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locomusic01

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Apart from what Parkersburg did in downtown, the damage near New Hartford is definitely eye-catching
This is the Oak Hill Cemetery in New Hartford
Nearly 100% tombs were toppled, some tombs were actually dug out and missing, a large stone pagoda was toppled.
Speaking of cemeteries, I don't know if this is a common thing, but I thought it was super weird. On 5/31/85, the Niles, Atlantic and Beaver Falls tornadoes each struck cemeteries (two of them in Beaver Falls' case) and did significant damage. In every case, there were rumors afterward - sometimes persisting to this day - that the tornado dug up graves and scattered the bodies around. That obviously didn't happen, but it's bizarre and fascinating that the same rumor developed around all four cemeteries.

Incidentally, I can't recall if I mentioned this before but one of the cemeteries struck by the Beaver Falls tornado (near Evans City) is the graveyard featured in the original Night of the Living Dead. It got pretty much destroyed. Apparently one of the headstones was later found embedded into the trunk of a large tree near the perimeter of the cemetery.

evans-city-cemetery-debbie-clatworthy-rice-2.jpg


evans-city-cemetery-debbie-clatworthy-rice-1.jpg
 
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Speaking of cemeteries, I don't know if this is a common thing, but I thought it was super weird. On 5/31/85, the Niles, Atlantic and Beaver Falls tornadoes each struck cemeteries (two of them in Beaver Falls' case) and did significant damage. In every case, there were rumors afterward - sometimes persisting to this day - that the tornado dug up graves and scattered the bodies around. That obviously didn't happen, but it's bizarre and fascinating that the same rumor developed around all four cemeteries.

Incidentally, I can't recall if I mentioned this before but one of the cemeteries struck by the Beaver Falls tornado (near Evans City) is the graveyard featured in the original Night of the Living Dead. It got pretty much destroyed. Apparently one of the headstones was later found embedded into the trunk of a large tree near the perimeter of the cemetery.

evans-city-cemetery-debbie-clatworthy-rice-2.jpg


evans-city-cemetery-debbie-clatworthy-rice-1.jpg
Tombstone embedded in a tree? Can't say I've heard that before with any other tornado.
 

locomusic01

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Tombstone embedded in a tree? Can't say I've heard that before with any other tornado.
Yeah, I'm curious exactly what "embedded" means in this case, but I couldn't find any photos of it. Probably not quite as dramatic as it sounds, but that area wasn't too far from where the tornado hit peak intensity. On the subject of things being embedded into trees, I talked to a guy whose truck in Wheatland was torn apart and a section of the exhaust was, in his words, "stuck halfway into a tree like a spear." Apparently he wanted to just leave it there but the town cut the tree down lol

Something similar also happened to the driveshaft of a woman's car that got completely obliterated in Bridge Creek. Probably the biggest piece of the car that was left intact (more or less), although she remembered finding her purse sitting on the ground near where the car was parked, looking practically untouched.

Tornadoes are weird.
 
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Yeah, I'm curious exactly what "embedded" means in this case, but I couldn't find any photos of it. Probably not quite as dramatic as it sounds, but that area wasn't too far from where the tornado hit peak intensity. On the subject of things being embedded into trees, I talked to a guy whose truck in Wheatland was torn apart and a section of the exhaust was, in his words, "stuck halfway into a tree like a spear." Apparently he wanted to just leave it there but the town cut the tree down lol

Something similar also happened to the driveshaft of a woman's car that got completely obliterated in Bridge Creek. Probably the biggest piece of the car that was left intact (more or less), although she remembered finding her purse sitting on the ground near where the car was parked, looking practically untouched.

Tornadoes are weird.

