Patti Jo Peterson
Managing editor
? It must have seemed like Hell broke loose when three tornados hit southeast Nebraska and traveled into Iowa March 23, 1913, leaving 168 dead, 350 injured and 2,500 people homeless.
? And to top it all, the storm chose Easter Sunday to destroy everything in its four-mile wide path.
? Dubbed the Omaha Tornado, the Yutan Tornado and the Berlin Tornado, this whirling triad that hit consecutively across Nebraska was the worst that ever hit the state.
? Even though nearly 100 years has passed since they left their mark, it still ranks the 13th most destructive tornado outbreak in the United States.
?? ?One-hundred and sixty-eight people were killed in one day alone. Nothing comes close to that in Nebraska,? said Brian Smith, National Weather Service meteorologist and warning coordinator. Smith said people remember the May 6, 1975, Omaha tornado outbreak that claimed three lives and the Grand Island outbreak June 3, 1980, that left five dead, but neither were as destructive to life as their 1913 predecessor.
? Covering the 1913 storm in detail was the now defunct newspaper, The Omaha Bee, a competitor of the Omaha World Herald. Following the storm, the Bee published a ?Nut-Shell Story of the Deadline Tornado.?
? ?To the eye it had the distinctive funnel-shaped twisting character of the typical tornado, sweeping along at a furious rate of speed,? the Bee reads. ?To the ear it conveyed the sound of a crashing din and a mighty rush of water.?
? The storm started brewing late afternoon and struck Cass and Saunders counties first. Rain started falling at 5 p.m., southwest of Omaha. Twenty minutes later the first tornado touched down in Craig. Another tornado formed at 5:30 p.m. hitting Ithaca before it made its 70-mile trip through the state.
? ?Thirty-eight people were killed in the towns of Yutan, Mead, Berlin (now Otoe), Rock Bluffs, DeSoto, Nehawka and Craig,? The Bee report states.
? In 35 minutes the storm system covered 40 miles just in Nebraska, the Omaha Bee reported.
? Former Journal-Star editor Bill Eddy wrote a column about the 1913 tornado in 2009. In it, he noted that Berlin had two churches full of worshippers on that fateful Easter morning.
? In the morning Berlin had a school, train depot, hotel, blacksmith shop, bank and several other stores and shops.
? The Berlin tornado formed four miles south of Douglas in southwest Otoe County, and leveled farm after farm passing Syracuse before it hit Berlin, and then killed 12 people and caused $250,000 worth of damage, according to the National Weather Service.
? ?The Berlin storm seems not to have left the ground, the path of destruction being continuous, as shown by its action on the ground even when buildings or trees were absent,? states Eddy in his column, quoting G.A. Loveland of the U.S. Weather Bureau.
? Sixty-nine-year-old Isabelle Shrader of Rock Bluff precinct in Cass County died as a result of the tornado. ?She, with her husband (George), son Homer and two granddaughters saw the tornado only a few moments before it struck their home, and all started to seek the shelter of a nearby thicket, but in making their flight Mrs. Shrader became separated from the others,? her obituary states.
? Just two years before, the Shraders celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with many friends and relatives at their home, which was leveled like a house of matchsticks when the storm hit it.
? Although he escaped death, A.B. Buckingham, a farmer living south of Greenwood, was injured when the tornado struck his home. He and his family lived through the event by going into their ?cyclone cellar.?
? Two days later, a local report states, he was brought into Greenwood with serious injuries.
? The third tornado, considered the worst, struck Omaha at about 5:45 Sunday evening. Varying between ? mile and ? mile wide and two to six blocks and four and one-half miles long, it cut from the southwest and crossed diagonally across the city.
? ?It killed 103 people,? Smith said.
? The Bee published photographs of the aftermath, including the devastation to the Plymouth Congregational Church, Trinity M.E. Church, parks and homes of the rich and poor alike.
? With Severe Weather Awareness Week starting Monday, March 25, Smith noted there is always the possibility that tornadoes will become a threat, especially in April and May.
? ?You could get into a similar pattern and have an outbreak of tornadoes, but nothing is ever exactly the same,? he said. ?Tornadoes come out of thunderstorms. It will feel muggy out. A storm system forms with a cold front and a warm front moves into the Plains States.?
? In such events, area residents would be notified much sooner of its approach than in 1913, Smith added.
? ?Back in 1913, there was no U.S. Weather Bureau. It was even discouraged to mention the world ?tornado,? for fear of causing a panic. There was no way to forecast one. There were no satellites, no observations and radar wasn?t even around,? Smith said.
? This year February and March have presented some large swings in temperatures. ?We?ve been basically on the cold side of things,? he said. ?We?re starting to get into the season of an active weather pattern.?
? In the event of a tornado watch or warning, Smith advises people listen to a weather radio, check out the National Weather Service website or watch television. ?We would have a warning ahead of time,? he said. ?Get a weather radio and listen to forecasts and conditions. It?s like having a smoke detector for severe weather.?
? Once a warning is issued, people should head to ?any place below ground,? such as a basement, cellar or lowest level of the house. ?You want to put as many walls between you and the tornado you can get,? Smith said.
? Smith was a consultant on the NET production of ?Devil Clouds: Tornadoes Strike Nebraska, the 1913 Easter Tornados,? to air March 22.
? *Editor?s note: A special thanks to Lyle Weatherby, who brought the 1913 tornado to The Journal?s attention by bringing newspaper clippings about the event bound in a former Osborn rushes and Brooms Catalog cover. The book was given to him by Martin Sporer of Murray and contains many of the Omaha Bee?s stories and photos.
Source: http://www.cass-news.com/articles/2013/03/25/news/local/doc514c8aac3c28b782287384.txt?orss=1
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