Damage at Jefferson and Allen Avenues | |
Date of tornado outbreak: | May 27-28, 1896 |
Duration1: | Unknown |
Maximum rated tornado2: | F4 tornado |
Tornadoes caused: | Unknown |
Damages: | $3.8 billion (2009 USD) |
Fatalities: | 284+ |
Areas affected: | Central-Eastern United States |
1Time from first tornado to last tornado |
The 1896 St. Louis – East St. Louis tornado is a historic tornado event that occurred on Wednesday, May 27, 1896, as part of a major tornado outbreak across the Central United States on the 27th, continuing across the Eastern United States on the 28th.[1] One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this very large, long-track, and violent tornado was the most notable of an outbreak which produced other large, long-track, violent, killer tornadoes. It caused over $10,000,000 in damage (1896).
Confirmed Total |
Confirmed F0 |
Confirmed F1 |
Confirmed F2 |
Confirmed F3 |
Confirmed F4 |
Confirmed F5 |
14 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
Contents |
The first significant tornado of the day formed near Bellflower, Missouri and killed a woman. Three students died and sixteen were injured when the Dye School in Audrain County, Missouri was hit at around 6:15 P.M. The same tornado killed one student and injured 19 others at the Bean Creek school a few minutes later. At 6:30, two supercell thunderstorms produced two tornadoes. One decimated farms in New Minden, Hoyleton, Richview, and Irvington, Illinois.
Twenty-seven more people died in the other Illinois tornadoes of this outbreak.
The tornado spawned from the other supercell became the third deadliest and the most costly tornado in United States history. It touched down in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the largest and most influential cities in the country. 137 people died as the tornado traversed the core of the city leaving a mile wide (1.6 km) continuous swath of destroyed homes, schools, saloons, factories, mills, churches, parks, and railroad yards. More people probably died on boats on the Mississippi River as the bodies may have gone downriver. When the tornado crossed the river and hit East Saint Louis, Illinois, it was smaller but more intense. An additional 118 people were killed. The confirmed death toll is 255, with some estimates above 400. More than 1,000 were injured. The tornado was later rated F4 on the Fujita scale. .[2] Enough damage was done to the city that there was some question that St. Louis might not be able to host the 1896 Republican National Convention in June.
It is somewhat rare for the core of a large city to be hit directly by a tornado (due to their relatively small area and the relative lack of large cities in the highest tornado threat region)—especially a large intense tornado—yet several other tornadoes have tracked through the City of St. Louis and several of these tornadoes were also very deadly and destructive. Among these events are: 1871 (9 killed), 1890 (4 killed), 1904 (3 killed, 100 injured), 1927 (79 killed, 550 injured, 2nd costliest in US history)[2], and 1959 (21 killed, 345 injured).[3] This makes St. Louis the worst tornado afflicted urban area in the U.S.[4] Additionally, the Greater St. Louis area is the scene of even more historically destructive and deadly tornadoes.
In what was apparently an intense tornado outbreak sequence, other major tornado outbreaks occurred on May 15, May 17, and May 24 - 25, with other smaller outbreaks during the month as well. The middle to end of May was extremely active but sparse records preclude knowing much detail. Tom Grazulis has stated that the week of May 24 - 28 was "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in US history".[5]
The 1896 tornado season has the distinction of being the deadliest in United States history. There were at least 40 killer tornadoes spanning from April 11 to November 26; including this one, the only one to kill more than 100 people in two separate cities.[5]
Rank | Name (location) | Date | Deaths | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "Tri-State" (Missouri, Illinois and Indiana) | March 18, 1925 | 695 | |
2 | Natchez, Mississippi | May 7, 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 | 161 | |
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 | |
Source: Storm Prediction Center |
Rank | Area affected | Date | Damage 1 | Adjusted Damage 2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Joplin, Missouri | May 22, 2011 | 2800 | 2800 |
2 | Tuscaloosa, Alabama | April 27, 2011 | 2200 | 2200 |
3 | Oklahoma City Metro, Oklahoma | May 3, 1999 | 1000 | 1318 |
4 | Hackleburg, Alabama | April 27, 2011 | 1250 | 1250 |
5 | Wichita Falls, Texas | April 10, 1979 | 400 | 1209 |
6 | Omaha, Nebraska | May 6, 1975 | 250 | 1019 |
7 | Lubbock, Texas Tornado | May 11, 1970 | 135 | 763 |
8 | Topeka, Kansas Tornado | June 8, 1966 | 100 | 676 |
9 | Windsor Locks, Connecticut | October 3, 1979 | 200 | 605 |
10 | St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado | May 27, 1896 | 12 | 520 |
Source: Brooks, Harold E.; C.A. Doswell (Feb 2001). "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 1890–1999". Weather and Forecasting (American Meteorological Society) 16 (1): 168-76. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2. http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2F1520-0434(2001)016%3C0168%3ANDFMTI%3E2.0.CO%3B2. 3 |
||||
1. These are the unadjusted damage totals in millions of US dollars. 2. Raw damage totals adjusted for inflation, in millions of 2012 USD. 3. A search of NCDC Storm Data indicates no tornadoes between 1999 and 2010 have caused more than $250 million in damage. |