F# | Location | Time (UTC) | Path length | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F4 | Regina, Saskatchewan | 2350 | 30 kilometres (19 mi) | Violent and destructive tornado spawned south of the city and went through residential areas near Wascana Lake and the downtown. |
Damage from the tornado is estimated to be F4 on the Fujita scale. The tornado killed 28 people, injured hundreds, and left 2500 people homeless. Around 500 buildings were destroyed or damaged. Property damage was quantified at $1.2 million CAD,[4] and it would be forty years before the $4.5 million CAD private and public debt incurred to rebuild and repair was repaid.[5] The worst damage was in the central business district, with many buildings entirely destroyed; the affluent residential area to the south was substantially diminished, but the tornado left houses untouched here and there immediately adjacent to houses which were flattened.
The city charged those rendered homeless by the disaster nightly for cots set up in schools and city parks. They also charged homeowners for the removal of rubble from their homes.[6] Debris was cleaned up quickly and the only remaining "souvenir" of this event are different-coloured bricks on the north wall of Regina's Knox-Metropolitan United Church, showing where the wall collapsed and was rebuilt.
The Regina Cyclone is the deadliest tornado in Canadian history, with a total of 28 fatalities.
British actor William Henry Pratt was appearing in a play in Regina at the time of the storm. In the aftermath, he volunteered as a rescue worker. Years later, he would move to Hollywood and change his name to Boris Karloff. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared on the talk and game show Front Page Challenge where he was featured not because of his notoriety in horror films, but because of his involvement in the Regina Cyclone of 1912.
| Rank | Name (location) | Date | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Regina Cyclone | June 30, 1912 | ≥28 | |
| 2 | Edmonton Tornado | July 31, 1987 | 27 | |
| 3 | Windsor–Tecumseh, Ontario tornado | June 17, 1946 | 17 | |
| 4 | Pine Lake Tornado | July 14, 2000 | 12 | |
| =5 | Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec Windsor, Ontario tornado |
August 16, 1888 April 3, 1974 |
9 9 |
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| 7 | Barrie, Ontario tornado | May 31, 1985 | 8 | |
| =8 | Sudbury, Ontario tornado Sainte-Rose, Quebec tornado |
August 20, 1970 June 8, 1953 |
6 6 |
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| =10 | Bouctouche, New Brunswick tornado Portage la Prairie, Manitoba tornado |
August 6, 1879 June 22, 1922 |
5 5 |
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Sources: Environment Canada (PDF) |
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