May 06, 2005

Today is the 30th anniversary of the 1975 Omaha tornado which killed "only" three (compared to the Easter 1913 Omaha tornado which killed 101) and yet was the costliest in U.S. history. It was seen by thousands when it ripped through a popular race track at post time. Weather Service chronology of the event. Aerial damage photos. Tornado season is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere. Make sure your children know what to do in the event of a severe storm or tornado warning. Be safe.
posted by mecurious 18 years ago
  • Do you know, I'd really like to find some kind of wiki about this whole 'storm' malarkey... If only there was such a thing... (tee & hee)
  • But mercurious has a-- oh.
  • I know. You kid because you love!
  • They name Hurricanes, why don't they name tornados? This one could have been Omaha bin Laden! (ducks)
  • From your first link: May 6, 2005 marks the 30-year anniversary of the second most costly tornado to hit the U.S. (Emphasis added.)
  • Fantastiche! - An argument about costly tornadoes. [Puts on rain hat, pulls up chair, facetiously shouts 'Take it to the wiki!]
  • I suggest we put the two web pages in a jar and let them fight it out.
  • I went to high school in Omaha and it's really trippy to see the path of the tornado. I lived at 90th and Dodge and my dad works at the Mart. Craaazy. I heard about this many many times from my grandma, but never really looked up it (pre internet and all). Thanks for the link!
  • er "it up". brain hiccup.
  • Never look up a tornado. they get 'snippy'.
  • Good post. The slide show is interesting, but I have to wonder why the quality of the photos is so godawful bad. Even the 'after' photos of the damage, while interesting, are of horrible quality. Good cameras were available in 1975, right?
  • Corrections? According to this post on the Stormtrack Forum the damage cost was surpassed by the April 10, 1979, Wichita Falls, TX, event. Also the packed horse track was missed by only a block. (However you could be hit by a piece of swirling debris traveling a couple hundred miles an hour and still be killed or injured.) Also, the 1913 tornado apparently killed 103 in Omaha alone (although it crossed the Missouri River and hit Council Bluffs, IA also).
  • I was there for that tornado. I was 7 at the time, and remember asking my dad why all the air-horns were blowing. I remember seeing the tornado approaching while looking out the sliding glass doors to the backyard. My dad took us all downstairs for a long while, and luckily the tornado skipped our house. The aftermath was amazing, I recall seeing a house completely demolished but for a miraculously standing closed, at the top of the hill on 84th street approaching "L". (Omaha is a fairly strict grid-layout city) I don't live there anymore, but that has more to do with family drama, jobs, and the fact that I hate long cold winters, than it does with tornadoes. Greenish light and still air will get me feeling very apprehensive to this day, even without the tornado-alarm airhorns going off.
  • er, "closed" should be "closet" above.
  • My Jr. High School (6 years before i went though). When they rebuilt it it was basically solid brick with basically arrow slits for windows. Prior to the tornado it was more of a glass type building with a ton of windows.
  • On review, look at all the Omahans in the place. Hehe, "The Mart".
  • I didn't know about the Omaha tornado -- thanks for the links. And not to disrespect or anything, but May 3, 1999, in Oklahoma became the #1 tornado in US history, IIRC. That was The One. 318 mph winds -- truly incredible.