Tri-State Tornado

With its rapid movement, monstrous size, and long track, the tornado took hundreds of lives and injured thousands. By all means, the Tri-State Tornado was a rare event—an event that few people will ever experience in their lifetime. To give you some idea of this tornado’s magnitude, this section is devoted to a list of incredible statistics on the tornado. This tornado was a category F5 tornado basically destroying everything in its path.

Thirteen counties in three states were affected. In Illinois Franklin, Hamilton, Jackson, White and Williamson counties were affected. In Indiana Gibson, Pike and Posey counties were affect. In Missouri Bollinger, Iron, Madison, Perry and Reynolds counties were affected. This tornado was moving in a northeastern movement.

In fact, temperatures that started out in the 50s during the morning reached the 60s over most of the tornado track by 1 p.m. and even the 70s in the vicinity of Cairo, Illinois by 4 p.m. So, we know that a lifting mechanism was in place and moisture was abundant with the Gulf opened for business.

The tornado lasted 3.5 hours and traveled 219 miles (352 km)—setting records for both duration and distance. Its width of up to 1 mile (1.6 km), average speed of almost 62 miles (100 km) per hour, and peak speed of 73 miles (117 km) per hour also make it one of the largest and fastest tornadoes in U.S. history.

The deadliest tornado of all time in US, 695 people lost their lives that day. A further 2,000 were injured and around 15,000 homes were destroyed in 19 communities affected. At least 5 towns were 90% destroyed or more. If there had been a classification for tornados back then it has been speculated that it would have been an F-5, the highest damage level a tornado can have.

The confirm deaths in each state – 12 in Missouri, 95 in Indiana and 588 in Illinois. Three states, 14 counties, and more than 19 communities, four of which were effectively effaced (several of these and other rural areas never recovered), were in the path of the tornado, which had lasted a record duration of three and a half hours. Illinois had the largest loss of life with 613 deaths and still stands as the record for the largest death toll within a tornadic event in a single U.S. state. 164 square miles were devastated by the Tri-State Tornado. 15,000 homes across three states were severely damaged or destroyed. 9 schools across the three affected states were destroyed and killed 69 students. The Tri-State Tornado was part of a deadly outbreak that produced several deadly tornadoes all on the same day. Approximately 15,000 homes were destroyed by the Tri-State tornado.  ^[49]   Total damage was estimated at $16.5 million in 1925 dollars; adjusted for increases in population/wealth and inflation, the toll is approximately $1.4 billion today. In addition to the dead and injured, thousands were left without shelter or food.

Ever since this event in 1925 Tornado and Natural Disaster preventmanet has came a long way. Every single year someone dies due to Tornados. There are three main ways to deal with this Natural Disaster. Be prepared, stay aware of weather conditions, and also to know where to shelther. Every single year we gained more info on these storms.