logo
Tri-State Tornado, deadliest in recorded US history, ripped through Midwestern states 100 years ago

Tri-State Tornado, deadliest in recorded US history, ripped through Midwestern states 100 years ago

Yahoo17-03-2025

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (AP) — From Logan School's top floor, 11-year-old Othella Silvey should have been able to see her house easily — it was less than two blocks away.
But after a monstrous tornado ripped through the Illinois town of Murphysboro on March 18, 1925, Othella saw nothing but flattened wasteland.
'She couldn't tell which direction was home,' said Othella's daughter, 81-year-old Sylvia Carvell.
Deadliest twister in recorded U.S. history
The deadliest twister in recorded U.S. history struck 100 years ago Tuesday, touching down in southeastern Missouri and tearing up everything in its 219-mile (352-kilometer) path for nearly four hours through southern Illinois and into Indiana.
It left 695 people dead and more than 2,000 injured, not counting the casualties from at least seven other twisters that the main storm spawned which spun off through Kentucky and into Alabama.
Modern standards qualify the so-called Tri-State Tornado as an F5, a mile-wide funnel with wind speeds greater than 260 mph (418 kph).
Perhaps the best evidence of its destructive handiwork was found on the Logan School grounds: A wooden board measuring 4 feet (1.22 meters) long by 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) wide driven so deeply into the trunk of a maple tree that it could hold the weight of a man.
It's on display this month as part of the Jackson County Historical Society's centennial commemoration of the disaster.
'You know the numbers: 200 mph winds. It was a mile wide. But the force that it took to put that pine board into that maple tree, it really puts it all in perspective,' said Mary Riseling, coordinator of the six-day remembrance. 'To have one item that was witness to the force of those winds, it's a story all its own.'
Perfect atmospheric mix for ferocious storm
The atmospheric stew that gave birth to the ferocious cataclysm was literally a perfect storm. A surface low pressure system located over the Arkansas-Missouri border moved northeast, blending with a warm front moving north, said Christine Wielgos, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
That churn 'provided the warmth, the instability, the moisture" which, when 'married perfectly,' produce long-track, violent tornadoes, Wielgos said.
Adding to the terror was the lack of notice. There was no reliable storm forecasting in 1925 and no warning system anyway.
'All they had was they looked off to the West and went, 'Looking a little dark out there,' and didn't even know what it was until it was right up on them and then you're scrambling to find shelter,' Wielgos said.
Towns were obliterated
The storm took out 40% of the city of Murphysboro, 97 miles (156 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis. Its 234 deaths were the most of any municipality, with entire neighborhoods flattened. Other towns were virtually obliterated, too, including Annapolis, Missouri; Gorham, Illinois; and Griffith, Indiana.
The Mobile & Ohio Railroad yards, employing close to 1,100, were wiped out. At the twister's next stop, it ravaged the DeSoto School, killing 38 children.
Sheet music for 'After the Tornado is Over,' a morbid dirge written locally, reflects the mood of the odious aftermath:
'I once had a 'Home Sweet Home' here/With families so kind and dear/The Red Cross tells me they are dead/Among the debris straight ahead/Death seems to come to every door/The strong and weak, the rich and poor."
In Murphysboro, Pullman rail cars arrived to house visiting medical professionals and cleanup crews. The Red Cross supplied tents for the homeless.
With reports that the Silvey family had been killed and their home destroyed, Othella and her younger sister, Helen Silvey, 7, were shipped to Carbondale as orphans. However, it was their grandparents — who lived a block away — who had died, Carvell said. The sisters were eventually reunited with their parents.
Commemoration celebrates resilience
The city rebuilt. Othella Silvey's family erected a home identical to the one that had been leveled. First, they built a chicken coop, which supplied not only their primary dietary staple for months, but their shelter until the primary residence was finished, Carvell said.
To this day, the west side of Murphysboro is peppered with small backyard structures that were temporary quarters until families could rebuild larger homes at the front of their lots.
Dozens of families who toughed it out remain in Murphysboro, Riseling said. Jackson County Historical Society President Laura Cates Duncan said the commemoration honors those who died but also celebrates the resilience of those who carried on.
'They could have gone elsewhere, but they wanted to stay here," Duncan said. "Their roots were here.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns
Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns

Hamilton Spectator

time14 hours ago

  • Hamilton Spectator

Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns

NEW DELHI (AP) — A blistering heat wave is sweeping across northern India with temperatures soaring above the normal, disrupting daily life and raising health concerns. The mercury shot up to 47.3 C (117 F) in Sri Ganganagar, a desert city in the northwestern state of Rajasthan on Monday , according to the Indian Meteorological Department. The record for the country is 51 C (124 F), set in May 2016 in Rajasthan's city of Phalodi. The searing heat is not just a seasonal discomfort but underscores a growing challenge for the country's overwhelmed health infrastructure. A prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures often causes heat strokes, mainly impacting the poor, outdoor workers, children, and the elderly. Last year, a monthslong heatwave across swathes of India killed more than 100 people and led to over 40,000 suspected cases of heat stroke, according to data from the health ministry. The Indian capital, New Delhi, saw its first heatwave of the season with temperatures soaring past 45 C (113 F) in one of its neighborhoods on Monday. The swelter wasn't just numerical as the real-feel temperature, the heat index factoring in relative humidity, was a couple of notches higher. Ryan Rodriguez, a 22-year-old tourist from the U.S. was seen sipping a lemonade to keep himself cool in Delhi. 'It's pretty hot here. I just came from a trip of the Middle East, so I am sort of adjusting to it. But (this is) much hotter than Virginia. I haven't seen any worse heat than this in India so far,' said Rodriguez. For autorickshaw driver Pradeep Kumar, the scorching heat was taking a toll on his health and impacting household income as people avoided daytime commuting. 'This heat makes us very tired. We drink water to keep up. But many times our health gets affected,' Kumar said. 'I feel troubled.' The weather department has issued heatwave warnings for the next couple of days in northern India that include the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the New Delhi national capital region. Some parts of those ares may witness light showers from Thursday, bringing relief. India declares a heat wave whenever temperatures are above 40 C (104 F) in the plains and 30 C (86 F) or more in its hilly regions. Heatwaves are usually reported from March to June and in some cases in July. The peak month is May, but it was relatively cooler this season due to weather aberrations amid multiple westerly disturbances, said G.P. Sharma, president at private weather forecaster Skymet. In Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, a punishing heatwave made people's lives difficult as power grids struggled to keep pace with the soaring electricity demand. 'There is no light for hours in the afternoon, just when the heat is unbearable,' said Shabnam Khan, a homemaker in Lucknow, the state's capital city. 'The fan stops, the cooler doesn't work, and we are left sitting on the floor, drenched in sweat.' The state recorded its highest-ever electricity demand of 30,161 megawatts late Sunday as millions of homes and businesses ran cooling systems to beat the heat. Officials expect demand to surpass 32,000 megawatts in the coming weeks. Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow, said the battle against this brutal summer heat was far from over as seasonal monsoon rains were still weeks away. 'We are seeing the worst of both heat and humidity. This is no longer just a matter of discomfort. It is becoming a public health emergency,' said Singh. ___ Banerjee reported from Lucknow, India. Associated Press video journalist Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi contributed to the report.

Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns
Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns

Yahoo

time15 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Northern India on the boil with heat waves disrupting normal lives and raising health concerns

