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Draft:1953 Waco tornado

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Waco, Texas
Path of the Waco tornado
Meteorological history
FormedMay 11, 1953, 4:10 p.m. CST (22:10 UTC)
F5 tornado
on the Fujita scale
Highest winds>261 mph (420 km/h)
Overall effects
Casualties711
Fatalities114
Injuries597
Damage$41 million (1953 USD)[nb 1]
$592 million (2025 USD)
Areas affectedLorena, Waco, Bellmead and Axtell, Texas

In the afternoon of May 11, 1953, a powerful tornado would directly hit Waco, Texas, killing 114 people and injuring 597 more. The tornado would be the deadliest to hit Texas since 1900, with the same amount of fatalities as but more injuries than the 1902 Goliad, Texas, tornado. The tornado would eventually receive an F5 rating, one of five in the devastating 1953 tornado season. It would be the first tornado to be officially rated F5 in the United States.

Meteorological synopsis

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May 11 was a warm, moist day, with dewpoints in the lower 70s and temperatures ranging from the mid 70s inland to low 80s along the coast. Storms earlier near Abilene had produced outflow boundaries, and those boundaries were thought to have an effect on tornadogenesis later on by creating enhanced wind shear.[1] Eventually, storms developed along a dryline draped over much of central Texas, with one storm producing an F4 in San Angelo, killing 13.[1] Due to conducive conditions for severe weather, the U.S. Weather Bureau (later the National Weather Service) Weather Forecast Office in New Orleans issued a tornado alert covering sections of Central and West Texas.[2][3] Eventually, a high-precipitation supercell produced a tornado southwest of Waco.[1]

Tornado summary

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The tornado first formed around 4:10 p.m. CST (22:10 UTC) about three miles (5 km) north-northwest of the Lorena community. It quickly began damaging structures, destroying a home near Lorena as it tracked north-northeastward.[4] The tornado produced F5 damage outside of the city of Waco.

As it neared Waco, operators of weather radar at Texas A&M University detected a hook echo in association with the parent supercell. This was one of the first times that radar linked tornadogenesis with hook-echo signatures.[5] However, because heavy rain obscured the tornado, it was largely invisible to people in its path. The high-precipitation nature of the parent storm may have heightened the death toll in Waco by delaying appropriate action. The time of day might also have increased the death toll, as the tornado struck downtown at the end of the work day.[1] The storm also generated baseball-sized hail in its path.[6] The tornado passed close to Hewitt before entering downtown Waco.[4]

As the thunderstorm began pounding the city with rain, many people on the streets crowded into local buildings for shelter, yet few of the buildings in downtown Waco were constructed sturdily enough to withstand the winds, so they collapsed almost immediately. Thirty people died in the R. T. Dennis building alone,[6] and five others died while in their cars.[1] Newer buildings with steel reinforcement, including the 22-story Amicable office building (now called the ALICO Building), weathered the storm. The Dr Pepper bottling plant, today the Dr Pepper Museum, also remained standing but sustained damage.[6] Bricks from the collapsed structures piled up in the street to a depth of five feet (1.5 m). Some survivors were trapped under rubble for 14 or more hours; numerous bodies remained buried beneath piles of rubble, and for many days were unaccounted for.[7] After devastating downtown Waco and travelling 23 miles, the tornado continued to the north-northeast and dissipated about five miles (8 km)west of Axtell.[1] While the tornado destroyed homes outside the city, media largely focused on destruction in downtown Waco.[4]

Sources for later:

Aftermath

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In all, 114 deaths occurred in the Waco area, with 597 injured and over $41 million (1953 USD) in property damage, making it the .[4] The tornado destroyed 196 businesses and factories.[8] 150 homes were wrecked.[4] Over 2,000 cars sustained at least some damage.[4] The city received about $9 million (1953 USD) to help with recovery efforts,[2] however poor organization proved to be a challenge. Initially, the tornado also severed communications between downtown Waco and outlying areas, so assistance was slow to arrive.[9] Some survivors waited 14 hours to be rescued, and bodies took days to be recovered.[1] The chaotic relief efforts eventually spurred greater coordination between civilians and local governments, leading to the development of civil defense.[9] Notably, the Waco event was one of the first instances that proved the effectiveness of radar in tracking tornadogenesis; coincidentally, another such case occurred later in the same year. A retrospective study of the tornado that struck Worcester, Massachusetts, on June 9 revealed that, as at Waco, local radar detected the hook echo that signified the tornado.[10] Researchers concluded that improved communications, coupled with the formation of radar coverage, could lead to accurate tornado warnings, thereby reducing loss of life in future storms. This task proved especially important following the devastating loss of life at Waco and Worcester, along with the June 8 catastrophe at Flint, Michigan, in the same year.[11] The state of Texas supported the implementation of 20 radar facilities, each with a 200-mile-wide (320 km) radius, that proved successful in reducing death tolls in later tornadoes.[12] The system was known as the Texas Radar Tornado Warning Network and also included communications between weather officials, storm spotters, and local officials.[10] Thus the Waco tornado helped catalyze development of a nationwide severe weather warning system. Some areas never fully recovered from the tornado.[2] In addition, a memorial was constructed to honor the fatalities of the tornado.[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ All losses are in 1953 USD unless otherwise noted.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Remembering the May 11, 1953, Waco tornado, the deadliest tornado in Texas since 1900". National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office Dallas/Fort Worth, TX. National Weather Service. 6 October 2011. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Sawyer, Amanda. "Waco Tornado". Waco History. Baylor University. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  3. ^ Coleman, Timothy A.; Knupp, Kevin R.; Spann, James; Elliott, J. B.; Peters, Brian (May 2011). "The History (and Future) of Tornado Warning Dissemination in the United States". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92 (5): 570. Bibcode:2011BAMS...92..567C. doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3062.1.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Grazulis 1993, p. 970
  5. ^ Coleman, Timothy A.; Knupp, Kevin R.; Spann, James; Elliott, J. B.; Peters, Brian (May 2011). "The History (and Future) of Tornado Warning Dissemination in the United States". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92 (5): 570. Bibcode:2011BAMS...92..567C. doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3062.1.
  6. ^ a b c Sawyer, Amanda. "Waco Tornado". Waco History. Baylor University. Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  7. ^ Grazulis 1993, p. 971
  8. ^ Young, John (January 10, 1985). "The ALICO Building: A Long, Tall Texan". Waco Tribune-Herald.
  9. ^ a b "Looking Back at the Waco Tornado of 1953 and the Lessons Learned..." Texas Emergency Management Online. Vol. 60, no. 5. Texas Department of Public Safety. May 2013. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  10. ^ a b Coleman, Timothy A.; Knupp, Kevin R.; Spann, James; Elliott, J. B.; Peters, Brian (May 2011). "The History (and Future) of Tornado Warning Dissemination in the United States". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 92 (5): 570. Bibcode:2011BAMS...92..567C. doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3062.1.
  11. ^ Corfidi, Stephen (13 February 2010). "A Brief History of the Storm Prediction Center". NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center. Storm Prediction Center. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  12. ^ Grazulis 2001, p. 90
  13. ^ Waco, Author; Pictures, Texas History in (2021-11-08). "Waco Tornado Memorial". Waco, Texas History in Pictures. Retrieved 2025-01-06. {{cite web}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
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