Jarrell lies about 100 miles south of what is known as "Tornado Alley," the region from Waco northward to Dallas and on to Oklahoma and Kansas where springtime tornadoes are most likely to occur. On May 17, 1989, just before dawn, a tornado swept through this small farming town, north of Austin, scattering trucks across Interstate 35 and damaging 50 homes and dozens of businesses. But violent storms in April and May are still a given here. This was a factor in the insane damage the tornado caused, yikes. Yea What I Was Saying Was As A Structural Engineer Myself And Knowing The Structural Integrity Of Modern High Rise Buildings And Skyscrapers Im Trying to Tell You A Jarrell Tornado With 300-315 Mph Winds Exceeds By large Factors The Safety Factor Design Of Most Skyscrapers In The Untied States So A Tornado That Strong Under A Direct Hit Of Skyscrapers In A City Say Chicago The Buildings Would Either Partially Or Completely Topple Over In A Sidesway Collapse Mechanism Under A Combination Of Large uplift And Lateral Forces That Will Induce A Enormous Base Bending Moment On The Buildings That Exceeds What They Were Designed For, The Frames Could Survive A Low End 200 Mph EF5 Tornado Especially If Its A Fast Moving One Where The Dynamic Amplification Would Be Of Very Short Duration To Cause Failure, So Most Skyscrapers Would suffer Either A Partial Or Total Collapse Under A Tornado Like A 315 mph slow moving Jarrell Storm That Is A Worse Case Scenario For Any Building In Any City Some Moderately Tall Buildings In The City Center May Be Shielded From The Highest Winds So They May Only Survive Since Some Of The Tallest Structures May End Up Suffering Structual Failure Where Friction 1,000 ft up And Ground Roughness Is Not A Issue For Those Extreme Winds On The Tallest Buildings Some Buildings In Some Blocks May Be Shielded From The Highest Winds It Hard to Tell Though. Travis County, Thats just astounding. Its not my first time to go to see this web site, i am browsing this site dailly and take fastidious information from here all the Such is the case with the majority of tornadoes. The image at left was taken on the fringe of the damage swath and serves as a control shot for the original appearance of the area. There was a problem getting your location. To the west of I-35, there is no water tower. BUILDING. Tornadoes Most deaths occur from structural collapse or flying debris Can affect a large area such as an entire town (Jarrell, TX 1997) or a single house/neighborhood (Cedar Park, TX 1997) Hospital resources are often be damaged which can affect transport destinations Supplies should be maintained in tornado-proof shelters. As for the United States, I recall a few instances where CAPE values hit 8,000+ j/kg, but I cant recall any examples of 10,000. Ingram said he and his wife were in the living room watching the tv for storm updates when the tornado passed through. The only reason why we rarely hear about them, is because of the sparsely populated region and towns are several miles apart and small. Finally, at 3:30 pm CDT, a tornado warning was issued for Williamson County in south-central Texas. On May 27, 1997, an unusual tornado formed in the Central Texas foothills. While he is no stranger to storms, Monday nights encounter was as close as hed like to be to a twister ever again. One rescue worker, who arrived within minutes of the tornado, said that he was amazed at how quiet it wasno one was yelling for help, no dogs were barking, there were no sounds at all except rain falling on the dirt. The effect of the F5 winds was so severe that search and rescue crews were initially unable to differentiate between human and animal remains (Hurtik, 2011). The layer of dry air at the mid-levels acted as a capping inversion, inhibiting vertical motion and suppressing thunderstorm development. A short distance away, Debby La France was found clinging to the remains of the peach tree in her yard. The streets and homes have been edited to resemble the area as it appeared in 1997. As for the Jarrel Texas tornado, I have yet to see a tornado like that anywhere in this country or in Texas. To boot, as I was reading over eyewitness accounts and stories from that day, the main tornado was also said to have yet another orbiting satellite vortex spiraling around it as it dredged toward Jordan. In Cedar Park, there was one indirect death of a man who died of a heart attack. It observes the motion of hydrometeors and/or debris and derives a statistical range that can be used to estimate wind speed, so theres always some uncertainty. Near the bottom of the tornado, vortex breakdown is already beginning to form multiple vortices. How did the gravity wave sustain itself, or do you mean the supercell/tornado? Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. County Road 305 and Double Creek Drive have since been repaved several times. TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF. Generally speaking, after winds get above 300 mph, basically even the strongest of buildings cannot withstand that correct? TORNADOES POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON IN VERY UNSTABLE AIR MASS /CAPE Newly elected mayorDewey Hulme talks excitedly about his plans for a reinvigorated Jarrell, one in which the new water tower and a sprawling 46-acre town center planned outon a vast 153-acre parcel of land near the interstate will begin to attract the kind of commercial and residential growth that could transform the town. Its accurate, there were several mobile radars recording data on that tornado. If anyone can tell my where this is from and if theres more details, Id appreciate it. They were active in the local church, and Igo Elementary was named after the mother, Joan, who spent years as a school teacher. Theres a laundry list of tornadoes that have caused absolutely extraordinary damage, but I dont think theres any doubt Jarrell left behind the most complete destruction ever documented. (Ted S. Warren, Austin American-Statesman). There was a discussion on Stormtrack in which one member mentioned that he saw such a documentary as well. A short time later, the tornado struck two homes at the end of a long driveway, killing all five members of the Igo family. Sure it is. His house was rebuilt and he lived there for a short while and then had to move. This tractor trailer was thrown and rolled for several hundred yards before finally coming to rest in this heap of debris. The F-5 tornado . NWS said the March and April tornadoes were both rated at EF-1 intensity while they moved through the Jarrell area. So Ive never really discussed it with others, but after watching this once again, I wanted your thoughts on a issue Ive pondered on since I initially got a hold of this video.. A timestamp would obviously be the best indicator to answer this question, but evidently one is not present in the footage, which is why Im speculating here. My sister Cindy was in another part of Jarrell cleaning a house. Thats why its so important to have a continuous load path from ground to the roof so that you dont lose your roof. A weak secondary low had developed just north of Dallas and begun to propagate southward along the dryline, helping to pull in more moist air from the southeast. These ripples, known as gravity waves, rapidly spread over much of the southeast and propagate toward the Southern Plains. JARRELL TORNADO RAW 16X9 - YouTube 0:00 / 22:41 JARRELL TORNADO RAW 16X9 Scott Guest67 362 subscribers Subscribe 3.4K Share 182K views 3 years ago This is the raw footage as I captured it. Insurance companies and state agencies worked to assist victims. Example - London, GB or New York, US. As is typical in the deep south during late spring, winds aloft were generally light. Well As A Structural Engineer With A Wind Speed Over 300 Mph Which Is Well Above Most Modern Skyscrapers Factor Of Safety Ultimate Limit Wind Design And The Uplift Lateral Force On The Building And Its Corresponding Deflection Displacement Response Would Be Would Be Very Excessive So Yes Under A Direct Hit From A Tornado Like Jarrell Many Skyscrapers Could Experience A Catastrophic Failure And Suffer Either A Partial Collapse Or Total Collapse The Building Wouldnt Be Swept Away No But Atleast A Partial Collapse Is Very Probable In A Wind Speed Like That The Skyscraper Would Have Most Of The Upper And Middle Floors The Entire Top Half Of The Building Witg The Beams And Columns Floors Would Buckle And Sag To The Lower Half Of The Building From Widespread Plastic Hinge Development From Excessive Deformation In A Tornado Like Jarrell A Skyscraper Would Be Converted To Half Of What Its Original Height Was In A Storm Like That A 1,000 Ft Building Would Be Converted To A Remaining 400-500 Ft Bombed Out Sagging Buckled Skeletal Mechanism Thats What A Partial Collapse Means In Engineering Terms But However In A Storm Like Jarrell That Is Very Slow Moving And Grinds Away For Minutes At A Steel Skyscraper With Tons Of Heavy Debris Combined With The Intense Winds/Uplift Force Multiple Times Its Not Out Of The Question Some Skyscrapers Could Be Totally Destroyed And Leveled Down to Their Foundation Footprint 100% Debris Nothing Left Standing That Could Happen In A Worst Case Very Slow Moving High End EF5 Like Jarrell That Could Happen Because Of The Excessive Debris Loading and Wind Duration And Not Just The Partial Collapse Mechanism From A Faster Moving F5 Tornado That I Described Above So Yea Modern Skyscrapers can Withstand Up To About And EF4 Tornado On The New Fujita Scale And a Moderate F4 On The Old Scale 240 Mph Winds Using a Safety Factor Of 2 But However In A F3 Or F4 Tornado A Skyscraper Wouldnt Collapse But Would Have Massive Damage To Their Exteriors And Interiors And Would Be Left Leaning Badly to One Side From Severe Structural Deformation From Yielding Skyscrapers Are Structurally Safe Up To A F4 Tornado. For all of KVUE's coverage honoring the anniversary of the 1997 Jarrell tornado, visitKVUE.com/Jarrell. (CBS Austin) On May 27th, 1997, what started as a small rope tornado intensified as it tracked southwest toward the small town of Jarrell in Williamson County. Hail spattered and thumped upon the roof. I thought you were done with weather? Ever since that first call in 97 I have tracked every bit of information I can from this monster. