When you talk about the worst anything, the number one factor has to be the loss of human life.
The Louisville tornado of 1890 killed 76 people. It is currently listed as the 26 deadliest tornado ever in the U.S.
The 3 worst tornado disasters in U.S. history……
3) 1896 St. Louis tornado: 255 dead
2) 1840 Natchez, MS tornado: 317 dead
1) 1925 Tri-State tornado: 695 dead
March 18, 1925…. The Tri-State tornado touched down in southeast Missouri and the path length was 235 miles which was the longest ever in the world. The twister lifted up in southwest Indiana.
The damage is listed as 1.4 billion dollars in 2019 numbers. However, when you read numbers like this, almost 100 years later there would have been many more buildings. I would think it would be fair to say at least 3 billion for the damage.
These communities were hit the hardest…..
Annapolis, MO 90% destroyed
Biehle, MO: 100% destroyed
Gorham, IL: 100% destroyed
Murphysboro, IL: 40% destroyed
DeSoto, IL: 30% destroyed
West Frankfort, IL: 20% destroyed
Parrish, IL: 90% destroyed
Griffin, IN: 100% destroyed
Princeton, IN: 40% destroyed
There was no tornado warning system. The main news media info came after the fact.
11 people were killed in Missouri.
Murphysboro, IL had 234 fatalites and the Illinois total was 613.
71 people were killed in Indiana.
The EF-5 (by today’s rating) strength tornado was on the ground for over 200 miles moving forward at a speed of over 60 mph. It was on the ground for 3.5 hours.
That same supercell thunderstorm did produce another tornado near Seymour, IN later in the afternoon.
by John Belski (2019, Mar 18) WLKY
