F4 tornado | |
---|---|
Formed | May 18, 1902 |
Max. rating1 | F4 tornado |
Fatalities | 114 fatalities, ≥279 injuries |
Damage | $125,000 (1902 USD) |
Areas affected | Goliad, Texas, US |
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale |
The 1902 Goliad, Texas, tornado was a F4 tornado that struck the town of Goliad, Texas, United States, on Sunday, May 18, 1902. A total of 114 people died, 250 were injured, and $125,000 [1] damage occurred. Inflation adjusted puts it at $3.4 million. [2]
During May 17 to 19, thunderstorms occurred from the lower Missouri Valley to Texas. On the 18th at 12:15pm, the Galveston weather office issued a special warning of "Squalls, with brisk and occasionally high winds are indicated for the west gulf this afternoon and to-night." [3] That afternoon, Beeville, which is 30 miles to the southwest of Goliad, had considerable damage by high winds. [4] The tornado is believed to have first touched down near Berclair, about 15 miles southwest of Goliad, and moved toward the northeast. [5]
The tornado was on the south side of town, across the San Antonio River about 3:35 p.m. [6] It continued traveling northeast and wrecked the steel bridge across the river at San Patricio Street. The tornado then destroyed the filled Fannin Street Methodist Church at Mt. Auburn Street, killing about 50 people. It went on to destroy the brick factory. [7] Witness Browne reported it sounded like a "million-ton [train] engine". [8] The tornado was a couple of blocks wide when it moved up the west side of town destroying more homes, businesses and churches. The tornado path was 1/8 to 1/2 mile wide and traveled for about a mile. Reports say the tornado lasted only 5 minutes.
Within a few hours, 85 people were reported dead and 29 more over the next several days. Across the city, 150 homes, 100 businesses, a Baptist church and parsonage, a black Methodist church, a white Methodist church, and the second story of the county courthouse were destroyed. At least 50 people were in the black church, none survived.
Dr. Louis Warren Chilton, a young doctor whose wife was injured and whose daughter was lifted into the tornado funnel but survived, set up a temporary hospital and morgue in the first floor of the county courthouse. The Dr. L.W. and Martha E.S. Chilton House was built starting in June and included an underground shelter. [9]
After the tornado, several dozen were buried in a communal grave along the eastern border of Lott Cemetery.
At the time, it was the fourth deadliest tornado in the United States and the worst in Texas history. The Waco tornado of May 11, 1953 tied as the deadliest in Texas history and is now eleventh overall in the United States.
Beeville is a city in Bee County, Texas, United States. Its population of 13,543 at the 2020 census makes it the 207th-largest city in Texas. It is the county seat of Bee County and home to the main campus of Coastal Bend College. The area around the city contains three prisons operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Valley View is a city in Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 737 at the 2020 census.
Goliad is a city and the county seat of Goliad County, Texas, United States. It is known for the 1836 Goliad massacre during the Texas Revolution. It had a population of 1,620 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Victoria, Texas, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Canton is a city in and the county seat of Van Zandt County in East Texas, United States. It is located about 40 miles west of Tyler. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 4,229.
Victoria is a city and the county seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 65,534 as of the 2020 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 as of the 2000 census. Its elevation is 95 ft (29 m).
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. It is 130 miles (210 km) southeast of San Antonio and 208 miles (335 km) southwest of Houston. Its political boundaries encompass Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. Its zoned boundaries include small land parcels or water inlets of three neighboring counties.
The Great Natchez tornado hit Natchez, Mississippi, on Thursday, May 7, 1840. The tornado was the second-deadliest tornado in United States history; at least 317 people were killed and at least 109 were injured. While officially unrated, it is retrospectively estimated to have been at least a violent F4 tornado on the Fujita scale. Its 35-mile-long (56 km), 1,000-yard-wide path was marked by severe damage and uncertain estimates of casualties, though many enslaved Africans—possibly numbering in the hundreds—reportedly died on plantations in Louisiana.
A deadly series of at least 33 tornadoes hit at least 10 different U.S. states on May 9–11, 1953. Tornadoes appeared daily from Minnesota in the north to Texas in the south. The strongest and deadliest tornado was a powerful F5 tornado that struck Waco, Texas on May 11, causing 114 of the 144 deaths in the outbreak. Alongside the 1902 Goliad tornado, it was the deadliest tornado in Texas history and is the 11th deadliest tornado in U.S. history. The tornado's winds demolished more than 600 houses, 1,000 other structures, and over 2,000 vehicles. 597 injuries occurred, and many survivors had to wait more than 14 hours for rescue. The destruction dispelled a myth that the geography of the region spared Waco from tornadoes, and along with other deadly tornadoes in 1953, the Waco disaster was a catalyst for advances in understanding the link between tornadoes and radar-detected hook echoes. It also generated support for improved civil defense systems, the formation of weather radar networks, and improved communications between stakeholders such as meteorologists, local officials, and the public.
The 1994 Palm Sunday tornado outbreak was the third notable US tornado outbreak to occur on Palm Sunday and the second to take place in the Southeastern United States. The outbreak produced 29 tornadoes from Texas to North Carolina, killing 40 people and injuring 491, and causing $140 million in damage. The deadliest storm of the outbreak, as well as in the US in 1994, was an F4 tornado that devastated Piedmont, Alabama. It struck the Goshen United Methodist Church right in the middle of the Palm Sunday service, collapsing the roof on the congregation and killing 20 people inside, including the Rev. Kelly Clem's 4-year-old daughter Hannah. Two other houses of worship were also destroyed mid-service. The supercell that formed this tornado tracked for 200 miles (322 km) to South Carolina.
