Volume 15 , Issue 12

24 March 1913 - Tornado Sweeps Omaha

It was one hundred years ago that The Seattle Star, dated Monday, 24 March 1913, out of Seattle, Washington, reported "Tornado Sweeps Omaha; Reports Indicate 200 Killed." Other towns in the storm zone were wiped out.

Omaha, March 24, 1913 -- Two hundred persons were some undoubtedly fatally, and 2,000 were homeless as the result of the worst cyclone in the history of Nebraska.

The tornado swept through a strip five miles long in the northern part of the city at 6 O'clock, the morning of 23 March 1913, carrying death and destruction in its path.

The tornado entered the city the city from the southwest. It swept past the county hospital and then traveled in a northeasterly direction, sweeping everything before it. It then changed its course again, traveling east to the Missouri river, where it disappeared into the Iowa bluffs.

Building were picked up and twisted, and then hurled with terrific force against smaller structures. The wind treated rich and poor alike, razing buildings in the most aristocratic section of the city as well as in the tenement districts. Some of the most costly homes in the city were demolished. The tornado was followed by a torrential rain. A score of fires started simultaneously, and 25 homes were destroyed by flames.
To make matters worse, the electric plant failed when its wires went down,a nd the city was in darkness for hours.

Lantern wet brought into play and the search for victims started. The storm was first observed just before 6 p.m, coming from the southwest with the speed of an express train. Its roar could be heard long before it struck. Ahead of the storm was a huge, fan-shaped cloud. It grew darker and gradually narrowed to a funnel shape, dipping earthward, and wherever it struck ti killed, maimed and razed.

List of Known Dead In Omaha

Mabel McBride, Nels Larsen, Walter Peterson, Sam Denguier, T. B. Norris, Henry Cooper, lineman; Chauffeur for This. Flynn, Mrs. F. E. Fitzgerald, Mrs. Bigelow and her sister; Mrs. Henryetta Gried, Clarence Cady, 14; Jean B. Brooks, real estate dealer; Jessie Jepson, 10; Fred Henz, Mrs. A. Hinzman, Mrs. G. G. Goodnaught, John Doyle, A. Hanson, Mrs. J. P. Hogg, Mrs. E. A. Sawyer, Jason L. Garrison, Geo. Giveot, John Greener, two infant children, Morris Christianson, Mrs. Frank Davis, Mrs. Sullivan, A. J. Peck, Archer, Mrs. Ida Newman, Miss Frieda Hulting, Sam Riley, Thelma, baby at Child Saving Institute; Cynthia, baby blown out of Child Saving Institute window; Mrs. R. R. VanDevan, geo. Duncan, advertising solicitor; Clifford Daniels, wife and two small daughters; Helen Downs, Mrs. B. Davis, C. F. Copley, J. B. Nichols, Wm. Fisher, Bert H. Fields, A. B. Stanley, Andrew Hendricksen, Henry B. Leavolt, Miss Haas.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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