The St. Louis Tornado or The Great Cyclone of 1896 took place on Wednesday, May 27, 1896, just after 5:00 pm. This tornado was not only the single worst disaster in St. Louis history but the St. Louis Tornado was one of the most destructive and deadliest tornados in United States history. The storm caused approximately one hundred million dollars in damage to the City of St. Louis and East St. Louis. In today’s dollars this would equal about two point nine billion dollars in damages. It would take decades for St. Louis and East St. Louis to fully recover from the devastation.
The day of the storm it was relatively calm and most people did not notice the dark clouds moving in. There was a sharp drop in temperature and the storm erupted
…show more content…
Lafayette Square Park was the City of St. Louis’s first public park. The forty plus year old trees in the park and many of the large homes and churches that surrounded the park were completely destroyed in only a few minutes. Pieces of the main bandstand in the park were found four hundred yards from where it once stood. Lafayette Park did not recover for decades after the storm. “The 36 acre park was turned into a wasteland of trees and stumps” (Source 3). The tornado made a direct hit on the Lafayette Park neighborhood.
The path of the tornado continued along the route of today's Interstate 44 to The City Hospital complex, completely destroying the hospital’s crematorium and ripping off roofs of many other buildings. The hospital had more that four hundred patients at the time but only minor injuries were reported. The tornado continued to get stronger as it moved east into the Soulard neighborhood where its worst damage occurred. Many people lost their homes and some lost their lives as houses and apartment buildings were destroyed killing at least twenty-one
people. The pressure and high winds of the tornado caused St. John Nepomuk Church in Soulard to
…show more content…
There were many death stories reported in newspapers but almost no survivor stories. The night after the storm, diggers found a young girl named Ida Howell cradled in her mothers arm's but sadly they were both dead. However, searchers did find a woman alive after spending two days under the rubble. Many newspapers reported that people who were not physically harmed by the tornado still died from "fright" and "shock." After the storm, mourners crowded many sidewalks and roads for days outside of morgues looking for loved ones. The Post Dispatch noted, “All over the city bells were tolling for the dead” (Source 2).
People came together in the weeks after the storm and slowly started to clean up and rebuild the houses, churches and factories that were damaged or destroyed. Once the telegram lines were fixed and the rest of the country found out what had happened in St. Louis, outside people came to help. Because of the efforts of the people of St. Louis, the city was able to host the 1904 Worlds Fair just eight years after this devastating
The history-making documentary footage made available by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer has been subjected to careful analysis. As noted by Grazulis (1993; pp. 879-880), the tornado in question was part of an outbreak in Kansas on that day, including a violent killer tornado near Clyde, Kansas, and a "barn shifting" F1 tornado in Rooks county. It seems that shifting human structures was a common feature of tornadoes on that
In the article by Jeff Piotrowski and the article on the Joplin Tornado: Evil Swirling Darkness, explains that the Joplin tornado took out the city of Joplin, Missouri. The tornado came into the town of Joplin on May 22, 2011 and was about a mile wide. Fires were attacking the city and homes from broken gas lines, and many people were buried alive in their houses. The fire department was gone and no one could find any police to help. Neighbors helped neighbors, pulling each other out of the ruble. Over 125 people had died all from being trapped and suffocated, to be cut open by sharp objects that fell. In the end many people had died and were injured during the tragic tornado that came through and left Joplin in horror and terror.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
Xenia, Ohio was home to the worst damage caused by the tornado outbreak of 1974. As school children in Xenia, Ohio waited for their ride home and workers watched the clock tick slowly towards quitting time, a monstrous tornado whipped wildly towards their small town. In just minutes, the small peaceful city of Xenia became ground zero for the nation's worst tornado outbreak.
With the winds and waters sweeping away taking away people’s lives and property the storm made it to be one of the costliest in the history of America. According to FEMA:
On May 4, 2007, the town of Greensburg, Kansas was devastated by an exceptionally strong tornado. With maximum winds estimated to be in excess of 205 miles per hour, and leaving a damage path as wide as 1.7 miles, the storm would go on to be rated a rare EF5, the first recorded in the United States since 1999. When the storm finally subsided, 95 percent of Greensburg had been destroyed, killing eleven people.
One obvious reason that this hurricane was so devastating was due to weather patterns. Harvey was originally just a tropical storm, but jumped from a category
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
New Orleans by far felt the biggest effect of Hurricane Katrina. Many people were rescued but had nowhere to go and the government was not prepared for the disaster. There was no plan for recovery. Communication failures were one of the major problems which included power failures and broken telephone lines. Homes were destroyed and many were left stuck on the roof of their broken homes. Most of the city’s major roads and buildings suffered extensive damage. Countless people were left unemployed and homeless. Above all, the worst effect caused by Hurricane Katrina was the final death toll of 1,836 people with 705 still reported
On May 22nd, 2011 a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri killing 162 people and injuring 1150. With wind speeds of 322km/h, the tornado made a total cost of over $2 billion for the city. 8000 structures were destroyed, 2000 of which were homes. Many people were left homeless. The tornado held an incredible EF5 rating on the Fujita scale, measured from the amount of destruction. The tragic event lasted 38 minutes, from 5:34 pm to 6:12pm. Cool wind from the Rockies in Canada and warm wind from the gulf of Mexico formed into a supercell thunderstorm creating a tornado in Kansas. The tornado rapidly moved into Joplin and continued on its 35 km path.
A tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 at around 5:40 pm. With a population around 50,559, it killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,100 people. The cost was an estimated $2.8 billion in damage. The American taxpayers had to give about $500 million in recovery money. This made it the deadliest tornado since 1950, which was when modern recordkeeping began. Since it was an EF5 tornado, it destroyed everything in its path. The city was ruined with only piles of debris left. It was a half-mile wide when it hit Joplin and grew to three-quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in Joplin and damaged hundreds more. It covered over 1,800 acres of land. The warnings that the Joplin residents received were through three different ways. The tornado warning that was sent out for Joplin’s county was from Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) and they claim that the first siren went off at 5:11 pm. Two other warnings for the Joplin residents was they saw the tornado heading their direction, and the media coverage which was all local electronic media switched to wall-to-wall coverage seeing live footage of the tornado.
About a week later a tornado razed a better part of North Houston. It brought rain. It brought hail. It upended cars; it flooded houses. And in its trail it left fallen branches and trees, and removed, in whole, one tiny tomato-onion-potato-and-green-bean garden located behind my garage.
Every year many natural disasters happen around the world. In New Orleans, and several other states, a devastating hurricane struck. High speed winds and major flooding caused many people to lose their homes and even their lives. Many people have heard of hurricane Katrina, but not everybody knows what caused it and the affect it had on the United States.
Tornadoes are one of the deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. There is no rhyme or reason, no rhythm to it’s madness. Tornados are one of the most terrifying natural events that occur, destroying homes and ending lives every year. April 29th, 1995, a calm, muggy, spring night I may never forget. Jason, a buddy I grew up with, just agreed to travel across state with me so we could visit a friend in Lubbock. Jason and I were admiring the beautiful blue bonnets, which traveled for miles like little blue birds flying close to the ground. The warm breeze brushed across the tips of the blue bonnets and allowed them to dance under the perfectly clear blue sky. In the distance, however, we could see darkness. A rumbling sky was quickly approaching.
Astonishingly, About 90 percent of the deaths that occur during hurricanes result from drowning in floods, and The world’s worst hurricane (for loss of life) took place in 1970 in Bangladesh. That hurricane created a flood that killed more than one million people. Now, we have a hurricane coming right towards us! I will discuss the destructive part of tornadoes, the past damages, and injuries sustained and hopefully persuade you to be more opening to evacuating our city.