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NOUS43 KICT 111200
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KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-111500-

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Wichita KS
700 AM CDT Sat May 11 2024

...ON THIS DATE IN WEATHER HISTORY...

May 11th is likely the most significant severe weather
date for the Lone Star State.  In 1953, Waco was walloped
by an F5 tornado that killed 114, injured 597, and caused
around $41 million damage.  The track was 23 miles long,
averaged one third of a mile wide, and plowed through
downtown where many large buildings were demolished.  One
was the collapse of a six story furniture store that
buried an adjacent street with bricks to a depth of 5
feet.  The Waco Tornado is tied with the Goliad Tornado
of May 18th, 1902 for the deadliest in Texas history.
However the Waco Tornado is placed first since it injured
nearly two and a half times as many people, caused far
worse damage, and had a track 10 miles longer and nearly
two and a half times wider.  In 1970, an F5 tornado hit
Lubbock Texas.The track was only 8 miles long but
reached one and a half miles wide.  The slow moving multi
vortex passed just east of the Texas Tech campus, then
plowed through downtown Lubbock.  The tornado destroyed
600 apartment units, 430 homes, 250 businesses and 119
aircraft.  Also hit were the Lubbock Airport and the
Weather Bureau Office, which had to be evacuated.  In
downtown Lubbock, the 20 story Great Plains Life Building
was deformed and had to be abandoned for a few years.
During that time, it became known as The Largest Pigeon
Roost in the Panhandle.  The tornado killed 26, injured
around 500, and caused around $135 million damage, an
estimate some consider conservative.

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