The World-Herald’s coverage of tornadoes through the years
Sometime in the summer of 1825, Fort Atkinson lost its sawmill to one of the most destructive forces of nature: a tornado.
Thus began the recorded history of twisters/cyclones/tornadoes in Nebraska.
Whatever you call the storms, they have brought death and damage to big cities and tiny hamlets.
Omaha in 1913 and 1975. Grand Island in 1980. Those are the granddaddies of them all.
Yet, none of them wiped out a town the way Meridian was in 1875. Sweetwater in 1890. Herman in 1899. Ralston and Berlin (now Otoe) in 1913. Primrose in 1965. Hallam in 2004. The communities of Wisner and Pilger in 2014.
“There was a roar like a thousand cars on the rails. The house, which was bolted down to the foundation lifted from the walls and settled back,” a woman told the Blair Pilot-Tribune about surviving the Herman tornado. “Our party crawled out of a small hole safe, but such a scene of devastation.
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“The house was windowless, warped and twisted, and the inside all covered with sandy mud. In the backyard was a carriage and a dead horse and the debris of other homes. We were happy to be alive for others were less fortunate.”
From searching ever-increasing sources of digitalized publications — many in the History Nebraska microfilm collection — comes the most comprehensive list of tornadoes reported to strike populated areas in the state.
Partly because they cover the most area, Omaha and Lincoln rank 1 and 2, with 35 and 20 respectively. Lincoln has avoided the most damaging ones. Omaha hasn’t.
Other large cities are in the top 10 — Grand Island (seven), North Platte (six), Beatrice, Hastings and Kearney (five apiece) and Bellevue and Fremont (four apiece). Hebron also has had four tornadoes.
The last one to strike that south-central community, in 1953, wiped out the business district and half the homes in Hebron.
Some villages absorbed worse fates. A sampling:
The Santee Agency on the Missouri River near the present town of Santee saw its mission building and hospital among the buildings leveled on June 1, 1870.
Meridian, near Fairbury, was abandoned after its 1875 destruction. A consolidated school name restored its name.
Sweetwater, near Kearney, wiped out, its six buildings gone. Unlike Meridian, Sweetwater is still on the state road map and has city signs on Nebraska 2.
Herman, north of Blair, lost its downtown and 90% of its homes.
Nenzel, then home to 43 people in Cherry County, had all buildings damaged in 1962.
Wolbach, north of Grand Island, was 70% damaged in 1964.
Primrose, southwest of Albion, was 90% destroyed the next year.
Magnet, southeast of Yankton, South Dakota, took a direct hit on May 6, 1975 — the same day as the Omaha twister.
This is a frame grab taken from a video by storm chaser Dick McGowan of Norman, Oklahoma. In the video, a home in Pilger, Nebraska, can be seen being lifted into the air by a tornado on June 16, 2014.
Then nearly 30 years went by before a tornado smashed Hallam, 20 miles southwest of Lincoln, in May 2014.
The most recent town wrecker cut a wide swath through Pilger, east of Norfolk, on June 16, 2014.
Three-fourths of the structures in the town of 360 were destroyed from the storm, which stirred up parallel twisters. Two died, a 5-year-old girl fleeing a mobile home and a 74-year-old motorist from Clarkson, Nebraska, was killed while he was making business deliveries.
The deaths are the state’s most recent from tornadoes.
The three most deadly twisters were on the same day — March 23, 1913. They were part of five tornadoes that spun up that Easter afternoon in eastern Nebraska — according to a 1914 report in American Geographical Society compiled by two UNL professors — and all crossed the Missouri River into Iowa.
Omaha’s tornado killed 116 in the city (based on contemporary research). Nineteen people died on the north side of Yutan, in Saunders County. Twelve perished in Berlin (renamed Otoe), in Otoe County.
Most of Berlin was destroyed. So was Ralston, where there were seven deaths. Other fatalities were near Mead in Saunders County, DeSoto in Washington County and Rock Bluff and Nehawka in Cass County. The death toll, including an estimated 25 in Iowa, was 192.
All struck without warning.
The first official tornado warning was issued in 1948 at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. Before 1950, the U.S. Weather Bureau at times strongly discouraged at sometimes prohibited “tornado” to be used in forecasts because of a fear that even a mention could cause panic.
As technology, research and reporting improved, so did discerning the damage between tornadoes and straight-line winds. The Fujita scale of measuring tornado strength was introduced in 1971.
Before the modern era, which starts with 1950, it was up to local observers or newspapers to determine the nature of the winds.
Such as for a storm that struck the western city limits of Omaha on June 3, 1925. Millard V. Robins, the city’s Weather Bureau meteorologist for 46 years, initially didn’t consider it a tornado because winds at the downtown weather station never exceeded 20 miles an hour.
Only after Robins visited the damaged areas the following day did he upgrade his assessment from a “severe squall” to tornado. Interestingly, in 1975, the Omaha office of the National Weather Service did not include 1925 in its list of tornadoes hitting the city.
Great care was made in analyzing the pre-1950 storms. There may be a few either way, straight-line winds listed as tornadoes or tornadoes not included, since newspaper reporting was used in large measure.
Readers are invited to submit validation for any updates. Send to stu.pospisil@owh.com.
Next: A detailed look at the tornadoes that have struck Omaha and other populated areas in Douglas County.
Photos: 1913 Easter tornado roars through Omaha
A postcard shows 48th Street and Poppleton Avenue after the tornado.
