Xenia, Ohio 1974 Super Outbreak

major structural damage xenia high school

the tornado struck city of xenia, ohio stands deadliest individual tornado of 1974 super outbreak, killing 32 people , destroying significant portion of town. tornado formed near bellbrook, ohio, southwest of xenia, @ 4:30 pm edt. began moderate-sized tornado, intensified while moving northeast @ 50 mph (80 km/h). tornado exhibited multiple-vortex structure , became large approached town. gil whitney, weather specialist whio-tv in dayton, alerted viewers in montgomery , greene counties (where xenia located) possible tornado, broadcasting radar image of supercell pronounced hook echo on rear flank of storm several minutes before struck. storm visible on radar because of raindrops wrapping around circulation. massive tornado slammed western part of xenia, flattening windsor park , arrowhead subdivisions @ f5 intensity, , sweeping away entire rows of brick homes little debris left behind in areas. extensive wind-rowing of debris occurred in nearby fields.

when storm reached central xenia @ 4:40 pm, apartment buildings, homes, businesses, churches, , schools including xenia high school destroyed. students in school, practicing play, took cover in main hallway seconds before tornado dropped school bus onto stage had been practicing , extensively damaged school building. several railroad cars lifted , blown on tornado passed on moving penn central freight train in center of town. toppled headstones in cherry grove cemetery, moved through length of downtown business district, passing west of courthouse (which sustained exterior damage). numerous businesses in downtown xenia heavily damaged or destroyed, , several people killed @ a&w root beer stand building flattened. past downtown, tornado continued pinecrest garden district, extensively affected.

the xenia tornado recorded on film 1 resident, , sound recorded on tape mr. brokeshoulder inside apartment complex. before tornado hit building, resident left tape recorder on, , found after storm. @ same time few blocks away, 16-year-old xenia resident bruce boyd captured 3 minutes , 21 seconds of footage super-8 8mm movie camera, pre-1973 model without sound recording capability. footage later paired nearby tape recording. boyd s film shows multiple vortices within larger circulation storm swept through xenia. upon exiting xenia, tornado passed through wilberforce, heavily damaging several campus , residential buildings of wilberforce university. central state university sustained considerable damage, , water tower there toppled. afterwards, tornado weakened before dissipating in clark county near south vienna, traveling little on 30 miles (48 km). maximum width half-mile (0.8 km) in xenia. same parent storm later spawned weaker tornado northeast of columbus in franklin county.

thirty-two people lost lives in twister, , 1,150 injured in xenia. in addition direct fatalities, 2 ohio air national guardsmen deployed disaster assistance killed on april 17 when fire swept through temporary barracks in furniture store. memorial in downtown xenia lists 34 deaths, in honor of 2 guardsmen. 1,400 buildings (roughly half of town) heavily damaged or destroyed. damage estimated @ us$100 million ($471.7 million in 2013 dollars). there no warning noaa weather wire service storm.

f5 damage homes in arrowhead/windsor park area of xenia

president richard nixon made unannounced visit xenia few days later. first (and only) city affected 1974 super outbreak visit. upon inspecting damage, said: on disasters, saw earthquake in anchorage in 1964; saw hurricanes... hurricane camille in 1969 down in mississippi, , saw hurricane agnes in wilkes-barre, pennsylvania. , hard tell difference among them all, in terms of destruction, total devastation, worst have seen. president nixon declared xenia disaster area. although federal disaster relief act introduced in 1973, still had not passed congress. 1974 super outbreak disaster catalyst accelerated passage of act through congress in 1974, according nixon. took several months city recover tornado, of red cross , ohio national guard assisting recovery efforts. of town re-built afterward. in recognition of coverage of tornado under difficult circumstances, staff of xenia daily gazette won pulitzer prize spot news reporting in 1975. xenia tornado 1 of 2 rated f5 affected ohio during outbreak, other striking cincinnati area (see cincinnati/sayler park area tornado, below). xenia later struck 2 other tornadoes—both smaller 1 in april 1989 , larger 1 in september 2000, f4 twister killed 1 , injured 100 in area parallel , north of 1974 path. before 1974 storm, city had no tornado sirens. after f5 tornado hit on april 3, 1974, ten sirens installed across area.

dr. ted fujita , team of colleagues undertook 10-month study of 1974 super outbreak. along discovering tornadoes not known before, such downburst , microburst, , assessing damage surrounding structures, xenia tornado determined worst of 148 storms.