The 1919 Fergus Falls tornado was a large and destructive

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

that struck

Fergus Falls, Minnesota Fergus Falls is a city in and the county seat of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,119 at the 2020 census. History The falls from which the city gets part of its name were discovered by Joe Whitford (a Scotti ...

on Sunday, June 22, 1919. It killed 57 people and is the second deadliest tornado in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

's history (1st was the

1886 Sauk Rapids tornado Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strang ...

). This tornado occurred just 10 months after a tornado in

Tyler, Minnesota Tyler is a city in Lincoln County, Minnesota, United States. The population in was 1,143 at the 2010 census. History Tyler was platted in 1879. It was named for C. B. Tyler, a Minnesota land agent and newspaper editor. A post office has been in ...

killed 36 people. That twister was Minnesota's fourth deadliest on record.

The tornado

The tornado had a path of , and at times was wide. It hit Fergus Falls at approximately 4:46 pm, and according to witness accounts was a "blank funnel shaped twisting cloud, or possibly several of them". Though the Fujita scale did not exist at that time, it is estimated to have been an F5 based on descriptions and photographs of the damage.

Damage

The tornado tore through the northern part of town, leveling 44 city blocks (including the business district), destroying 159 homes and damaging 250 more, some of which were swept completely away. Of the 57 people who died, at least 35 of them were in the Grand Hotel, a three-story, 100 room hotel which was completely flattened. Two hundred more were injured. The tornado also destroyed the Otter Tail County courthouse, the county jail, four churches and multiple other businesses. Small trees in town were debarked, and railroad tracks were reportedly pulled from the ground at one location, indicative of extreme intensity. The

Northern Pacific Northern Pacific may refer to: * Northern Pacific Airways, an upcoming airline * Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference The Northern Pacific Field Hockey Conference (NorPac) was an NCAA Division I conference that only sponsored women’s fiel ...

rail depot was completely destroyed, and reportedly swept away. At Lake Alice, several summer homes were swept into the water along with their occupants, resulting in several fatalities there. The

Great Northern Great Northern may refer to: Transport * One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation). * Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway. * Great ...

Oriental Limited passenger train was thrown off the tracks by the tornado, but none of the 250 passengers on the train was seriously injured. Checks that were sucked up by the tornado in Fergus Falls were found 60 miles to the east.

References

External links

Gendisasters.com

NWS Grand Forks article of the Fergus Falls tornado
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fergus Falls 1919 in Minnesota 1919 natural disasters in the United States F5 tornadoes Fergus Falls, Minnesota Natural disasters in Minnesota Tornadoes of 1919 Tornadoes in Minnesota June 1919 events

The tornado

Damage

See also

References

External links