Tri-State Tornado, deadliest in recorded US history, ripped through Midwestern states 100 years ago

MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (news agencies) — From Logan School’s top floor, 11-year-old Othella Silvey should have been able to see her house easily — it was less than two blocks away.

But after a monstrous tornado ripped through the Illinois town of Murphysboro on March 18, 1925, Othella saw nothing but flattened wasteland.

“She couldn’t tell which direction was home,” said Othella’s daughter, 81-year-old Sylvia Carvell.

The deadliest twister in recorded U.S. history struck 100 years ago Tuesday, touching down in southeastern Missouri and tearing up everything in its 219-mile (352-kilometer) path for nearly four hours through southern Illinois and into Indiana.

It left 695 people dead and more than 2,000 injured, not counting the casualties from at least seven other twisters that the main storm spawned which spun off through Kentucky and into Alabama.

Modern standards qualify the so-called Tri-State Tornado as an F5, a mile-wide funnel with wind speeds greater than 260 mph (418 kph).

Perhaps the best evidence of its destructive handiwork was found on the Logan School grounds: A wooden board measuring 4 feet (1.22 meters) long by 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) wide driven so deeply into the trunk of a maple tree that it could hold the weight of a man.

It’s on display this month as part of the Jackson County Historical Society’s centennial commemoration of the disaster.