Main Street Ralston after the tornado. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
From the book “Ribbon of Destruction, the 1913 Douglas County Tornado.”
Map showing the route of the tornado, from the book “Ribbon of Destruction, the 1913 Douglas County Tornado,” published by the Douglas County Historical Society.
S.J. Henderson seated on a box, looking over belongings and his insurance policy on April 24, 1913. Piles of debris and a broken desk are next to him. The paper in his hand reads: Standard Tornado Policy, The Insurance Company of North America.
A streetcar smashed at 24th and Lake Streets after the tornado.
The tornado cloud as it was seen in Ralston. From a book printed by the Omaha Daily News titled “Tornado.”
Damage to Sacred Heart Convent, now Duchesne Academy, after the tornado.
A view north across Bemis Park from 34th and Cuming Streets a day after the tragedy.
Easter Sunday ended tragically in the Omaha area in 1913. A powerful tornado swept through Ralston and Omaha that evening without warning and caused more than 100 deaths. Several thousand buildings were damaged or destroyed in the two towns, and Ralston was almost leveled. Damage was estimated at $8.7 million. This photo is looking north on 24th Street from Erskine Street.
Knights of Columbus workers rake for valuables in the ruins of a home at 42nd and Harney Streets, where a woman was killed.
Joslyn Castle after the tornado. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
Joslyn Castle, seen in 1914, the year after the tornado. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
The scene at 42nd and Harney Streets after the tornado.
The Highland Terrace apartments at 40th and Harney Streets after the tornado hit. The owner, a woman, had purchased the building only a few days before the storm hit.
37th and Cass Streets after the tornado. Fourteen houses within a block were destroyed. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
The Arthur Brandeis residence at 38th and Cass Streets after the tornado. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
The residence owned by D.C. Patterson at 38th Avenue near Davenport Street. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
Ruins of Trinity A.M.E. Church at 21st and Binney Streets. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
Looking north from 40th and Dodge Streets. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
A sign on the demolished building at right gives locations of relief stations. Hundreds were in need of food, clothing and shelter after the tornado.
The ruins of Omaha Furniture Manufacturing Co. at Ralston after the tornado. From the 1914 World-Herald book, “How Omaha Rebuilt the Tornado District in One Year.”
A relief station at 48th and Leavenworth Streets after the tornado.
A World-Herald illustration of the tornado’s path.
A crowd gathers to watch rescue operations at the Idlewild Pool Hall after the tornado.
An unidentified house toppled and shattered.
This home at 402 N. 38th St. was damaged in the 1913 Easter tornado.
The Howard Baldridge home after the tornado.
The scene at 23rd Street and Patrick Avenue after the tornado.
This postcard reads: “The ruins of the home of George Shrader five miles south east of Murray Nebraska where Mrs. Shrader was killed on Easter Sunday by the tornado. Mr. Shrader was a pioneer contractor for the Union Pacific and with the money made from contracting he purchased this 400 acre farm on which he has been living since the territorial days.”
A postcard with photo by Mrs. Blance Gabus of Brock, Nebraska, shows a barn blown into schoolhouse in Berlin, Nebraska.
A postcard with photo by Mrs. Blance Gabus of Brock, Nebraska, shows the scene at Berlin, Nebraska.
The scene at 42nd and Farnam Streets, on the south side of the street.
A view of the destroyed Joslyn Palm House from a castle turret after the 1913 tornado.
A view of the destroyed Joslyn Palm House after the 1913 tornado.
Joslyn Castle after the 1913 tornado.
View of 44th and Leavenworth Streets.
View of 24th and Lake Streets.
View near 38th and Davenport Streets.
This is a view of destruction at 34th Street and Lincoln Boulevard. The nearby Methodist Hospital sustained blown-out windows. Wind sheared off the north wing of the Academy of the Sacred Heart (Omaha Duchesne) at 36th and Burt Streets.
Looking north from the intersection of 77th and Burlington Streets in Ralston one year after the March 23, 1913, tornado. Ralston, along with other communities affected by the storm, began rebuilding almost immediately.
The west Leavenworth district after the tornado.
The scene in the Bemis Park district after the tornado.
Damage after the 1913 tornado.
The German Lutheran Church at 28th and Parker Streets.
The German Lutheran Church at 28th and Parker Streets.
The scene at 39th and Cass Streets.
The Duchesne Academy building — unroofed — after the tornado.
Three people stand outside their Miami Street home March 25, 1913, after the Easter tornado. They each hold some belongings, including a screwdriver, chair, picture frame and rug.
On March 24, 1913, a young boy and girl sit on top of a wagon loaded with a saddle, mattresses and bedding. The boy holds a dog. The children are identified as Lyn Hill, 4, left, and Alvin Hill, 8. They lived at 2611 N. 19th Ave. They are helping their aunt, Miss Minnie Swan, whose house was destroyed by the tornado. A second aunt was injured.
Photographers in front of Bostwick’s 1912 Packard and tornado wreckage on April 1, 1913. From left: lab man Bob Mullin, Homer O. Frohardt, unidentified guard and Louis Ray Bostwick. Near Academy of the Sacred Heart.
Damage at 31st and Seward Streets.
Damage at 2410 Lake St.
Howard Stove Works in Ralston.
A gardener in the destroyed Joslyn Palm House.
The scene at 34th Street and Lincoln Boulevard after the tornado.
