1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak

The 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak was an outbreak^[1] of at least 12 tornadoes that struck the Southeastern United States from April 5–6, 1936. Approximately 454 people were killed by these tornadoes—419 by two tornadoes alone. This outbreak is the second deadliest ever recorded in US history. Although the outbreak was centered on Tupelo, Mississippi, and Gainesville, Georgia, where the fourth and fifth deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history respectively occurred, other destructive tornadoes associated with the outbreak struck Columbia, Tennessee; Anderson, South Carolina; and Acworth, Georgia.

This is the only continuous tornado outbreak in U.S. history to produce two or more tornadoes with triple digit death tolls. Severe flash floods from the associated storms produced millions of dollars in damage across the region.

Confirmed tornadoes

April 5 event

April 6 event

Tupelo, Mississippi

Around 8:30 p.m., April 5, 1936, the Tupelo tornado, the fourth-deadliest tornado in United States history, emerged from a complex of storm cells and touched down in a rural area approximately eight miles outside of the city. Making its way toward Tupelo, the massive tornado killed a family of 13 as their house was swept away, and injured many more before reaching Tupelo's west side. Retroactively rated F5 on the modern Fujita scale,^[2] it caused total destruction along its path through the Willis Heights neighborhood. Dozens of large and well built mansions were swept completely away in this area.^[2][6] Although missing the business district, the tornado moved through the residential areas of north Tupelo, destroying many homes, and killing whole families.^[2] The Gum Pond area of Tupelo was the worst hit. Homes along the pond were swept into the water with their victims.^[7] The majority of the bodies were found in Gum Pond,^[8] the area which is now Gumtree Park. Reportedly, many bodies were never recovered from the pond.^[9] Reports were that the winds were so strong, pine needles were embedded into trunks of trees.^[10] As the tornado exited the city's east side, the large concrete Battle of Tupelo monument was toppled to the ground and destroyed. Two nearby brick gate posts were broken off at the base and blown over as well.^[6] East of town, granulated structural debris from the city was strewn and wind-rowed for miles through open fields.^[11]

According to records, the Tupelo tornado leveled 48 city blocks^[12] and at least 200^[2]—perhaps up to 900^[12]—homes, killing at least 216 people and injuring at least 700 people.^[2] The tornado destroyed the water tower and produced numerous fires in its wake, though overnight rains which left knee-deep water in some streets contained the flames.^[13] Though 216 remained the final death toll, 100 persons were still hospitalized at the time it was set.^[2] Subsequently, the Mississippi State Geologist estimated a final, unofficial death toll of 233. Some estimates indicate that the actual total may have reached 250 or more dead; few of the devastated Black neighborhoods were thoroughly surveyed and their dead remained uncounted.^[7] Because newspapers published only the names of injured whites—a stark corollary of racial discrimination that even separated Black and white relief programs after the tornado^[14]—it was difficult to follow up on the fates of injured Blacks. Similar forms of discrimination persisted into the 1940s and 1950s, affecting documentation of tornado deaths even then.^[2]

Notably, amongst the survivors were the one-year-old Elvis Presley and his mother, Gladys.^[7] His father, Vernon, was out of town looking for work at that time. Two years later, the Presleys lost their home after Vernon was arrested and found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean, the dairy farmer and cattle-and-hog broker for whom he then worked. He was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives.

Gainesville, Georgia

After producing the Tupelo tornado, the storm system moved through Alabama overnight and reached Gainesville, Georgia, at around 8:30 a.m. This early morning tornado was a double tornado event: one tornado moved in from the Atlanta highway, while the other moved in from the Dawsonville highway.^[3] The two merged on Grove Street and destroyed everything in sight throughout the downtown area, causing wreckage to pile 10 feet (3.0 m) high in some places.^[5] The worst tornado-caused death toll in a single building in U.S. history was at the Cooper Pants Factory. The multiple-story building was then filled with young workers, mainly female,^[15] who had just arrived to work.^[5] The structure collapsed and caught fire, killing about 70 people.^[5] At the Pacolet Mill, 550 workers moved to the northeast side of the building and survived.^[5] Many people sought refuge in Newman's department store; its collapse killed 20 persons. In addition to the complete destruction that occurred throughout downtown Gainesville, residential areas throughout the city were devastated as well, where 750 homes were destroyed, and 254 others were badly damaged.^[5]

The final death toll could not be calculated because many of the buildings that were hit collapsed and caught fire.^[5] A death toll of 203 persons was posted, though at the time 40 people were yet missing. Letters from Gainesville were blown about 70 miles (110 km) away to Anderson, South Carolina.^[3] The Gainesville tornado has been rated as an F4 on the Fujita scale and was the fifth deadliest tornado in U.S. history. It caused nearly $13 million in damage, equivalent to over $200 million in 2011. Gainesville was also the site of another deadly F4 on June 1, 1903, which killed 98 people.^[16] No other small town of similar size (population 17,000 in 1936) in the United States has experienced such devastation twice in its history.^[15]

References

• Blade, Robert (2012). Tupelo Man: The Life and Times of George McLean, a Most Peculiar Newspaper Publisher. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 368. ISBN 978-1617036286.
• Dundy, Elaine (2004). Elvis and Gladys. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 350. ISBN 978-1578066346.
• Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. ISBN 1-879362-00-7 (hardcover)
• — (2003). The Tornado: Nature’s Ultimate Windstorm. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3538-0. 
• Sandlin, Lee (2013). Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Storm Chasers. Pantheon Books. pp. 304. ISBN 978-0307378521.
• Steed, Bud (2012). The Haunted Natchez Trace. The History Press. pp. 112. ISBN 978-1609495312.

Further reading

• Ramage, Martis, Jr. (1997). Tupelo, Mississippi, Tornado of 1936. Northeast Mississippi Historical and Genealogical Society.

External links and references

• The 1936 Gainesville Tornado: Disaster and Recovery Digital Library of Georgia
• Gainesville, GA Tornado, Apr 1936 article at GenDisasters.com
• Fujita Scale

Oral histories of the Tupelo tornado

• 1 http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/coh/cohmorganab.html
• 2 http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/coh/cohlonghb.html
• 3 http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/coh/coharnolds.html
• 4 http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/coh/cohmccombjb.html