It was 50-years ago, April 3, 1974, that a “Super outbreak” of storms produced close to 150 tornadoes across the U.S. within a 24-hour period.
One of the places hit was Xenia, Ohio. The twister etched a path of destruction over 32 miles long.
It touched down at 4:30 PM - nine miles southwest of Xenia and entered the city ten minutes later.
It’s reported that more than 1,400 buildings, including 1,200 homes - 300 in the Arrowhead subdivision - were damaged, or completely destroyed. Nearly half the city.
Nine churches, and most of the city’s schools were hit, although classes had been dismissed an hour earlier.
A train passing through the city was also caught by the tornado and seven of its cars were blown over, blocking Main Street.
The 1974 Xenia tornado still ranks as one of the nation’s largest natural disasters.
The following pictures and audio for this story are used with the kind permission of Homer G. Ramby. Find more at on his website.
