St. Louis No Stranger To Deadly Weather
One hundred fifteen years ago today a deadly tornado hit St. Louis:
At 4:30 PM, May 27, 1896, “the temperature fell rapidly and huge banks of black and greenish clouds were seen approaching the city…All the time the wind kept rising and in the far distance vivid forks of lightning could be seen. Gradually the thunder storm came nearer the city and the western portion was soon in the midst of a terrible storm. The wind’s velocity was about thirty-seven miles an hour. This speedily increased to sixty , seventy and even eighty miles, by the time the storm was at its height. For thirteen minutes this frightful speed was maintained and the rain fell in ceaseless torrents, far into the sad and never-to-be-forgotten night.”
The tornado first hit the ground along a ridge in the southwest portion of the city, near the St. Louis State Hospital (“City Hospital”). It next went along Jefferson avenue, through Lafayette Park to Seventh and Rutger streets. Then it moved on towards Soulard and the levee before crossing the river on towards East St. Louis in Illinois. In its wake, the storm left atleast 138 dead in St. Louis, another 118 in East St. Louis. Approximately 85 persons were missing in St. Louis and over one hundred more missing on the east-side. Many of those listed as missing were certainly killed and their bodies either carried away by the wind or by the river, with little hope that the bodies will be recovered. Over a thousand residents were physically injured. The “Cyclone of 1896” has been described as the single most deadly event that hit the St. Louis area in recorded history. In little over fifteen minutes the storm fully completed its course of death and destruction. (Source – recommended)
Lately we’ve seen tornados cause damage in the region and earlier in the week the deadly tornado devastated Joplin Missouri. Generations have managed to rebuild following such destruction, present and future generations will as well. Of course, St. Louis reaches out to help Joplin.
– Steve Patterson
There was another in 1927 and another in 1959. Photos from the 1896 calamity include solid brick houses with facades neatly sheared off, as if by a giant chainsaw. This happened to a relative’s house in 1896. The house was new and they had just moved in when the tornado struck. Intact pieces of furniture and household objects were recovered blocks away from the wreckage of the house.
There was another in 1927 and another in 1959. Photos from the 1896 calamity include solid brick houses with facades neatly sheared off, as if by a giant chainsaw. This happened to a relative’s house in 1896. The house was new and they had just moved in when the tornado struck. Intact pieces of furniture and household objects were recovered blocks away from the wreckage of the house.
STL region tornado map 1950-2007:Â http://www.ewgateway.org/pdffiles/maplibrary/tornado11x14.pdf
STL region tornado map 1950-2007: http://www.ewgateway.org/pdffiles/maplibrary/tornado11x14.pdf