Yeah I've seen pictures of license plates, steering wheels, etc. embedded into trees so the bit about the exhaust doesn't surprise me.
 

locomusic01

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Photos of damage from the 5/21/1953 Sarnia tornado.
The Sarnia Historical Society has a brief article and a bunch of photos here:

Some day I'd like to dig into this tornado more. It was very likely a tornado family, but I'm really curious how the path actually broke down. IIRC, some of the worst damage from the entire event is supposed to have occurred like 30-40 miles east of Sarnia/Port Huron, but I don't know how well-documented it was (if at all). Seems to have been a pretty interesting event.
 

MNTornadoGuy

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The Sarnia Historical Society has a brief article and a bunch of photos here:

Some day I'd like to dig into this tornado more. It was very likely a tornado family, but I'm really curious how the path actually broke down. IIRC, some of the worst damage from the entire event is supposed to have occurred like 30-40 miles east of Sarnia/Port Huron, but I don't know how well-documented it was (if at all). Seems to have been a pretty interesting event.
The pre-1980 Canadian database splits the event into 5 tornadoes, including 3 other violent tornadoes besides Sarnia. Numerous rural homes and farms were destroyed by these other violent tornadoes but I can’t find any other detailed information for now.
 
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pohnpei

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Incredible damage around silo factory area outside of Parkeraburg town. Vehicles tossed around and mangled even worser than in town. Tornado likely still maintained peak intensity at this place.QQ截图20200521203405.jpg
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pohnpei

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Damage south of the First State Bank in town of Parkeraburg. Trees heavily debarked and houses swept away at subfloor level. One of the strongest winds ever captured by camera on the surface of planet Earth belonged to a security camera on the northeast side of the bank facing to the south where the center of the tornado located.
191768017_4218059108215015_3455121546032999843_n.jpg191679224_4218059101548349_2456008226752992232_n.jpg191671410_4218068108214115_3700714863257308415_n.jpg







191877152_4218001471554112_854333348973735927_n.jpg
Several structures in hardest hit area had their subfloors ripped off inside the town with people died in the basement.
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Cars mangled in the parking lot
190753648_4218064734881119_560817791717515463_n.jpg

IMG_20220111_122047.jpg
Picture near golf course showed two leveled houses with one built in 2007 and the other built in 2008.Maybe one of most Incredible single residence damage in the history happened on the one built in 2008.
mmexport1641883273283.jpg
 
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TH2002

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Some more damage photos from Spencer.
The most intense home damage I can find clearly photographed are a few poorly anchored homes:
lsdh5.jpg

lsdh6.jpg

lsdh2.jpg


However, it should be noted that the NIST mentions that some well-anchored structures including the post office, fire department, a gas station and some stores were completely removed from their foundations, though as far as I know no close up photos of these structures exist except for the fire station.
smspen31.jpg

It is interesting to note that the survey mentioned the possibility of large sections of the fire station being hurled intact towards the water tower in the background, possibly contributing to its destruction.
lsdps4b.jpg

Fire trucks remained unmoved on the fire station's garage slab, possibly indicative of a multiple vortex tornado, weaker winds, or perhaps both.
lsdps4a.jpg

Closeups show bolts. All of the sill plating was removed.

lsdps5.jpg

The apartment building where five of the tornado's six fatalities occurred.

lsdv4.jpg

Perhaps one of the most impressive sights from this tornado was a truck wedged against a splintered and debarked tree.
 

TH2002

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I think that’s the home that got the tornado an EF4 rating. It was only partially swept clean and there were significant amounts of debris on the other parts of the foundation.
Well that being the case an EF4 rating for that residence would be fine. There is no doubt in my mind however that the tornado was capable of causing EF5 damage at some point, but it probably peaked in an area with no homes or other buildings.
 

MNTornadoGuy

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Well that being the case an EF4 rating for that residence would be fine. There is no doubt in my mind however that the tornado was capable of causing EF5 damage at some point, but it probably peaked in an area with no homes or other buildings.
Yeah I have no doubts that the tornado was capable of producing damage stronger than LE EF4 based on the contextuals in some areas.
 

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Yeah that’s the same house pictured in the wiki article, but cropped so the debris pile isn’t visible. But Beauregard was a monster that essentially only hit very frail structures and poor communities, which is largely why it was so deadly. Was by no means a “low-end” EF4.
 