Hurricane Celia was the costliest tropical cyclone in Texas history until Hurricane Alicia in 1983. The third named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1970 Atlantic hurricane season, Celia developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on July 31. Initially, the depression tracked north-northwestward, crossing over western Cuba on August 1 and becoming Tropical Storm Celia. Heavy rains on the island caused severe flooding, leading to five fatalities. The storm entered the Gulf of Mexico, and due to the warm sea surface temperatures, Celia intensified into a hurricane later that day. Storm surge and swells lashed the west coast of Florida, especially the Panhandle, causing eight people to drown. On August 2 and early on August 3, Celia slightly weakened, however, the storm underwent rapid intensification and deepening, and peaked as a Category 4 hurricane at landfall with winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) later on August 3.
Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is a United States Navy naval air base located six miles (10 km) southeast of the central business district (CBD) of Corpus Christi, in Nueces County, Texas.
The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane was a massive and damaging tropical cyclone that swept across areas of the northern Caribbean Sea and the United States Gulf Coast in September 1919. Remaining an intense Atlantic hurricane throughout much of its existence, the storm's slow movement and sheer size prolonged and enlarged the scope of the hurricane's effects, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in United States history. Impacts were largely concentrated around the Florida Keys and South Texas areas, though lesser but nonetheless significant effects were felt in Cuba and other areas of the United States Gulf Coast. The hurricane's peak strength in Dry Tortugas in the lower Florida Keys made it one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall in the United States.
Hurricane Audrey was one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history, killing at least 416 people as it devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957. Along with Hurricane Alex in 2010, it was also the strongest June hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin as measured by pressure. The rapidly developing storm struck southwestern Louisiana as an intense Category 3 hurricane, destroying coastal communities with a powerful storm surge that penetrated as far as 20 mi (32 km) inland. The first named storm and hurricane of the 1957 hurricane season, Audrey formed on June 24 from a tropical wave that moved into the Bay of Campeche. Situated within ideal conditions for tropical development, Audrey quickly strengthened, reaching hurricane status a day afterwards. Moving north, it continued to strengthen and accelerate as it approached the United States Gulf Coast. On June 27, the hurricane reached peak sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h), making it a major hurricane. At the time, Audrey had a minimum barometric pressure of 946 mbar. The hurricane made landfall with the same intensity between the mouth of the Sabine River and Cameron, Louisiana, later that day, causing unprecedented destruction across the region. Once inland, Audrey weakened and turned extratropical over West Virginia on June 29. Audrey was the first major hurricane to form in the Gulf of Mexico since 1945.
The 1916 Texas hurricane was an intense and quick-moving tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage in Jamaica and South Texas in August 1916. A Category 4 hurricane upon landfall in Texas, it was the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the United States in three decades. Throughout its eight-day trek across the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane caused 37 fatalities and inflicted $11.8 million in damage.
A strong tornado, later determined to have an F3 rating, struck the town of Bouctouche, New Brunswick on Wednesday, August 6, 1879. While weaker tornadoes and waterspouts have been known to form on or adjacent to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the Bouchtouche tornado is the strongest tornado ever to touch down in the Maritime Provinces and the easternmost strong (F2-F3) tornado ever to occur on the continent of North America as well.
The tornado outbreak sequence of May 1896 was a series of violent and deadly tornado outbreaks that struck much of the Central and Southern United States from May 15 to 28, 1896. It is considered one of the worst tornado outbreak sequences on record with tornado expert Tom Grazulis stating that the week of May 24–28 was "perhaps the most violent single week of tornado activity in United States history". There were four particularly notable tornado outbreaks during the two-week period. It produced three F5 tornadoes as well as the third deadliest tornado ever in United States history. A total of at least 484 people were killed during the entire outbreak sequence by at least 38 different tornadoes which struck Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland.
The Dr. L.W. and Martha E.S. Chilton House at 242 N. Chilton St. in Goliad, Texas, United States, was built in 1902. It was a work of architect Jules Leffland and of building contractor Bailey Mills. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The listing included two contributing buildings and two contributing structures.
The effects of the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane in Texas were the deadliest of any tropical cyclone in the Texas Coastal Bend, killing at least 284 people. The hurricane produced a widespread swath of devastation across the region, exacerbated by the large extent of its winds. The city of Corpus Christi bore the brunt of the hurricane's impacts, contributing to the largest portion of the damage toll in Texas; nearly all of the confirmed fatalities were residents of the city. The storm originated from the Leeward Islands early in September 1919 and took a generally west-northwestward course, devastating the Florida Keys en route to the Gulf of Mexico. On the afternoon of September 14, the center of the hurricane made landfall upon the Texas coast at Baffin Bay. The storm's winds were estimated at 115 mph (185 km/h) at landfall, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. After slowly moving ashore, it weakened and straddled the Rio Grande before dissipating on September 16 over West Texas.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)A Goliad Horror: The Great Tornado of 1902Fritz, Karen E. (2001-01-01). South Texas studies. Victoria College Press. pp. 21–53.
Tornado Victims of the Goliad Tornado of 1902, Victoria – Crossroads of South Texas Quarterly XXIII, no. 2 (2002) by Karen E. Fritz
The 1902 Goliad Tornado: A Remembrance of Horror by Kenneth Carter. [1]