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Tornado Towns
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 8:32 pm
by HurricaneBill
Sometimes a tornado will hit a city or town so bad, that the name of the town will for a long time be associated with with the tonado. In other words, a relatively unknown town might be thrusted into the national headlines and the town will be known by the public as the town that was hit by a bad tornado.
What towns would you consider to be "tornado towns"?
I'll start off with a few:
Murphysboro, Illinois (1925)
Gainesville, Georgia (1936)
Woodward, Oklahoma (1947)
Udall, Kansas (1955)
Belvidere, Illinois (1967)
Xenia, Ohio (1974)
Saragosa, Texas (1987)
Jarrell, Texas (1997)
Newbern, Tennessee (2006)
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:06 pm
by spinfan4eva
Here is a tiny town that has been repeatedly hit by tornadoes (some deadly) with 3 touchdowns in the past 8 years.
Camilla, Ga in Mitchell County
Lets start in 1998 No deaths with this one, made the news though-or at least the storm system that caused it did! Oddly enough, I happenned to be visiting family in Bainbridge just south of Camilla the weekend before this and remember the advisories coming across on TWC during the weekend.
Code: Select all
0505 AM CAMILLA GA TORNADO
09/29/98 MITCHELL SEVERAL LARGE TREES
DOWNED. TWO STRUCTURES
DAMAGED. TRUCK BLOWN OFF
HWY 262
0515 AM CAMILLA GA TORNADO
09/29/98 MITCHELL NUMEROUS PECAN TREES
DOWNED 8 MILES NORTH OF
CAMILLA ON US 19.
Then again in 2000
Code: Select all
1142-1203 AM CAMILLA GA TORNADO
02/13/00 MITCHELL *** 11 DEAD ***
MAJOR DAMAGE TO TWO
SUBDIVISIONS AND FOUR
MOBILE HOME PARKS.
11 DEATHS CONFIRMED BY
GEMA. NUMEROUS INJURIES.
REPORTED BY EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT.
Then again in 2003
Code: Select all
0505 AM 5 SW CAMILLA-6 N SALE CITYGA TORNADO
03/20/03 MITCHELL EXTENSIVE DAMAGE. MANY
HOMES DAMAGED AND
DESTROYED. THOUSANDS OF
DOWNED TREES AND POWER
LINES ALONG A 19 MILE
DAMAGE PATH. TIME DURATION
25 MINUTES. REPORTED BY
EMA AND CAP/NWS AERIAL
SURVEY.
0505 AM CAMILLA GA TORNADO
03/20/03 MITCHELL *** 4 FATALITIES ***
*** OVER 200 INJ ***
MORE THAN 50 HOMES AND
MOBILE HOMES DESTROYED.
150 HOMES DAMAGED. SEVERAL
BUSINESSES DESTROYED.
REPORTED BY EMA AND CAP/NWS
AERIAL SURVEY.
NWS report on Camilla Tornado 2003
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tlh/mar20event/
Residents were fed up and fled
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nati ... truck.html
Actual death toll in 2003 ended up being 6
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:37 pm
by Gorky
Both Caruthersville and Sedalia have sprung to mind this year. both in Missouri and both been hit on 2 separate occasions by 2 tornadoes. I feel especially bad for Caruthersville, as half the town was flattened by an 800 yard wide F3, then an 300 yard wide F1 goes through town on a parallel line half a mile south. If I lived in the strip of land between those two tornado paths, I'd be worried next time a storm comes through as Mother Nature might try to finish the town off!

Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:13 pm
by wxmann_91
Marmaduke, AR, as you all know, has been hit this year, but it was hit also in 1999.
Springfield, IL has been hit multiple times this year, as has been Springfield, MO.
Jackson, TN has been hit too many times for me to name.
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:19 pm
by MiamiensisWx
Brimingham, Alabama, has been brushed and hit by tornadoes on it's outer edges and suburbs many times, including in 1996 or 1998 by an F-5 (I think). Moore, Oklahoma, also comes to mind as the site of the 1999 F-5 tornado.
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:25 pm
by wxmann_91
Moore, Oklahoma, also comes to mind as the site of the 1999 F-5 tornado.
How could I forget Moore? There were areas that were hit both on May 3, 1999, and May 8, 2003.
Much of OKC and the surrounding areas are hot spots, such as Stroud and El Reno.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 6:52 am
by Miss Mary
Xenia, Ohio has had a string of tornado touchdowns since 1974. Of course none as severe as then- 75% of the town destroyed, the high school auditorium had just been filled with the entire student body for an assembly, less than an hour after the tornado hit, if I remember correctly. Students had a chance to get home. That auditorium was destroyed. They could have lost hundreds of children, in one strike. But if you google the town, they've had plenty more tornado's hit, which is more than a coindence. Xenia is a small town north of Cincinnati. You say Xenia to anyone down here and they immediately think - tornado.
http://columbusoh.about.com/od/weather/a/xenia.htm
Mary
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:28 am
by wxmann_91
Miss Mary wrote:Xenia, Ohio has had a string of tornado touchdowns since 1974. Of course none as severe as then- 75% of the town destroyed, the high school auditorium had just been filled with the entire student body for an assembly, less than an hour after the tornado hit, if I remember correctly. Students had a chance to get home. That auditorium was destroyed. They could have lost hundreds of children, in one strike. But if you google the town, they've had plenty more tornado's hit, which is more than a coindence. Xenia is a small town north of Cincinnati. You say Xenia to anyone down here and they immediately think - tornado.
http://columbusoh.about.com/od/weather/a/xenia.htmMary
Not just in Ohio, say the word Xenia to pretty much every weather buff and they would think of tornado.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 9:56 am
by WaitingForSiren
Well, theres St Peter, MN which was hit hard in march 29 1998. The video from that tornado was pretty popular.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:48 am
by Aquawind
St Peter was a cool town before the Tornado changed the landscape.. That was sucha shame I loved driving through the Valley and stopped at Taco Johns almost everytime..lol Heck I could barely recogize where it was after the storm..
This question is probably relative to age but the all time imeadiate slam dunk to me would be.. Xenia, Ohio (1974)
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 1:41 pm
by HurricaneBill
St. Louis has been hit numerous times. The worst being 1896.
Huntsville, Alabama 1989
La Plata, Maryland
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:05 pm
by tidesong
Barneveld, Wisconsin (F5, 1984)
http://www.wx-fx.com/barnevld.htm
Photos:
http://www.wx-fx.com/bphotos.htm
Hit in the middle of the night with virtually no warning.
Final statistics: 9 dead; 200 injured; path width 400 yards; length 36 miles; damage over 40 million dollars. Rated F5 by the National Weather Service. Survey done by Dr Ted Fujita.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 2:09 pm
by CrazyC83
I'm trying to think myself of areas hit multiple times. Xenia is the first that comes to my mind.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 4:25 pm
by SamSagnella
The Sedalia MO area has gotten hit at least three times this year.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 4:28 pm
by Windy
Hallam, Nebraska is known, at least in Nebraska, as being a town remembered primarily because it was hit by a tornado. A few years back, a 2.5 mile wide F4 tornado more or less erased the place.
Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 7:27 pm
by george_r_1961
Natchez Mississippi and Moore Oklahoma come to mind here

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 7:55 pm
by 6SpeedTA95
Oklahoma City and surrounding areas...by surrounding areas I mean the entire state

Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:11 pm
by HurricaneBill
Andover, Kansas 1991
Lake Pomona, Kansas 1978 (The Whippoorwill(sp?) Tragedy)
Albion, Pennsylvania 1985
Plainfield, Illinois 1990
Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 12:25 pm
by simplykristi
The Ruskin Heights area of KC.. 1957 and 1977.
The metro KC area.. worst outbreak in recent memory May 4, 2003.
Kristi
Posted: Mon May 08, 2006 12:03 am
by mempho
Tupelo, MS (my hometown) (the famed Tupelo-Gainesville long-track outbreak in 1936)