One Of The Worst Disasters In U.S. History Happened Right Here In Kentucky
By Andrea Limke|Published March 05, 2018
×
Andrea Limke
Author
A Cincinnati native who has lived in Kentucky for over 10 years, Andrea's heart belongs both in the Queen City and the Bluegrass State. After earning an education degree and working in that field for a number of years, Andrea began to pursue her passion for writing over 6 years ago. Since then she has written for a number of print and online publications, as well as published a children's book.
The weather forecast on the morning of April 3, 1974, predicted the potential for strong winds and scattered storms. That may seem like a typical spring day in Kentucky, but what meteorologists and residents soon found out was that over an 18-hour period, Kentucky and several other surrounding states would experience the worst tornado outbreak in history. Those storms were eventually surpassed by a system in 2011, but the 1974 Super Outbreak still go down in history as one of the worst disasters in the U.S., and a bulk of it happened right here in Kentucky.
The date of April 3rd has a significant meaning to many in Kentucky who experienced the Super Outbreak of tornadoes in 1974.
The combination of a low-pressure system from the west and heat and moisture from the south created an epic system of storms like the country had never seen. The outbreak began on the afternoon of April 3rd in Morris, Illinois and continued for 18 hours. Throughout that time, 148 tornadoes were recorded in 13 states and Ontario. By the time the storm finally ended on the morning of the 4th, 319 had died and 5,484 were injured. In Kentucky alone, 63 people lost their lives, making this the most violent band of storms on record.
Advertisement
This outbreak of storms was particularly damaging due to the high number of F4/F5 tornadoes that touched down. The storm as a whole saw 30 of these massively violent storms and Kentucky experienced its only F5 tornado in history in the town of Brandenburg. The photo below is actually of the F5 that hit Xenia, Ohio, but a similar one was what heavily damaged this area of Kentucky.
As the storms headed toward this historic town, there was not much time for preparation or advance notice. Homes were completely leveled, as you can see in the photo above, showing only the slab remaining. The entire town was devastated and many historic buildings were destroyed.
The photo above shows a school bus that was picked up by the tornado and dropped into a garage of a private residence. The Meade County Courthouse was also destroyed, as were countless homes, buildings, vehicles, parks, and of course the lives of so many locals in the area.
The same storm system wreaked havoc on the Louisville area later that day.
Popular neighborhoods such as Audubon, Cherokee Triangle, Cherokee-Seneca, Crescent Hill, Indian Hills, Northfield, Rolling Fields, and Tyler Park were all severely impacted. The historic Cherokee Park lost thousands of mature trees, as did other well-known parks throughout the state, including Daniel Boone National Forest. As the storm system moved southeast through the state, nearly every section of the Bluegrass State was affected.
Even our state's capital was hit, as this photo shows residents leaving the wreckage of a mobile home park just outside of the city.
Countless lives were dramatically changed on April 3, 1974. Kentucky stood strong and faced the storms as best as we could, and then banded together to rebuild and move on from one of the most devastating disasters our country has ever seen.
Those who lived through these catastrophic storms likely remember everything about that eventful day in April of 1974. Kentucky and the entire region had a massive clean up to face and more than 40 years later, emotions still run high when you talk about this incredible disaster that affected so much of the Bluegrass State.
Were you impacted by the Super Outbreak of 1974? Please share your memories with us in the comments!
And for more disasters that Kentucky has faced, and recovered from, check out our previous article here.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
