Poplar Bluff Tornado

I mentioned last time that three of the top ten and five of the top twenty deadliest tornadoes in US history occurred in Missouri. Last week I wrote about the 1896 St. Louis tornado, which ranks third on the list, and I mentioned that I had previously written about the 1925 Tri-State tornado, which ranks as the deadliest ever, and the 2011 Joplin tornado, which ranks seventh. I have also previously written about the 1880 Marshfield tornado, which ranks sixteenth on the list with a death toll of 99, The remaining Missouri tornado on the top twenty deadliest list is the 1927 Poplar Bluff tornado, which killed 98 people and is tied for seventeenth on the list.

The storm descended on Poplar Bluff about mid-afternoon on May 9, 1927, with a "warning roar" and a "torrent of hail." The twister cut a swath about seven blocks wide and over forty blocks long through the city. Included in the storm's path was the downtown area, where almost all the buildings were either completely destroyed or heavily damaged. The town was also drenched with over two and a half inches of rain immediately after the tornado struck.

School was still in session at the time the tornado struck, and among the storm's victims were two or three children of the East Side School, which was in the direct path of the twister and was heavily damaged. A total of about 300 people sustained injuries of various degrees, in addition to the almost 100 fatalities.

One estimate placed the property damage of the tornado at 2.5 million dollars in the downtown area alone, but the twister also destroyed about twenty-five homes before reaching the downtown area and an unknown number beyond the downtown area. Total property damage was estimated as high as four million.

The tornado left Poplar Bluff with blocked roads, downed electric and telephone wires, and a shortage of food. In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the local American Legion maintained a semblance of order in the town until the National Guard and relief agencies could reach the place.