Sixty-four years ago this week, a series of 33 reported tornadoes struck over a three-day period in 10 different states.
On May 11, 1953, the strongest of those storms, an F5 on the Fujita scale, nearly wiped Waco, Texas, off the map.
The storm destroyed more than 1,600 businesses and homes, and more than 2,000 vehicles. Some 600 people were injured.
Waco recorded 114 of the 144 total deaths caused across the U.S. by the widespread storms of May 9–11. Twisters formed daily from Minnesota to Texas during that period.
The Waco tornado was declared the deadliest in Texas history, along with a 1902 twister in Goliad, and the 11th deadliest in U.S. history at the time. The 10th deadliest, a storm in Flint, Mich., claimed 116 people on June 8, 1953.
by Andy Warren
May 10, 2017
