1975 Canton, Illinois tornado
Coordinates: 40°33′N 90°02′W / 40.55°N 90.03°W
| Canton, Illinois Tornado | |
| Date: | July 23, 1975 |
| Time: | 4:45 PM |
| Rating: | F3 tornado |
| Damages: | $25 million (1975) |
| Casualties: | 2+ fatalities, 69 injuries[1] |
| Area affected: | Canton, Illinois |
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The Canton, Illinois Tornadoes of 1975 is a destructive summer tornado event which occurred as part of a significant severe thunderstorm outbreak concentrated across northwest and west-central Illinois and eastern Iowa on the afternoon and evening of July 23, 1975.[2]
| Confirmed Total |
Confirmed F0 |
Confirmed F1 |
Confirmed F2 |
Confirmed F3 |
Confirmed F4 |
Confirmed F5 |
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Contents |
[edit] First tornado
The first tornado of a complex combination of tornado family and extreme downbursts touched down at 4:30 p.m. about 14 miles (23 km) west of the small city of Canton (or 3 mi (5 km) southwest of Blyton) and immediately grew to very large size in agrarian central Fulton County, Illinois. It continued meandering through rural areas with an average movement of easterly roughly near Illinois Route 9 for 11.1 miles (18 km) before ending about three miles (4.5 km) southeast of Fiatt. A grain elevator was leveled and blown about 3/4 mi (1.2 km) away. Total damages were around $250,000. A University of Chicago team headed by Ted Fujita surveyed the damage path as exceeding one mile (1.6 km) wide at times.[3]
[edit] Canton tornado
Before that tornado lifted, a second tornado touched down at 4:45 p.m. on the east side of Fiatt and it too in conjunction with intense downburst winds proceeded in a meandering path roughly eastward roughly along Route 9. There was no break in the damage because of the proximity of the tornadoes and the accompanying exceptionally intense downburst activity.[3]
This tornado roared into Canton with a damage path 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, essentially destroying or heavily damaging the entire southern half of the town. It devastated much of the downtown area, destroying or damaging 127 businesses concentrated within a five block swath. Many of these buildings were completely destroyed and others were so severely damaged to require razing. The tornado caused heavy residential losses with about 100 frame houses destroyed and an additional 300 damaged; 50 trailers were destroyed and another 100 were damaged. Two people were killed at Horton's Mobile Home Manor on the eastern side of town and 69 people were injured throughout the path. Straight-line winds from downbursts inflicted less intense damage across the remainder of town. Total damages amounted to around $25 million (1975 USD). Some areas did not have power restored for a week. The National Guard was deployed, and the damage was so immense and overwhelming that the city was declared a federal disaster area.[5] All stores except for those selling food were forced to close, most perishable food required trashing, and the town was immediately closed to non-residents not on official business.[3]
Farms also suffered substantial damage to crops and buildings with agricultural losses over $3 million. The high-end F3 tornado continued for approximately another six miles (10 km) to about one mile (1.6 km) north of Banner for a total path length of 14 miles (23 km).[3] Total tornado area was 37.5 sq. miles (60 km²) with a very high destruction potential index (DPI) -- integrating intensity, path length, and width[6] -- value of 150.[2]
[edit] Science benefits
It was first thought to be a single tornado event of over 25 miles (40 km), but a meticulous damage survey by the renowned severe weather expert Ted Fujita documented the complex interactions of downbursts, microbursts, and tornadoes, and much was learned meteorologically from this event. Downbursts, a recent concept by Fujita at the time, covered a very large area; these as well as a continuous series of smaller but very intense microbursts were responsible for the meandering course of the tornadoes (although the average of the path was linear) and for some changes in intensity. It is thought that a microburst may be responsible for breaking up the first tornado. A continuous damage swath connected the events regardless. Conversely, another microburst seems to have caused the tornado to intensify on the eastern side of Canton and coincided with the two deaths. The most intense pure tornadic damage width was 0.5 miles (1 km).[7]
[edit] 1835 Canton tornado
Canton and surrounding areas were devastated by an earlier tornado on June 18, 1835. Touching down around 10 p.m., it decimated rural farms, killing four; before it traversed through Canton, killing four in town, including the town's founder and his young son. Injuries totaled forty. This tornado damaged or destroyed about fifty buildings in Canton with a total damage width of about one quarter of a mile (0.4 km).[7]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Tornado Kills 3 in Illinois
- ^ a b Storm Prediction Center National Severe Weather Database
- ^ a b c d "Fulton County Tornadoes, 1951 to 2010". Tornado Climatology for Central and Southeast Illinois. National Weather Service Central Illinois WFO. 2011-09-11. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ilx/?n=fulton-tor. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
- ^ Fujita, Tetsuya Theodore (1978). "Manual of downburst identification for Project NIMROD". SMRP Research Paper (Chicago: University of Chicago) 156.
- ^ FEMA: Illinois TORNADO
- ^ Thompson, Richard L.; Michael D. Vescio (Sep 1998). "The Destruction Potential Index — A Method for Comparing Tornado Days". 19th Conf. Severe Local Storms. Minneapolis, MN: American Meteorological Society. http://www.spc.noaa.gov/publications/thompson/dpi/dpi.htm.
- ^ a b Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991, A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. pp. 1177-8. ISBN 1879362031.
- NOAA, Storm Data
- "Tornado Kills Three in Illinois". The Washington Post; Jul 24, 1975; A7.
