murphysboro 234 killed, highest single-city death toll of any tornado 17 children killed at...

Murphysboro

• 234 killed, highest single-city death toll of any tornado

• 17 children killed at Longfellow School, 9 at Logan School

• Remains of city caught fire shortly after tornado passed

• Major industries destroyed

De Soto

• Town virtually annihilated; strong F-5 damage

• 69 deaths including 33 at the school—still the worst tornado school death toll

• Business district destroyed, caught fire after storm’s passage

West Frankfort

• Most men were employed in mines and were underground when storm struck

• 147 fatalities, most of them women and children

• Tornado devastated northwest quadrant of town, where most miners lived

• Business district largely spared

Rural Hamilton and White Counties, Illinois

• No population centers struck

• 65 deaths, hundreds injured

• Strong F-5 damage continues, with concrete walkways blown out of the ground at one Hamilton County farm

Griffin, Indiana

• Town completely destroyed

• Large quantities of mud sucked from Wabash River, pelted many survivors

• Storm still exhibiting F-5 damage

• 26 fatalities in village of 400 people

• Schoolchildren killed on the way home from school

Owensville, Indiana Area

• Storm turned slightly northward; first deviation in path since touchdown

• Tornado passed just northwest of Owensville, destroying 85 farms

• Entire farm families wiped out

Princeton, Indiana

• Largest city to be struck by tornado after Murphysboro and West Frankfort

• Two southern neighborhoods, Baldwin Heights and Summit, bore brunt of storm

• Heinz Ketchup plant and Southern Railroad shops demolished

• 25 deaths in Princeton area