St Louis Tornado as One of the Deadliest Tornados in the U.S. History - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: St Louis Tornado of 1896 St Louis Tornado of 1896 Tornados are known to affect small parts of the planet Earth andthey are generally believed to be short-lived. They are, however, greatly feared by the population. It is clear why: according to the statistics, in the United States, tornados bring scores of deaths every year and hundreds of millions of dollars damage to people’s property. It has been reported that before 1950 the annual death count was on average more than a hundred of people, for the reason of tornados only. One of the deadliest tornados in the U.S. history of tornados was the St Louis Tornado of 1896. It was responsible for perils of at least 255 people and injuries among at least 300 residents (Gunn & Gunn, 2009); in other sources, figures are respectively – more than 300 dead and more than 1, 000 injured (Curzon, 1896, p. 17). The tornado razed the major part of the city to the ground, with the loss estimate of 2 million dollars (one agency said it was worth 50, 000, 000) (Dunn & Dunn, 2009, p.51). In just 20 minutes the St Louis tornado blasted a path to the Near South Side of the city which was about 10 miles. It was accountable for destroying as many as 311 buildings, damaging around 7, 200 houses, and harming 1, 300 still others (Curzon, 1896, p. xvi). The National Climatic Data Center ranks it the third deadliest documented tornado in the U.S. history after Tri Strike Tornado of 1925 (official death toll 695 people) and 1840 tornado that affected Nachez, MS (official death toll 317) (National Climatic Data Center, 2012, online). Before discussing the specifics of the St Louis tornado let us first explain what a tornado is. As the tornado researcher and the author of “Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains” Howard Bluestein says, a tornado is commonly defined as a column f air that is rotating in a violent manner while hanging from the cloud which is bubbly in shape and tall and has the rain falling from it (Bluestein, p.8). Besides, tornadoes are frequently associated with heavy thunderstorms. At the same time, Bluestein admits to the existence of tornados without rain, without thunderstorm and stretched out in a horizontal manner rather than as a column, i.e. oriented vertically (Bluestein, p.9). At the time when the St Louis Tornado struck at the turn of the 20th century, the news accounts referred to the tornado as merely a cyclone. As it is explained in the foreword to “The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896: Being a Full History of the Most Terrifying and Destructive Tornado in the History of the World” by Tim O’Neil, this was not correct from the perspective of climatology since cyclone refers to any movement of the wind of the cyclonic nature. At the same time, a tornado is a funnel cloud particularly fast-twisting and leading to great damage (Curzon, 1896, p. xviii). Curzon (1896, p.28) provides enough evidence that the St Louis tornado was a typical tornado with all the features usually attributed to such phenomena. He, first of all, bases his view on the local news account which told of the detected presence of the upward and inward spiral motions, illustrated by trees having been torn up by their roots and scattered around in a mess. In addition, in certain places, it was reported, the debris was thrown around in each direction. The St Louis Tornado (also known as The St Louis-East St Louis Tornado) of 1896 reportedly touched down in southwest St Louis, which was at that time the city’s highest point. Specifically, at 6:30 PM on 27 May 1896 the landfall of two tornadoes (rated F4) was made at St Louis and near the city (Gunn & Gunn, 2009, p.50). Those tornadoes, which were a part of the overall outbreak on the territory of the United States , arrived in a simultaneous manner. One of the tornadoes passed over St Louis and headed for southeast. There it leveled farms in Richview and Irvington located 60 miles east. The other tornado, which was very powerful and excessively destructive, touched down near the site of the State Hospital situated on Arsenal Street in modern St Louis (Curzon, 1896, xviii). People were not warned about the tornado coming. Interestingly, tornado predictions in the United States had not been performed until 1946 as to not scare the people. Severe weather forecasting began with the activity of Air Force officers Fawbush and Miller back in 1940s (Redman, N.d., online). To illustrate, Curzon, an author of the 1896 book about the St Louis tornado, says: “The weather bureau predicted local thunder storms, but said nothing of a cyclone, a tornado, or even an exceptional wind” (Curzon, 1896, p.19). Yet many residents could predict the tornado by the ominous signs of the weather. While the sun was shining the usual way, clouds were too numerous and unusual color (greenish and even black). They were often obstructed the sun. Later in the day darkness started covering the city, so that around 5 PM it was already as dark as if it had been 8 PM (Curzon, 1896, p.20). Besides, the barometers all showed there was going to be something terrible, the temperature suddenly fell. That alarming time before the tornado was described by one of its witnesses as being fraught with “tense silence, which made people’s ears ring” and with “sense of oppression”. Besides, “a dull drumming sound” was heard which reminded thousands of wings flapping in the sky (“Time Magazine U.S.”, 1927, online). Describing the path of the St Louis tornado in brief, one should mention that it ripped through the area known as Lafayette Park, then it went to the Mississippi river front and having crossed the river proceeded to East St Louis. The Lafayette Park, at that time, a sort of Victorian era showplace, hosted unbelievable gardens, an aquarium, gazebos, a boathouse, and a bandstand. Most of these were destroyed by the tornado which, as Montesi and Deposki describe it, “plowed through the area” (Montesi & Deposki, 1999, p.127). The tornado first ruined the city’s area where the women’s hospital, poor house, the infirmary for old folks, and the asylum were located. In particular, roofs and porches were torn away, with walls being knocked out. Yet, just 8 people got hurt in that part of the city (Curzon, 1896, p. xviii). As the tornado was cutting its way across the city’s center, people died in saloons, factories, homes, hospitals, railroad yards, mills, and churches (Gunn & Gunn, 2009, p. 50). All in all, the path of the tornado was 7 miles long. Reportedly, the path was not direct at all. It resembled a snake that was making the path trying to find a place of refuge from some enemy (Curzon, 1896, p. 25). It occasionally diverged from the site known as the Mill Greek Valley only to come back at some new weak point with new energy and fierceness. It started moving at some height above the ground, but later descended, which was judged by the damage it caused at the part of the city from the Twelfth St to the Mississippi river (Curzon, 1896, p. 26). Interestingly, the tornado appeared to be most devastating to the houses of the rich and a variety of business buildings. Specifically, as it crossed the Shaw’s Garden, it moved to the southern part of Vandeventer Avenues with the buildings of the tobacco company and houses of rich people. Next, it went to another district where prosperous residents lived known as Compton Heights. The tornado laid waste the area around the Lafayette Park and its neighborhood, with plants and shops. It then moved to the City Hospital. Later, the middle-class district of Soulard was heavily destroyed, with the tornado burying people under the ruins of their devastated homes (Curzon, 1896, p.xx). As the St. Louis Tornado’s path curved south of downtown, it crossed the Mississippi river wrecking around 16 boats which were harbored there. Then the tornado moved to the East. St Louis lands. In a 1896 book entitled “Photographic Views of the Great Cyclone at St.Louis, May 27, 1896”, it is stated that the tornado itself took just a few minutes and was followed by a blinding rain. The rain was evidently a big impediment to the rescue operations. It made it more difficult to remove wreckage in order to find people who had been injured but alive. Besides, the rain is described as adding sufferings to people that were injured (Anonymous, 1896, online). The power of the St Louis tornado of 1896 could be well illustrated by its partially damaging the Eads Bridge known as extremely massive and too heavy. Throughout the history, the bridge had resisted numerous floods and was regarded indestructible by everyone. The wind of the tornado tore away 300 feet (as per data provided in anonymously compiled “Photographic Views of the Great Cyclone at St. Louis, May 27, 1896” book) of the eastern approach. The tornado was reported to have pierced the bridge with a white wooden plank. This did not make the strength of the construction weaker, yet illustrated the tornado’s capacity to generate missiles (Gunn & Gunn, 2009, p.50). Also, it was reported to have blown over several freight trains on the tracks. When the tornado entered the town of East St Louis (located in Illinois), it nearly blew it out of its existence (N.a., Photographic Views of the Great Cyclone at St. Louis, May 27, 1896, online). Describing the damage brought by the tornado in the daylight of the next morning after the disaster, Daily Republican, said that once the sun arose that morning it exposed a scene of horrible ruin, wind, fire, disaster and rain which came as a result of the destructive mission of the tornado. Many houses collapsed, others were unroofed, wires were torn down and glass was splintered (N.a., Daily Republican, Decatur, IL 28 May 1896, online). The measurement of tornado’s power by the F-scale specification of damage refers the St Louis Tornado of 1896 to F4 and even to F5. According to the scale, F4 tornados are those that move at the speed 93-116 m/sec and bring the following damage and devastation: leveling well-constructed buildings, structures that have weak foundations are blown off at certain distances, as for cars, they are thrown. (Bluestein, p.5). As for F5, to which some scholars attribute this tornado, it suggests the movement at a speed 117-142 m/sec and leads to incredible damage; strong frame buildings are lifted off their foundations only to be carried at considerable distance; eventually, they disintegrate; missiles of automobile size are known to fly through the air more than 100 meters; trees happen to be debarked; a variety of incredible things take place (Bluestein, p.5). It seems, despite the massive destruction brought by the tornado at St Louis, it is more likely to be measured as F4. It is enough to think that the tornado did not lift off foundations of strong frame houses: in the city center there were still a number of business buildings which did not suffer any considerable damage if not to count the window glass having been blown off the windows. At the same time, as Bluestein admits, the Fujita scale is quite imperfect and cannot represent the whole picture of the tornado’s real power (Bluestein, p. 6). In conclusion, the St Louis tornado is rightfully believed to be one of the deadliest tornados in the history of the United States and St Louis area. It exhibited all the features of a true tornado and corresponds to the F4 measurement. At the same time, the bizarre phenomena that it brought display some features of the F5 tornado. This means that the tornado was harsh and destructive in an unprecedented way and explains the death toll among the residents of St Louis area (Steinberg, 2006, p.221). Of course, the horrible consequences could have been avoided had the city inhabitants been warned in advance. All in all, the wreckage and life losses caused by this tornado present a historical lesson to the subsequent generations as to how dangerous and devastating tornados are. References Bluestein, H. (2006) Tornado Alley: Monster Storms of the Great Plains. Oxford University Press. Curzon, J. (1896) The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896: SIU Press. Gunn, A. & Gunn, A. (2009) A Student Guide to Climate and Weather: Volume 1: Weather Extremes. ABC-CLIO. Montesi, A. & Deposki, R. (1999) Lafayette Square, St. Louis. Arcadia Publishing. National Climatic Data Center (2012)“U.S. Tornado Climatology”. Retrieved from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/tornadoes.html. N.a. (1896) “Daylight Scenes”. Daily Republican, Decatur, IL 28 May 1896. Retrieved from http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/mo/tornadoes/stlouis-tornadomay1896.htm. N.a. (1896) Photographic Views of the Great Cyclone at St. Louis, May 27, 1896. Rerieved from http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nws/tornado.html. Steinberg, T. (2006) Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America. Oxford University Press. Read More