Tornadoes Rip Through Minnesota, Iowa
May 26, 2008
On Sunday a massive storm system including several destructive tornadoes passed through Minnesota and Iowa. A tornado in the St. Paul suburb of Hugo, MN, killed a two-year-old boy and left more than 40 homes in ruins. A tornado that passed through Parkersburg, IA, caused even more damage, killing four in Parkersburg and two in neighboring New Hartford. More than 222 homes were destroyed in the storm, heavily affecting the town of only 1,900 residents. Read More
American Red Cross Resources
- General Info
- Hugo, Minnesota
- Parkersburg, Iowa
About the Tornado Archive
Find more about Tornadoes by searching the archive
Newspaper articles about tornadoes tell stories of the destruction and devastation wrought from some of the earth's most violent storms. From the first recorded American tornado at Rehobeth, Massachusetts, in 1671 to the killer storms that tore through the central United States on April 2, 2006, tornadoes continue to affect the US in a very real way. Even the destructive Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast, spawned the most tornadoes ever reported on a single day in August in Georgia.
The United States has seen thousands of tornadoes since the first recorded twister in 1671. Tornadoes have been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damages. While no state is free from the threat of tornadoes, the most damaging tornadoes generally occur in the part of the nation known as Tornado Alley, which encompasses the lowland areas of the Mississippi, the Ohio and lower Missouri River Valleys, as well as the Southeast.
NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest database of historic newspapers online, is providing a free archive on tornadoes. The archive includes stories of tornadoes that have destroyed entire towns, as in the case of Glazier, Texas, in 1947 and severely damaged major cities, such as Waco, Texas, in 1953, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1999 and St. Louis, Missouri, in 1896. You will also find articles about some of the largest and costliest storms in American history, such as the Tri-State Tornado of 1925. Click on the timeline above to view newspapers in chronological order or begin searching the newspaper pages with your own key words.
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In May of 1974 The Charleston Daily Mail reported 148 tornadoes struck 13 states across the South and Midwest. The twisters claimed the lives of 350 and caused $600 million in damage.
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