1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado
Windstorm in Missouri and Illinois, United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1896 St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado (great cyclone) was a historic tornado that caused severe damage to downtown St. Louis, Missouri, East St. Louis, Illinois, and surrounding areas on Wednesday, May 27, 1896, at around 5:00 pm. One of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history, this tornado was the most notable of a major tornado outbreak across the central United States which produced several other large, long-track, violent tornadoes and continued across the eastern United States the following day.[1][2] The St. Louis tornado killed at least 255 people, injured over a thousand others, and caused more than $10 million in damage (equivalent to $366 million in 2023[3]) in about 20 minutes. More than 5,000 people were left homeless and lost all of their possessions. The hardest-hit areas of the city were the fashionable Lafayette Square and Compton Heights neighborhoods, as well as the poorer Mill Creek Valley. It remains the third-deadliest tornado in United States history.[4]
F4 tornado | |
---|---|
Type | Tornado outbreak |
Duration | May 27–28, 1896 |
Max. rating1 | F4 tornado |
Duration of tornado outbreak2 | Unknown |
Fatalities | 255+ fatalities; 1,000+ injuries |
Part of the Tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896 1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado |