2 deaths — A total of 22 homes were damaged in Justin, with five destroyed, and two swept away. Every business in town received some degree of damage. There were 25 injuries, including 17 that were serious.[4]
3 deaths — Struck the town of Gribble Springs, where seven houses were destroyed and three people were killed. Two homes and numerous barns were also destroyed in Cooke County.[4]
Tornado formed after the Sherman tornado lifted. A total of 20 homes were damaged along the Choctaw Creek (then called Choctaw Bayou) and a trading post was destroyed. There were 35 injuries, of which, at least 20 were serious.[4]
Probably a long-lived tornado family. Seven farms were destroyed and 60 injuries were reported, 58 of which occurred when a church in Riley County was destroyed during services.[4]
21 deaths — A violent tornado began near Polk City, and moved east-southeast north of Des Moines. Several homes were leveled on the north sides of Bondurant and Valeria, resulting in fatalities. Other homes were destroyed and fatalities occurred in the communities of Santiago and Mingo. A steel railroad rail was driven 15 feet (4.6 m) into the ground at one location. At least 60 people were injured.[6]
4 deaths — Homes had their roofs torn off on the northern edge of Adeline. In rural areas, a church and five farm homes were leveled. Four fatalities occurred south of Egan, where a large home was cleanly swept away.[6]
3 deaths — Buildings were destroyed on 11 farms. Six people were injured and three others were killed in a collapsed home. Debris from that home was found five miles away. A barn was destroyed in DeKalb County as well.[6]
Tornado struck the communities of Park Ridge, Edison Park, and Norwood Park. Six homes were destroyed and 30 others were damaged beyond repair. Caused $100,000 in damage and hit within 15 miles (24 km) of Downtown Chicago.[6]
Businesses and cottages were destroyed at Otter Lake. Three farm homes were destroyed, and the roof of a school was carried for half a mile. Four people were injured.[6]
1 death — A school and five homes were destroyed along the path. A total of 30 people were attending a funeral at one of the homes, and the attendants survived by taking shelter in a nearby ditch as the house was lifted and destroyed. One man was killed by flying debris as he watched from his window.[6]
2 deaths — Homes and barns were leveled between Warren and Utica before the tornado tore through Mt. Clemens, where 30 homes were destroyed along a two-block-wide path. Homes were destroyed in other areas before the tornado crossed into Ontario, where $60,000 in damage occurred.[6]
Every building in the village of Amadore was damaged to some degree, and two homes were destroyed at that location. The tornado then moved out over Lake Huron as a waterspout and dissipated. Three people were injured.[6]
6–7 deaths — Three students were killed at the Dye school, and one student (possibly two) was killed at the Bean Creek School. Two others died in farmhouses. A total of 50 people were injured.[6]
14 deaths — Entire farms were leveled near New Minden, south of Hoyleton, near Richview, and in Boyd and Irvington. A total 50 other people were injured.[6]
24 deaths — The path of this tornado family may have begun in Dupo. Many homes were leveled along the path, especially in and around New Baden, where 13 people died. Near the beginning of the path, 10 people died near train stations, and another death occurred at a farmhouse near Germantown before the tornado dissipated. 125 people were injured.[8]
Barns were destroyed near Bonneauville and Abbottstown. A house was leveled as well, with the furniture carried over half a mile away. Four people were injured.[8]
1 death — A school and four homes had their roofs torn off in Wrightsville. One person was killed when the tornado struck a rolling mill in Columbia, where three homes were destroyed. 20 people were injured.[8]
4 deaths — A total of 16 barns as well as several stables were destroyed in Pennsylvania, where four people were killed. The tornado crossed into New Jersey and damaged businesses in Allentown and White Horse. 15 people were injured.[8]
In Maryland, a house was torn apart and three others had their roofs torn off. Furniture was carried up to half a mile away. Crossed into Pennsylvania and dissipated near Littlestown, where barns were destroyed.[9]
On the first day of the outbreak sequence, most of the fatalities came from a single supercell thunderstorm that traveled from Denton to Sherman. The tornado began in the Pilot Point area, where farm homes were shifted off of their foundations. The tornado widened and strengthened into a very violent F5 and swept away numerous farms west of Farmington and Howe. Later along the path, the tornado narrowed to around 60 yards (180 ft) wide as it tore through Sherman. 50 homes were destroyed in town, 20 of which were obliterated and swept away. An iron-beam bridge was torn from its supports and twisted into pieces, and one of the beams was driven several feet into the ground.[7][10] Bodies were found up to 400 yards (1,200 ft) from their home sites, and a trunk lid was carried for 35 miles (56 km). Headstones at a cemetery were shattered, and a 500-pound stone was carried for 250 yards. Trees in the area were completely debarked with some reduced to stumps, and grass was scoured from lawns in town.[10] At least 200 people were injured, and bodies of the victims were transported into the courthouse and a vacant building. Several bodies were recovered from a muddy creek.[11] 73 people were killed by this single tornado, one of the worst on record in North Texas and the Red River Valley region, in particular the Texoma region.