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Damage south of the First State Bank in town of Parkeraburg. Trees heavily debarked and houses swept away at subfloor level. One of the strongest winds ever captured by camera on the surface of planet Earth belonged to a security camera on the northeast side of the bank facing to the south where the center of the tornado located.
View attachment 11722View attachment 11723View attachment 11724







View attachment 11725
Several structures in hardest hit area had their subfloors ripped off inside the town with people died in the basement.
View attachment 11726
Cars mangled in the parking lot
View attachment 11727

View attachment 11728
Picture near golf course showed two leveled houses with one built in 2007 and the other built in 2008.Maybe one of most Incredible single residence damage in the history happened on the one built in 2008.
View attachment 11729
I honestly sometimes feel like Parkersburg may have been a Bridge Creek/Smithville-tier tornado, or at least close to it.
 

locomusic01

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Parkersburg is one of the tornadoes that made me realize how futile it is to try and make any kind of "most violent" list. I started one a few years ago and every time I'd check out Parkersburg's damage I'd come away convinced I had to find a spot in the top five for it, but then I'd check some of the other contenders and wonder if I could even fit it into the top 10 lol

Either way, it's pretty firmly in my "historically violent" class of tornadoes.
 

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It's astonishing what Parkersburg did to this type of structure(this big white storage tank?), I'm not quite clear what it is but it's definitely harder and stronger than most of the silos.
Mayfield encountered similar structure(the one at top right) at mid to high end EF4(based on contextual and tree falling pattern) but did no harm to it.
IMG_20220114_030611.jpg
However, this is what Parkersburg had done.It seems as if the whole tank was pushed hard by the extreme force of winds(or at least some heavy objects impacted it at very high speed)
IMG_20220111_120446.jpg
Some vague but rare photos shot near Oelwin IA, which I believe it was from Parkersburg's latter part of its lifespan.
IMG_20220112_032826.jpgIMG_20220112_032847.jpgIMG_20220112_033017.jpg
This is near New Hartford.
IMG_20220111_124205.jpg
Some other car damage in or out of town

IMG_20220111_223154.jpgIMG_20220111_224742.jpgIMG_20220111_224816.jpgIMG_20220111_122331.jpg
 
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eric11

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I remember having published This photo in this thread before but still gonna publish one more time, this is the ground scouring of Pakersburg on a windward slope.
mmexport1642102075358.png
Rubber coating of concrete telephone poles been peeled
mmexport1642102086559.png
Some other rare photos
This was to the east of Parkersburg
mmexport1642101950871.jpg
This is near Dunkerton, the end of its path
mmexport1642101940254.jpg
This is near new Hartford, I guess
mmexport1642102014374.jpg
Extreme car and contextual near the EF5 applying house in North New Hartford
IMG_20220111_123325.jpgIMG_20220111_125420.jpg
 

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It's astonishing what Parkersburg did to this type of structure(this big white storage tank?), I'm not quite clear what it is but it's definitely harder and stronger than most of the silos.
Mayfield encountered similar structure(the one at top right) at mid to high end EF4(based on contextual and tree falling pattern) but did no harm to it.
View attachment 11810
However, this is what Parkersburg had done.It seems as if the whole tank was pushed hard by the extreme force of winds(or at least some heavy objects impacted it at very high speed)
View attachment 11811
Some vague but rare photos shot near Oelwin IA, which I believe it was from Parkersburg's latter part of its lifespan.
View attachment 11812View attachment 11813View attachment 11814
This is near New Hartford.
View attachment 11815
Some other car damage in or out of town

View attachment 11816View attachment 11817View attachment 11818View attachment 11819
My guess with the white tank at Parkersburg is that is was empty or not very full but the tank at Mayfield was full with some sort of substance; Parkersburg encountered a farm at one point and demolished some grain bins that were empty but the full ones were only partially damaged.
 
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