Juliett Bravo Kilo
Member
The deadliest tornado of the May 1917 tornado outbreak sequence was the infamous Mattoon-Charleston F4. This large and violent tornado likely began either in Shelby County or near Modesto. The tornado would then plow through the town of Mattoon. Numerous homes in the northern half of the town were completely leveled, trees were debarked, and 53 people were killed. Charleston was the second town to be hit by this monster tornado and was almost as equally devastated as Mattoon was. Here a farmhouse just outside of town was "splintered" with the people inside it being blown away and killed, multiple industrial plants were destroyed, and many homes were leveled. Not as many people were killed in Charleston as in Mattoon but it was still an enormous loss with 38 dead. The small town of Westervelt was also hit by this tornado or a previous one from the same family. A 150-ft wide swath was reportedly "swept clear of homes" with 4-6 deaths. Many of the homes in that town were reportedly new and well-built.
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Never seen a picture of a tornado from that storm until now....Mattoon was likely a tornado family fyi.