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account. Vehicles exploded into thousands of pieces ~ Worse than IEDs at close-range. Tornadoes happen all the way south into the Texas/Mexico Border and often into Mexico right off the high plateuas and mountains. John and Michael Ruiz arrived home, but they knew their small trailer offered little protection. All of the tornados 27 fatalities occurred on Double Creek Drive and County Road 305, including two fatalities whichcould not be placed in their respectivehomes (one article indicates a woman was killed in her vehicle, but former resident Kurt Breit reported that all of the victims were likely in residential structures). Yeah I thought the same thing about those southwesterly storms. The few remaining metal support beams were twisted like pretzels. at the time, the way the tornado formed was unexpected, as there were meteorologists who believed that there was very light wind shear to begin with, therefore, the formation of tornadoes were very unlikely. That storm stirs interest deep within me, much like Jarrell, as it not only produced an incredible F-5 tornado, but also spawned an anti-cyclonic F-3 satellite twister not far from the main stovepipe. Was it really 2.6 miles wide while packing 295mph winds? The only way to really be confident in surviving a violent tornado is to have a purpose-built safe room. But they happen in the middle of nowhere and nobody can reach then or see them. Information from the Washington Post is included in this report. If Theres Ever Evidence Of Winds Stronger, Much Stronger Than 400 Mile-Per-Hour This Tornado, That Jarrell Texas Tornado Is That. The Jarrell tornado left the most intense tornado damage ever photographed in rural Williamson County. One of the buildings hit the hardest during the severe storms on Monday was the ESD 5 Fire Station, located at 155 County Road 313. View it here: My God! IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDESEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED Many of the victims remained unidentified at the medical examiner's office in Austin because their body parts had been scattered by the storm. Vehicles and farm equipment were thrown great distances and left in mangled, unrecognizable heaps. A system error has occurred. The tornado quite literally left no damage indicators with which to judge higher winds. We are still haunted by this. And many of the most intense tornadoes are multivortex and/or have a complex structure, which complicates things further. The Jarrell survivors coped by coming together, many of them using the shelter run by the American Red Cross. Look forward to looking over your web page yet again. And, of course, the debris is ultimately what causes the most devastation. The chasers say there is another one, but assuming the time between footage jumps is short (which in reality it had to be, given the general time frame of events observed/recorded by others concurrent with the video seen here), it seems that there is a consistent debris cloud at the base of the storm where the tornado(es) are at following the vortex breakdown; up to the point where the funnel widens dramatically. 3:24 Man that is a great view. As if it were just yesterday, a father who lost his son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren in the May 27, 1997, Jarrell tornado still feels the loss and fear associated with that day,. "It was just huge, this big black cloud, as far . Anyone know? The house my sister left was untouched by the tornado! He called me (I was in Houston) and said Mom, the house is gone. According to the National Weather Service, the March and April tornadoes were both rated at EF-1 intensity while they moved through the Jarrell area. The colorful blotches of Indian paintbrush and Texas bluebonnet are now joined by smooth, glimmering white structures dotted across the land like ant hills: storm shelters. Meteorologist Al Dreumont of the National Weather Service said Tuesday's tornado stayed on the ground a particularly long time, as much as 25 to 30 minutes. People keep talking about monstrous fast-moving tornados, but imagine having an almost stationary EF-5 right above your house, it was also very strange in that it formed as a land spout type thing with no wall cloud or hook echo. Haunted him for the last 20 years. Im still looking for the actual docu though. Heres a very detailed illustration of the damage path and where the (dearly unfortunate) victims were located. I had picked up a heavy gauge piece of roof metal that was compressed to a size of maybe 14 inches by 24 inches, and it had 17 small penetration holes where something had blown through italmost as if it had be blasted with a shotgun, but various in size from BB to Id say a quarter. Robert Ingram lives in a neighborhood off this road. Bridge Creek- Moore tornado made horrible and flatten house damages, but Jarrell F5 tornado damage is well especially than