Thursday will be the 100 year anniversary of the New Albany, IN tornado. The tornado killed 46 people with several hundred injured.
This was the second deadliest tornado in Indiana history.
The worst was the 1925 Tri-State tornado that killed 76 in Indiana.
Two other tornado outbreaks killed more people, but these included multiple tornadoes. The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak in 1965 killed 145 people with 10 tornadoes.
The 1974 tornado outbreak killed 47 people with 17 tornadoes reported.
The New Albany 1917 tornado touched down during the afternoon as school was letting out. The path through the city was up to 3 1/2 blocks wide. The tornado actually stayed on the ground through areas just north of Jeffersonville and lifted back up in the Harrods Creek area of Prospect, KY.
Of the 46 killed, 40 were in the buildings or outside at the scene and 6 died later at the hospital. Many students were trapped at the Olden Street School which was located at what is now the Children’s Academy on State Street. People worked through the night to free the students from the rubble. Still, there were some fatalities at the school.
Estimates have at least 300 people injured.
300 homes were destroyed with another 200 having damage. Over 2,500 were left homeless by the tornado.
These businesses were hit by the tornado…..
Kahler Wood Working
Woolen Mills
Rasmussen’s Nursery
New Albany Hosiery Mill
Jacobsen’s
The News and Tribune has an excellent article with many details about the storm which was published in 2007 for the 90th anniversary.
There will be a special ceremony in downtown New Albany on Thursday.
by John Belski
Wednesday March 22, 2017
