February 1971 Mississippi Valley Tornado Outbreak - Outbreak Summary

Outbreak Summary

Activity started early during the morning of February 21. The first tornadoes touched down in Texas east of Austin and north of Waco. The main activity intensified during the afternoon over the Mississippi River and Tennessee Valleys until the late evening hours.

At around 3:00 PM CST a tornado touched down in Madison Parish, Louisiana and tore through a deadly 110 mile-path from south of Delhi near modern day Interstate 20 northeast through or near Delhi, Waverly, Alsatia and Melbourne before crossing the Mississippi River into the state of Mississippi. Then it affected areas in and around Mayersville, Delta City, Inverness and Moorhead before dissipating. 47 people were killed by the tornado including 11 in Louisiana and 36 in Mississippi. In Inverness alone, 21 were killed while 200 others were injured. 150 buildings across the town were damaged or destroyed. The Delhi tornado is the only official F5 to have hit the State of Louisiana since tornado records began in 1950. It is also the deadliest F5 tornado since the Candlestick Park Tornado that tore a 200-mile long path from Jackson, Mississippi to near Tuscaloosa, Alabama killing 58. It is also the seventh longest tornado ever in the state but the length figures includes travel distance from Louisiana.

At around 4:00 PM CST, the deadliest tornado of the outbreak touched down just east of the Mississippi River near Fitler and just a few miles east of the F5 tornado that has path lengths varying from 160 to 200 miles long, the F4 tornado affected areas in and around Issaquena, Rolling Fork, Anguilla, Bellewood, Itta Bena (just west of Greenwood), and Oxford before dissipating just across the Tennessee State line. Most of its path was just a few miles east of the areas affected by the F5 tornado and several counties were affected by both tornadoes. With 58 fatalities, including 14 near Cary and 21 in Pugh City, this tornado is the deadliest tornado on record since the Udall, Kansas tornado during the 1955 Great Plains tornado outbreak where at least 80 were killed. It was eventually displaced from this title during the April 25-28, 2011 tornado outbreak. It is also the deadliest tornado in Mississippi since 1950 surpassing the Candlestick Park Tornado in 1966 by one fatality (although one person was killed in Alabama). However, the number of deaths is well short of the Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak in 1936 where at least 230 were killed in a single F5 storm in Tupelo and the Great Natchez Tornado where over 300 were killed in Natchez in 1840. The tornado also had a similar path length as the 1966 storm but according to National Weather Service records, it is the second longest tornado path ever in the state.

Two other tornadoes in Mississippi killed at least 16 people in Yazoo, Warren and Sunflower Counties. The Yazoo County tornado is the 16th longest ever in Mississippi as it traveled for nearly 70 miles. This outbreak is also one of the deadliest ever in the history of the state with 110 deaths. Most of the region was declared a disaster area by then-US President Richard Nixon. Additional tornadoes touched down on the following day from Indiana to the Carolinas, including one in the Columbus Metropolitan Area. 2 people in North Carolina were also killed by a 60-mile long tornado that started near the Fayetteville area. The entire outbreak is the second deadliest ever in February, behind only the Enigma tornado outbreak in 1884 and ahead of the 2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak.