A destructive series of three tornadoes hit Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee on January 23, 1969. This worst tornado was a violent F4 twister that devastated Hazlehurst, Mississippi and caused 32 fatalities.[1]
| Type | Tornado outbreak |
|---|---|
| Duration | January 23, 1969 |
| Tornadoes confirmed | 3 |
| Max. rating1 | F4 tornado |
| Duration of tornado outbreak2 | 13 hours, 20 minutes |
| Fatalities | 32 fatalities, 241 injuries |
| Areas affected | Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee |
Part of the tornado outbreaks of 1969 1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado | |
Confirmed tornadoes
edit| FU | F0 | F1 | F2 | F3 | F4 | F5 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| F# | Location | County / Parish | State | Start Coord. | Time (UTC) | Path length | Max width | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F4 | SSE of Fayette to SW of Newton | Jefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Rankin, Smith, Scott, Newton | MS | 31°41′N 91°03′W / 31.68°N 91.05°W | 11:25–13:00 | 117.8 mi (189.6 km) | 200 yd (180 m) | 32 deaths – See section on this tornado – 241 people were injured.[3] |
| F1 | WNW of Cerulean | Caldwell | KY | 37°00′N 87°50′W / 37°N 87.83°W | 22:00–? | 0.1 mi (0.16 km) | 50 yd (46 m) | Weak, but destructive tornado destroyed a barn, tore the roof off of an outbuilding, and uprooted several trees.[3] |
| F2 | W of Dover | Stewart | TN | 37°00′N 87°50′W / 37°N 87.83°W | 22:05–? | 0.1 mi (0.16 km) | 10 yd (9.1 m) | Five homes and a tobacco barn were destroyed by this brief, but strong tornado. The tornado caused at least $75,000 (1969 USD) in damage.[3] |
Hazlehurst, Mississippi
edit| F4 tornado | |
|---|---|
| Max. rating1 | F4 tornado |
| Fatalities | 32 fatalities, 241 injuries |
| 1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale | |
At 4:19 a.m. (CST), radar indicated a strong thunderstorm cell strengthening rapidly southeast of Jonesville, Louisiana in Concordia Parish. A tornado soon occurred in Jefferson County, Mississippi, south-southeast of Fayette, where some damage was reported. The tornado mainly traveled through sparsely populated areas, excluding the Hazlehurst area. Mainly trees were either debarked or uprooted, but structures in Hazlehurst sustained extensive damage. Several parts of the path were widened, with the widest part being about 0.5 mi (880 yd) wide. At another point, the tornado caused ground scouring and downed trees in all directions. Most of the structural damage occurred to outbuildings and farm buildings. The tornado was first noted near the Hazlehurst area at 5:45 a.m. (CST). A number of families in Hazlehurst lived on a hill near a lumber pond. The tornado dumped 18 people into the pond, of which all became missing. Afterwards, the pond was drained to try recovering the missing bodies. In Shady Grove, several buildings were destroyed. In Copiah County, 11 people were killed and 140 people were injured. The tornado caused $900,000 (1969 USD) damage in Copiah County. A family in Simpson County lay down on the floor and were not injured. A bus was parked in front of the home, and its body was blown away. South of Harrisville, a log house was reduced to rubble. Throughout the rest of the path (until the city of Puckett), 12 people were found dead. A family near Puckett were trying to escape the tornado, but their car wouldn't start. Instead, they jumped into a ditch and survived as their three-bedroom home was lifted off of its foundation. One of the family members was seriously injured by a falling limb. The tornado also lifted a tenant house into the air. A hog barn was also destroyed, which resulted in the fatalities of four hogs, of 800 which were in there. The tornado caused minor damage to trees before dissipating near Newton. Overall, 32 people were killed and 241 were injured.[4]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ All dates are based on the local time zone where the tornado touched down; however, all times are in Coordinated Universal Time for consistency.
- ^ Prior to 1994, only the average widths of tornado paths were officially listed.[2]
References
edit- ^ "Tornadoes on January 23, 1969". tornadohistoryproject.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
- ^ Brooks, Harold E. (April 2004). "On the Relationship of Tornado Path Length and Width to Intensity". Weather and Forecasting. 19 (2). Boston: American Meteorological Society: 310. Bibcode:2004WtFor..19..310B. doi:10.1175/1520-0434(2004)019<0310:OTROTP>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
- ^ a b c "January 23, 1969 Tornadoes". Tornado History Project. Storm Prediction Center. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
- ^ "Hazlehurst, MS F4 Tornado – January 23, 1969 – Tornado Talk".