A powerful F5 tornado, estimated to have been more than 2 miles (3.2 km) wide, tore through the towns of Seneca, Oneida, Reserve and Sabetha, Kansas.[6] In Seneca, the tornado destroyed the courthouse and a new schoolhouse, and the opera house was completely leveled and swept away. Damage in Seneca alone was estimated at $250,000 (1896 USD) where most of the homes, the fairgrounds and other small structures sustained at least heavy damage, if not complete destruction.[12][13][14] The damage path was two miles wide at Reserve, and only three buildings were left undamaged at that location. The tornado damaged 50 homes and destroyed 20 others on the north side of Sabetha. Many farms were entirely swept away along the path as well, some of which were reportedly left "as bare as the prairie".[7] The tornado continued into Nebraska, where four people died and damage occurred on the south side of Falls City. At least 200 people were injured.
Late during the evening hours of May 25, an F5 tornado touched down in Eastern Michigan and moved northeast for about 30 miles (48 km).[6] The tornado affected portions of Oakland, Lapeer and Livingston Counties northwest of Detroit. Towns affected included Thomas, Ortonville, Oakwood, and Whigville just after 9:00 pm. Homes were leveled or swept away, and fatalities occurred along the path. Entire farms were leveled, and debris from homes was found up to 12 miles (19 km) away. Trees were completely debarked along the path as well, with even small twigs stripped bare in some cases. Homes were swept away in Thomas, including one that was obliterated with the debris scattered up to 10 miles away. A piano from that residence was found 200 yards away from the foundation, with one end "pounded full of grass". Weather Bureau inspectors reported that grass in the center-most part of the circulation was "pounded down into the earth, as if it had been washed into the earth by a heavy flow of water."[15] At least 100 people were injured.[6] With 47 deaths, this is the second-deadliest tornado ever in Michigan trailing only the Flint Tornado of 1953 which killed 116 in Genesee County just outside Flint. Twenty-two people were killed in Ortonville, ten in Oakwood, three in Thomas, four north of Oxford and three in Whigville with others in rural areas. Nine of the fatalities were in a single home in Ortonville.[16][17]
Other killer tornadoes on that day touched down in Ogle County, Illinois (two different tornadoes) and Macomb & Tuscola Counties in Michigan. Several homes and farms in the Mount Clemens area were wiped out and others were moved from their foundations. The recently completed Colonial Hotel was leveled. Thirty homes were leveled in total, and two people were killed.[12][18]
St. Louis, Missouri/East St. Louis, Illinois[edit]
The third deadliest tornado in United States history struck the Greater St. Louis area in both Missouri and Illinois. This violent tornado killed at least 255 people (though one estimate placed the death toll at greater than 400), injured at least 1,000 more, and caused more than $10 million in damages. At the time, this was the costliest tornado ever recorded in the United States. It was one of at least 18 tornadoes to occur that day[19]
At least 137 people died as the tornado traversed the core of the downtown area, leaving a continuous, one-mile-wide (1.6 km) swath of destroyed homes, schools, saloons, factories, mills, churches, parks, and railroad yards in its wake. A few of the destroyed homes were all but completely swept away. Numerous trees were downed at the 36-acre (0.15 km2) Lafayette Park, and a barometer recorded a drop to 26.74 inHg (906 hPa) at this location.[20]
After devastating the city of St. Louis, the tornado crossed the Mississippi River and struck the Eads Bridge, where a 2 in × 10 in (51 mm × 254 mm) wooden plank was found driven through a 5⁄16 in (7.9 mm) wrought iron plate. Uncounted others may have died on boats on the river, which could have swept their bodies downriver where they could not be recorded in the official death toll. The tornado continued into East St. Louis, Illinois, where its path was narrower, but its strength became even more intense. Homes and buildings along the river were completely swept away and a quarter of the buildings there were damaged or destroyed. An additional 118 people were killed, 35 of whom were at the Vandalia railroad freight yards.
^An outbreak is generally defined as a group of at least six tornadoes (the number sometimes varies slightly according to local climatology) with no more than a six-hour gap between individual tornadoes. An outbreak sequence, prior to (after) modern records that began in 1950, is defined as, at most, two (one) consecutive days without at least one significant (F2 or stronger) tornado.[2]
