List of tornado-related deaths at schools

These are all known tornadoes resulting in student deaths at primary and secondary schools in the United States from 1865 to 2015. For the deadliest tornado incidents, only fires/explosions and bombings have killed more students.[1]

List

DateLocation (school)Local time (touchdown)Fatalities (school)English Wikipedia article
1820sFayetteville, Indiana[2]?1
June 28, 1865Viroqua, Wisconsin[3]4:00 p.m.9
May 23, 1878Mineral Point, Wisconsin[3]3:00 p.m.2
June 9, 1878Augusta, Georgia[3]3:00 p.m.3
February 19, 1884Goshen, Alabama[1]2:30 p.m.1Enigma Tornado Outbreak
May 11, 1886Kansas City, Missouri[4]??15
May 2, 1887Wauseon, Ohio[1]12:35 p.m.1
June 14, 1888Lexington, Oregon[3]??1
May 17, 1889Forestburg, Texas[1]4:00 p.m.2
June 20, 1890Paw Paw, Illinois[1]2:30 p.m.7
September 7, 1893Lockport, Louisiana[1]9:30 a.m.3
May 3, 1895Ireton - Hull, Iowa[1]2:30 p.m.7Hull, Iowa, Tornado Outbreak of 1895
May 27, 1896Mexico - Bean, Missouri[1]3:15 p.m.4St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado / May 1896 tornado outbreak sequence
March 22, 1897Arlington, Georgia[1]8:30 a.m.8
January 3, 1906Josie - Banks, Alabama[1]11:30 a.m.2
March 13, 1913Lawrenceburg, Tennessee[1]1:45 p.m.1Southeast Tornado Outbreak of March 1913
January 4, 1917Vireton, Oklahoma[1]11:00 a.m.16
February 23, 1917Hollins, Alabama[1]3:30 p.m.2Southeast Tornado Outbreak of February 1917
March 23, 1917New Albany, Indiana[1]3:08 p.m.5Mid-Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak of March 1917
January 11, 1918Dothan - Cowarts, Alabama[1]1:40 p.m.8
November 4, 1922Holyoke, Colorado[1]9:30 a.m.1Great Plains Tornado Outbreak of November 1922
April 27, 1923Johnson City, Kansas[1]12:15 p.m.1
April 30, 1924Horrell Hill, South Carolina[1]11:00 a.m.7Southeast Outbreak of April 1924
March 18, 1925Missouri - Illinois - Indiana (nine schools)[1]1:01 p.m.69Tri-State Tornado
November 9, 1926La Plata, Maryland[1]2:35 p.m.14La Plata, Maryland, Tornado of November 1926
April 19, 1927Carrollton, Illinois[1]11:45 a.m.1Southern Plains-Midwest Tornado Outbreak of April 1927
May 9, 1927Poplar Bluff, Missouri[1]2:35 p.m.21927 St. Louis Tornado Outbreak
September 29, 1927St. Louis, Missouri[3]12:50 p.m.31927 St. Louis – East St. Louis tornado
December 7, 1927Tunnel Springs, Alabama[1]11:30 a.m.1
January 24, 1928Smithville, Tennessee[1]2:00 p.m.4
September 13, 1928Pender, Nebraska[1]3:40 p.m.3Upper Plains-Midwest Tornado Outbreak of September 1928
January 18, 1929Maunie, Illinois[1]11:20 a.m.2Middle-Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak of January 1929
March 22, 1929Merrellton, Alabama[1]11:00 a.m.5
April 24, 1929Slocum, Texas[1]12:20 p.m.1Plains, Midwest, and Southeast Tornado Outbreak of April 1929
May 2, 1929Rye Cove, Virginia[1]12:25 p.m.131929 Rye Cove, Virginia tornado outbreak
November 19, 1930Bethany, Oklahoma[1]9:30 a.m.6Oklahoma-Kansas Tornado Outbreak of November 1930
January 5, 1931Norlina, North Carolina[1]4:45 p.m.1
February 14, 1936McRae - Helena, Georgia[1]4:30 p.m.2
April 26, 1938Oshkosh, Nebraska[1]2:15 p.m.3Oshkosh, Nebraska, Tornado Outbreak
February 6, 1942Jasper County, Georgia[1]1:30 p.m.4Southeast Tornado Outbreak of February 1942
March 16, 1942O'Tuckalofa, Mississippi[1]3:00 p.m.1March 1942 tornado outbreak
April 27, 1942Ortonville, Minnesota[1]3:05 p.m.2Pryor, Oklahoma, Tornado Outbreak
January 26, 1944Granite, Oklahoma[1]8:30 p.m.1January 1944 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak
March 6, 1944Horton, Alabama[1]3:00 p.m.1
April 12, 1945Muskogee, Oklahoma[1]4:50 p.m.3Southern Plains-Midwest Tornado Outbreak of April 1945
December 31, 1947Village, Arkansas[1]7:35 p.m.1New Year's Eve Tornado Outbreak of 1947
February 1, 1955Commerce Landing, Mississippi[1]2:20 p.m.23Commerce Landing, Mississippi, Tornado Outbreak
January 24, 1967Orrick, Missouri[1]12:40 p.m.21967 St. Louis tornado outbreak
April 21, 1967Belvidere, Illinois[1]3:50 p.m.13Belvidere - Oak Lawn tornado outbreak
May 4, 1978Clearwater, Florida[1]10:47 a.m.3Sarasota, Florida, Tornadoes
April 8, 1993Grand Isle, Louisiana[3]1:20 p.m.1
March 1, 2007Enterprise, Alabama[5]1:10 p.m.8February–March 2007 Tornado Outbreak
May 20, 2013Moore, Oklahoma[6]2:45 p.m.72013 Moore tornado

Discussion

Ruins of the Longfellow School where 17 children were killed during the Great Tri-State Tornado on March 18, 1925. The storm hit the school at about 2:30 p.m.

