Oklahoma tornado outbreak
The Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak from May 3-6, 1999 was one of the worst natural disasters in the United States.
On May 3, swept within eleven hours more than 70 tornadoes across Texas , Oklahoma and Kansas time. The small town of Bridge Creek, about 25 miles southwest of Oklahoma City , was hit worst. A tornado of magnitude F5 (see Fujita tornado scale ) destroyed the place in just 15 minutes . Many people sought refuge in the school gym, one of the few remaining buildings. Numerous people suffered severe injuries from flying debris and objects. The tornado, which lasted two hours and was 1.6 km wide, is at 511 km / h the tornado with the highest wind speed ever recorded. At 496 ± 33 km / h, measured by a mobile Doppler radar at 6:54 p.m. at Bridge Creek, it was in the upper range of class F5 on the Fujita scale; the upper error limit even extends into the F6 range.
A total of 48 people were killed that day, 36 of them killed by the Bridge Creek tornado. Over 10,500 residential buildings and businesses were destroyed. Property damage totaled over $ 1.2 billion, the largest property damage ever caused by a single tornado in United States history.
A thunderstorm front with such devastating storms has only occurred in May 1999 in Oklahoma. Meteorologists and scientists even assume that some of these tornadoes have reached magnitude F 6 on the scale. However, there are no more precise measurement results.
To date, there have been no more storms of this magnitude in Oklahoma or across the United States.
Destroyed residential area
Destroyed car
Individual evidence
- ^ The Great Plains Tornado Outbreak of May 3-4, 1999 - Storm A Information ( English ) NOAA US Department of Commerce. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
