Tornado Event
Several storm thunderstorm cells known as supercells were responsible for most of the tornadoes during the event. Several scattered strong storms/supercells developed during the afternoon and late-evening hours on April 25. The most notable storm of the day produced several tornadoes across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The first tornado touchdown in the Fort Worth area but caused little if any damage. An F2 tornado shortly caused extensive damage to the town of DeSoto in Dallas County. Numerous structures were destroyed and the City Hall itself sustained major damage that totaled about $50 million. No fatalities were reported by this tornado. However, further east, the same storm intensified and produced a violent F4 tornado that traveled through the Lancaster area killing 3 and injured nearly 50 others while destroying much of the historic downtown square. In addition to the tornadoes, extensive hail was recorded across much of the Metroplex region. Total tornado and hail figures in Texas alone on this date was estimated at $300 million.
On April 26, the most productive storm affected portions of eastern Illinois just southeast of Chicago and portions of northern and central Indiana. Shortly before 11:00 PM, an F4 tornado through a mobile home park and a subdivision north of Lafayette killing three and injuring 70 others across Tippecanoe County. The mobile home park was very heavily damaged with numerous structures being totally demolished. A factory where one of the fatalities was also heavily damaged while the two other fatalities were inside the same home. Another tornado earlier in the day caused extensive damage to the town of Gainesville, Texas and injuring eight people. Several other tornadoes were reported in and around the Gainesville tornado at the same time the parent storm tore through most of the city. Across North Texas near the Red River Valley, over 20 tornadoes were confirmed along that area alone on April 26 from roughly near Wichita Falls to west of Texarkana, Arkansas. Activity ended on April 27 with weaker tornadoes across Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee and minimal damage reported.
Read more about this topic: April 1994 Tornado Outbreak
Famous quotes containing the words tornado and/or event:
“The sumptuous age of stars and images is reduced to a few artificial tornado effects, pathetic fake buildings, and childish tricks which the crowd pretends to be taken in by to avoid feeling too disappointed. Ghost towns, ghost people. The whole place has the same air of obsolescence about it as Sunset or Hollywood Boulevard.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“No great inner event befalls those who summon it not.”
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949)