From 1884 to 2007, there were 46 tornadoes with school fatalities in the United States. These tornadoes killed 286 (not including the 9 from the probable downburst in New York state). Tornado warnings began being issued in 1950 (and tornado watches in late 1952);[7] and there is a very sharp decrease in number of killer tornado events at schools after this time, as well as a large decrease in death tolls from tornadoes overall.[8] There were 40 tornadoes with deaths at schools (234 deaths) before 1953 and 6 events (52 deaths) after that year (not including the probable downburst in New York). Two high fatality events after 1953 occurred in Mississippi (23 in 1955) and Illinois (13 in 1967); accounting for 82% of 1952-2006 deaths, both from violent class tornadoes.

More tornadoes with deaths in schools have occurred in the Southeastern United States—23 events or over half the national total—than any other region. Four of the top ten death toll events occurred in the Southeast. Relatively few school fatality tornado events have occurred in the area with the highest frequency of strong tornadoes, the Great Plains (Tornado Alley); only a single event occurred after warnings began being issued. This is probably chiefly due to three reasons: the low population density, greater tornado awareness (and better visibility affording more warning), and the time of year and of day that most tornadoes strike the Great Plains.[9][10]

An artist's conception of the April 21, 1967, school tornado disaster.

The state with the most tornado deaths throughout history is Illinois, with 90. The largest school death toll from a tornado was 69 during the Tri-State Tornado, which also struck Illinois and significantly raised that state's death toll. The greatest death toll at a single school also occurred during the Tri-State tornado, when it killed 33 at a school in De Soto, also in Illinois. This tornado also injured hundreds more at schools, and killed many students returning home from schools. Additionally, three of the top ten events by death toll, and four if separate schools of the same tornado are counted (33 in De Soto and 25 in Murphysboro again from the Tri-State Tornado), have occurred in Illinois.

The state with the highest number of tornadoes with deaths at schools is Alabama at 8 events. Illinois is second with 6 tornadoes. Missouri and Oklahoma are tied for third with 5 tornadoes. Fifth is Georgia with 3 tornadoes. Sixth are Texas, Tennessee, Indiana, Nebraska, Mississippi, and Arkansas, each with 2 events. One school fatality tornado event has occurred in Ohio, Louisiana, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Florida (the probable downburst in New York is not included).

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. pp. 139–40. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
  2. ↑ History of Lawrence and Monroe Counties, Indiana: Their People, Industries, and Institutions. B.F. Bowen. 1914. pp. 100–101.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Grazulis, Thomas P. (1997). Significant Tornadoes Update, 1992-1995. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. p. 1409. ISBN 1-879362-04-X.
  4. ↑ http://www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/64501157.pdf National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form page=E-27
  5. ↑ Tornado Outbreak of March 1-2, 2007 (NWS)
  6. ↑ "Preliminary Reconnaissance of the May 20, 2013, Newcastle-Moore Tornado in Oklahoma". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dec 2013.
  7. ↑ Galway, Joseph G. (1975). "Relationship of Tornado Deaths to Severe Weather Watch Areas". Mon. Wea. Rev. 103 (8): 737–41. Bibcode:1975MWRv..103..737G. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1975)103<0737:ROTDTS>2.0.CO;2.
  8. ↑ Doswell, Charles A, III; A. R. Moller; H. E. Brooks (1999). "Storm Spotting and Public Awareness since the First Tornado Forecasts of 1948". Weather Forecast. 14 (4): 544–57. Bibcode:1999WtFor..14..544D. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(1999)014<0544:SSAPAS>2.0.CO;2.
  9. ↑ Ashley, Walker S. (2007). "Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Tornado Fatalities in the United States: 1880–2005". Weather Forecast. 22 (6): 1214–28. Bibcode:2007WtFor..22.1214A. doi:10.1175/2007WAF2007004.1.
  10. ↑ Kenny, Tim (2000). "Tornado Deaths by Census Region, 1680-1999". Stormtrack. 24 (1): 10.
  • Tornado Preparedness Tips for School Administrators (NOAA/SPC)
  • The Ten Worst Tornado Related Disasters in Schools (Tornado Project)
  • Troutman, Timothy W.; H. M. Allen; J. M. Coyne; D. Nadler (2008-01-20). "Updated Tornado Safety Preparedness for Schools". 17th Symposium on Education. New Orleans, LA: American Meteorological Society.
  • Harris, Harold W.; Mehta, Kishor C.; McDonald, James R. (1993). "Design for Occupant Protection in Schools". In Church, Christopher C.; Burgess, D. W.; Doswell III, C. A.; Davies-Jones, R. The Tornado: Its Structure, Dynamics, Prediction, and Hazards. Geophysical Monograph. 79. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union. pp. 545–53. Bibcode:1993GMS....79..545H. doi:10.1029/GM079p0545. ISBN 978-0875900384.
  • SPC Outlooks and the Traditional School Year (Patrick Marsh, SPC)
  • U.S. Tornado Deaths by Physical Location (NOAA/SPC)
  • NWS Storm Ready and Weather-Ready Nation programs
  • NWS's Owlie Skywarn
  • NWS Weather Preparedness Events Calendar (by state)
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