The more spectacular they look, the more deadly they are. Tornadoes, those swirls of winds can kill you
A tornado is a violent rotating whirling wind, having a funnel-shaped cloud rooted to the earth and an extending link to a cumulonimbus cloud. This windstorm kills as it descends with a speed of approximately 110-320 miles per hour. It is deadly and its average width is a few hundred metres to 3.2 Km.
Tornadoes, also known as twisters have been found in many continents with an exception of Antarctica, but it is the USA where they most frequently cause disasters.
Tornadoes occur when two masses of different temperatures and humidity meet. When the lower layers of the atmosphere are unstable, a strong upward movement of warmer air creates a spiral. This spiral rises and creates a tornado. Tornadoes usually form during cloudy, stormy weather and descend from severe thunderstorms as rapidly-spinning white funnels of cloud.
Here are the five deadly tornadoes that took away most of the lives:
1) Tri-State Tornado:
When: March 18, 1925
Where: Missouri, Illinois, Indiana
Number of death: 747 people were dead and 2,298 were injured
The Great Tri-State Tornado is the deadliest tornado in US history. There were 9 tornadoes in all. Three states, thirteen counties, and more than nineteen communities were affected in the path of this record 3.5 hour-long tornado.
Approximately 15,000 homes were destroyed with total damage estimated at $16.5 million.
2) Super Outbreak:
When: April 3 to April 4, 1974
Where: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York
Number of death: 300
It was the second deadliest tornado recorded in US history. In this 24- hour violent air attack, there were 148 tornadoes confirmed in 13 US states out of which 30 F4/F5 tornadoes were reported on Fujita scale. This tornado damaged approximately 900 square miles of U.S continent.
3) Tupelo–Gainesville tornado:
When: April 5 to April 6, 1936
Where: Tupelo, Mississippi, Gainesville, Georgia, Columbia, Tennessee, Anderson, South Carolina and Acworth
Number of death: 436
The 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak of seventeen tornadoes struck the Southeastern United States rated as F5 of the modern Fujita scale. The tornado was mainly focused in Tupelo and Gainesville. In Tupelo, the tornado leveled over 200 homes, killed 216 people and injured more than 700 people. The Gainesville tornado killed 203 people and 40 were reported missing.
4) The Woodward Tornado:
When: 9 April 1947
Where: Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma
Number of death: 223
This violent tornado (F5 on the Fujita Scale) unleashed its worst destruction on Woodward. More than 1000 homes were destroyed at least 107 people killed in and around Woodward, and nearly 1000 additional injuries were reported. Beyond Woodward, it destroyed 36 homes and injured 30 people in Woods County before ending. In all, at least 116 lives were lost in Oklahoma.
5) April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak:
When: April 25 to April 28, 2011
Where: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia
Number of death: 348
During this destruction, 358 tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service in 21 states from Texas to New York and in southern Canada. In the three day tornado strike, April 27 was the most active day with a record of 205 tornadoes touching down that day. Four of the tornadoes were destructive enough to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale.
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