Portal:Tornadoes/Anniversaries/May 30

May 30

• 1879 – A major tornado outbreak hit the Midwestern United States, with the worst effects in Kansas, killing at least 36 people. The event was studied extensively by John Park Finley. The greatest loss of life was from a long-track tornado family that killed 18 people on a track from near Randolph, Kansas to Dawson Mills in Richardson County, Nebraska, including nine people in the devastation of Irving, Kansas and five on farms near Frankfort, Kansas. A second tornado, estimated at F2 strength, struck Irving, killing five people.
• 1909 – An F4 tornado carved a 50-yard-wide path of destruction through Zephyr, Texas, killing at least 34 people. Twenty-eight homes, six businesses, two churches, and a school were destroyed, with many homes swept away. The death toll was likely higher, as many people were critically injured when the death toll of 34 was reported.
• 1917 – A major tornado outbreak struck Missouri with lesser effects in Illinois, killing at least 65 people. A pair of intense tornadoes on parallel paths killed 26 people across Carter, Butler, Wayne, and Bollinger Counties. The stronger of the two, rated F4, killed 18 people in the devastation of Dongola and Zalma. The other, estimated at F3 strength, killed eight people on two farms near Chaonia.