NEW DELHI (AP) — A blistering heat wave is sweeping across northern India with temperatures soaring above the normal, disrupting daily life and raising health concerns. The mercury shot up to 47.3 C (117 F) in Sri Ganganagar, a desert city in the northwestern state of Rajasthan on Monday , according to the Indian Meteorological Department. The record for the country is 51 C (124 F), set in May 2016 in Rajasthan's city of Phalodi. The searing heat is not just a seasonal discomfort but underscores a growing challenge for the country's overwhelmed health infrastructure. A prolonged exposure to extreme temperatures often causes heat strokes, mainly impacting the poor, outdoor workers, children, and the elderly. Last year, a monthslong heatwave across swathes of India killed more than 100 people and led to over 40,000 suspected cases of heat stroke, according to data from the health ministry. The Indian capital, New Delhi, saw its first heatwave of the season with temperatures soaring past 45 C (113 F) in one of its neighborhoods on Monday. The swelter wasn't just numerical as the real-feel temperature, the heat index factoring in relative humidity, was a couple of notches higher. Ryan Rodriguez, a 22-year-old tourist from the U.S. was seen sipping a lemonade to keep himself cool in Delhi. 'It's pretty hot here. I just came from a trip of the Middle East, so I am sort of adjusting to it. But (this is) much hotter than Virginia. I haven't seen any worse heat than this in India so far,' said Rodriguez. For autorickshaw driver Pradeep Kumar, the scorching heat was taking a toll on his health and impacting household income as people avoided daytime commuting. 'This heat makes us very tired. We drink water to keep up. But many times our health gets affected,' Kumar said. 'I feel troubled.' The weather department has issued heatwave warnings for the next couple of days in northern India that include the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and the New Delhi national capital region. Some parts of those ares may witness light showers from Thursday, bringing relief. India declares a heat wave whenever temperatures are above 40 C (104 F) in the plains and 30 C (86 F) or more in its hilly regions. Heatwaves are usually reported from March to June and in some cases in July. The peak month is May, but it was relatively cooler this season due to weather aberrations amid multiple westerly disturbances, said G.P. Sharma, president at private weather forecaster Skymet. In Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous state, a punishing heatwave made people's lives difficult as power grids struggled to keep pace with the soaring electricity demand. 'There is no light for hours in the afternoon, just when the heat is unbearable,' said Shabnam Khan, a homemaker in Lucknow, the state's capital city. 'The fan stops, the cooler doesn't work, and we are left sitting on the floor, drenched in sweat.' The state recorded its highest-ever electricity demand of 30,161 megawatts late Sunday as millions of homes and businesses ran cooling systems to beat the heat. Officials expect demand to surpass 32,000 megawatts in the coming weeks. Atul Kumar Singh, a senior scientist at the Regional Meteorological Centre in Lucknow, said the battle against this brutal summer heat was far from over as seasonal monsoon rains were still weeks away. 'We are seeing the worst of both heat and humidity. This is no longer just a matter of discomfort. It is becoming a public health emergency,' ___ Banerjee reported from Lucknow, India. Associated Press video journalist Piyush Nagpal in New Delhi contributed to the report.

Barbara weakens to a tropical storm as it heads to cooler waters off the coast of Mexico
Barbara weakens to a tropical storm as it heads to cooler waters off the coast of Mexico

Chicago Tribune

time18 hours ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Barbara weakens to a tropical storm as it heads to cooler waters off the coast of Mexico

Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tropical Storm Barbara gradually weakened as it continued heading northwest away from land Monday evening after strengthening to a hurricane earlier in the day. The storm marked the first of the eastern Pacific hurricane season. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Monday swells generated by the storm system will affect portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico during the next few days. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Hurricane Barbara was located about 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Manzanillo, Mexico. Its maximum sustained winds were clocked at 70 mph (110 kph). The storm's center was moving northwest at 12 mph (19 kph). The Center said Barbara was forecast to weaken overnight as it moved closer to the Baja Peninsula and should become a remnant low in the next day or two. No coastal warnings or watches were in effect Monday morning. But the storm had been expected earlier to bring heavy rainfall to coastal areas of Guerrero, Michoacan, Colima and Jalisco states, with the possibility of localized flooding. The hurricane center said swells from Barbara were likely to form life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the southwestern Mexican coast, with gusty winds likely. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Cosme strengthened slightly Monday but remained well off the coast of Mexico, about 600 miles (965 kilometers) south-southwest of the tip of Baja California, the NHC said. At 8 p.m. local time, it had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (100 kph) and was moving northwest at 3 mph (5 kph). Cosme is expected to reach near-hurricane strength overnight before weakening later in the day.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store