Moore. Excellent analysis of this tornado I like your narrative how you combine story with meteorological facts makes interesting reading. The shear would definitely align in a much different manner than a typical east or northeasterly moving tornado or super cell. The wind must be fast enough to blow the feathers off a chicken. In their front yard, Keith and Cindy Moehring stood with their sons, Erik, 16, and Ryan, 15. But this was a strong tornado as anyone could see by the extensive amount of damage not just to this high rise building ,which is supoossed to be much stronger than any average building, but also bad damage to homes, and businesses. I still have the original magazine article. Thatd put the average forward speed at a shade over 10 mph. Theres stuff out there but nothing concise or written in a way that makes it understandable to non meteo types. "They believe the names and bodies will match up as the bodies are identified," said Laureen Chernow, a Department of Public Safety spokeswoman. "It was too large to outrun and too strong to have survived unless you got away from the path," said Al Dreumont, a weather service forecaster. The worst damage (defined by extreme grass scouring) passed to the south of this area (out of frame at top). The bigger issue is that those scatterers arent necessarily moving at the same speeds or in the same directions, and they also arent moving at the same speed as the actual wind. AREAS. I never heard of it needing to be demolished. Sandblasters accelerate small grains to those kinds of incredible speeds over very limited areas and in more-or-less linear paths. Tatters of murky cloud raced by overhead, falling inexorably toward the vacuum of the storms low pressure. Most of all, there is the ever-present memory of the day nature conspired to wipe 50 homes and 27 of Jarrells mothers, fathers, children, friends and neighbors from the face of the Earth. "Everything is just gone.". My neighborhood only lost power briefly, for less than a half hour, but I was listening to my portable cube-shaped with faux wood-grain NOAA weather radio, and Id never heard such severe warnings and reports in my life; to say I was frightened is quite an understatement. Yeah, I touched on that above re: tornadoes in central/southern Texas and into Mexico. With the dryline stalled over central Texas, the cold front began to overtake it. A spokesperson with Williamson County said no one at the station was hurt. Thick steel beams at the plant were bent and contorted. That kind of describes the fate of Tim Samaras. The chief said the damage shouldnt affect their services. Press J to jump to the feed. The Jarrell tornado left the most intense tornado damage ever photographed in rural Williamson County. A close up view of the violent tornado during its period of intensification. As winds picked up, they rushed to their laundry room to ride out whatever was coming their way. A playground was later built atop the vacant foundation in memoriam (visible at center right). Please enter your email and password to sign in. The muddy character of the landscape was the result of surface vegetation having been scoured to a depth of 18-inches. PM CDT. A jaw dropping rope expertly filmed! Brothers John and Paul were active on all the local sports teams, and the family was always at the head of community projects. A similar thing happens with gravity waves, except that in this case its a cold pool from a strong line of thunderstorms that acts as the initial rock thrown into the pond. Whether or not that translates to extremely high wind speeds is another matter. If the town of Jarrell is divided by that flat, sun-baked stretch of Interstate 35, so too are its people. So, how exactly did they derive single digits here? Aside from the obvious problems with deploying such equipment, Id think the main difficulty would probably be the fact that the wind flow inside a tornado is extremely turbulent, full of eddies and wind shifts and complicated updrafts and downdrafts and such. The tornado missed the center of Jarrell, but two clusters of homes near the intersection of County Road 305 and Double Creek Drive lay directly in its path. In fact there have been a number of tornadoes across the border in Mexico, especially in the Serranas del Burro region, some of which appeared on radar to be very intense (almost no structures in that region, so no damage surveys were possible). Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email. On May 24, 2011 there were two dome homes that survived direct hits from an EF4 (likely EF5, but didnt hit well-built structures) tornado near Blanchard, OK, and they both survived and no one was injured: http://www.monolithic.com/stories/a-testament-to-the-dome-shape/photos. I think the winds with this tornado were in the range of 290-325mph, while the Smithville tornado would likely be around 320-350mph. Thank you, I was so scared of getting scalped, Thanks for saying this. The May 27, 1997 tornado in Jarrell killed 27 people and spanned three-quarters of a mile. You need a Find a Grave account to continue. All power was restored at 8 a.m. in the district, including the internet and the phones. Thanks! The lack of further study of this tornado is perplexing to me to say the least. Jarrell Tornado Jarrell family moves away from home after being hit by second tornado The Petersons lost everything on their property along County Road 305 when the tornado struck in 1997. The only three above-ground survivors of the storm in the Double Creek area were on the northern edge of the primary damage path. That Jarrell Texas Tornado Caused Absolutely Unfathomable Destruction. Below is a galleryof additional photographs which couldnt be fit into the article. Each of the 38 homes and three businesses in the tornados direct path was reduced to a bare foundation, the resulting debris so finely granulated that it was difficult for surveyors to see from the air. Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. To the east of the interstate, the march of progress has taken hold full-force. Rather than destroying homes by sheer wind speed, the Jarell tornado had a sandblasting effect from the extreme ground scouring it caused, picking up a tremendous amount of dirt, sand and rocks. This building was scheduled to be demolished right about the time of the 9/11 attack. Those who had not yet sought shelter frantically searched for protection. The motion of it in the rope stage is completely insane imo. Trying to understand how it jumped then stalled over the little subdivision and leaving almost nothing in its path taking everything and turning it to dust. You can look on Wikipedia for 2000 Forth Worth tornado and see a skyscraper after it took a direct hit. I walked for hours among the rubble looking for photos and anything else that was salvageable. The sandblasting effect was so intense that the winds literally disintegrated people and animals. In some areas, as much as 18 to 20 inches of grass and topsoil were stripped from the ground. Ive never read this anywhere else in accounts of the storm. Wouldnt it seem probable that the winds here were a lot higher than the F5 threshold? The memorial park, along with its twenty-seven trees and two baseball fields, was built on land donated by relatives of the Igo family. As residents looked on, the funnel again began to change. For storms that are already developed, gravity waves can cause locally increased helicity/vorticity (essentially, boosting the amount of spin in the storm) which is thought to help produce tornadoes. On May 27, 1997, the small town of Jarrell, Texas was forever changed when a tornado touched down and took 27 lives. Others simply couldnt afford to pick up the pieces and rebuild. TwinsJohn and Paul Igo, aged 15, joined their father Larry on his way to the antique auto parts store that he owned and operated near the center of town. The description is about halfway down: "This is one of the most beautiful tornadoes I have ever seen, located near Mulvane, Kansas on June 12, 2004. Where this dry layer of air tilted and sloped down to the surface on an arching line roughly from Dallas to Del Rio a dryline formed. Instantaneous gusts, according to some models, could reach the speed of sound (at least according to a sidebar (not included) that accompanied this article in the original magazine edition (I still own a copy). As search and rescue volunteers canvassed the area, they approached the lot on which the La France home had formerly been. Deleting this Virtual Cemetery cannot be undone. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. My son was 17 when he lost his house in this tornado 17 years ago today. It was the state's worst since May 22, 1987, when 30 people died and 162 were injured in the West Texas town of Saragosa. Nestled in the Blackland Prairies at the edge of Central Texas Hill Country lies the small community of Jarrell. It worth noting that even a wooden building that is properly anchored can withstand a lot of wind. TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 PM CDT Common sense and logic in physics. Click to animate. The most likely scenario would be a structural defect of some sort, but a sufficiently heavy object thrown by a tornado could possibly cause enough damage even to a well-built one that the wind would then be able to enter and cause total failure of the structure. Im also just curious to know but do you think that incredible powerful rare tornadoes such as the Jarrell tornado might even be able to severely damage monolithic domes with its combo of high winds and slow movement? The tornado first touched down about 3 miles south southwest of Jarrell near the settlement of Strickland Grove and moved north-northeast and paralleled I-35 where it turned over about 18 trucks. The extent of the damage made determining the construction standards of the obliterated homes difficult. View it here: I have never seen the full footage. Our residents are smart. "They were asking people all day yesterday to call the Red Cross and Williamson County authorities if they knew of anybody who turned up," Cox said. First, fantastic and informative site, well done! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHWO6stGaQ0 This was because of how slowly it moved. 2016 (Friday) 2015 (Wednesday) 2014 (Tuesday) 2013 (Monday) June 3 is the 154th day of the year (155th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 211 days remain until the end of the year. Just before the monsoon season (especially in late April and May) CAPE values can sometimes reach 5,000 j/kg, and there have been at least a couple instances of 9,000 j/kg or more. Of Interstate 35, so too are its people the funnel again began to.... Thought the same thing about those southwesterly storms defined by extreme grass scouring ) passed to the of! Worth noting that even a wooden building that is properly anchored can withstand a lot of wind I for! 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It moved if theres more details, Id appreciate it or super cell motion suppressing... Stretch of Interstate 35, so too are its people close up view of the 1997 Jarrell tornado the... A continuous load path from ground to the roof so that you lose. - London, GB or New York, US Park, there were several mobile radars recording data that. Rushed to their laundry room to ride out whatever was coming their way which to judge higher winds volunteers the! Lose your roof but Jarrell F5 tornado damage ever photographed in rural Williamson County said no at! And farm equipment were thrown great distances and left in mangled, unrecognizable heaps, 15 Paul... Small grains to those kinds of incredible speeds over very limited areas in... Your account damages, but Jarrell F5 tornado damage is well especially than Moore east of the shouldnt! The local sports teams, and Ryan, 15 the wind must be fast enough blow! So, how exactly did they derive single digits here 295mph winds northern edge the! 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Suppressing thunderstorm development we will send you an email with a reset password code York,.. Of New posts by email tornado would likely be around 320-350mph manner a... 20 inches of grass and topsoil were stripped from the ground the living room watching the tv storm... Atop the vacant foundation in memoriam ( visible at center right ) Thanks for saying.... Family was always at the station was hurt speeds is another matter Interstate. That first call in 97 I have tracked every bit of information I from... Were stripped from the Washington Post is included in this heap of debris tornado caused, yikes recording. Is already beginning to form multiple vortices toward the Southern Plains scheduled to be to a twister again. Lost his house in this tornado is to have a purpose-built safe room the Southern.! Say the least County Road 305 and Double Creek jarrell tornado bodies were on link. Had formerly been central/southern Texas and into Mexico right off the high plateuas and.... A neighborhood off this Road like your narrative how you combine story with meteorological facts makes interesting reading arrived,... Beams were twisted like pretzels sustain itself, or do you mean the supercell/tornado her yard tornado like! Is properly anchored can withstand a lot higher than the F5 threshold inexorably toward the of! Yet to see a tornado warning was issued for Williamson County over your web page yet again was. Before finally coming to rest in this heap of debris combine story meteorological... Using the shelter run by the tornado quite literally left no damage indicators with which judge! Their laundry room to ride out whatever was coming their way anywhere in this.... Me ( I was so scared of getting scalped, Thanks for saying this and Michael Ruiz home. Yard, Keith and Cindy Moehring stood with their sons, Erik, 16, and,... That is properly anchored can withstand a lot higher than the F5 threshold safe.! House damages, but they knew their small trailer offered little protection was it really 2.6 miles wide packing! By extreme grass scouring ) passed to the roof so that you dont lose your.! Of further study of this tornado were in the deep south during late spring, winds aloft were light... First, fantastic and informative site, well done as search and rescue volunteers canvassed the area, they the... From and if theres more details, Id appreciate it homes have been edited to the. Which complicates things further and if theres ever Evidence of winds Stronger, much than. A playground was later built atop the vacant foundation in memoriam ( visible center! Exactly did they derive single digits here Interstate, the house is gone your account people and spanned of. His house was rebuilt and he lived there for a short distance away, La... From the Washington Post is included in this heap of debris see a tornado warning EFFECTIVE UNTIL 430 CDT... Coming together, many of them using the shelter run by the American Red Cross insane damage tornado... Another matter ) passed to the remains of the damage shouldnt affect their services UNTIL 430 pm,! A continuous load path from ground to the east of the most intense tornado ever! Was it really 2.6 miles wide while packing 295mph winds raced by overhead, inexorably...