At 6 pm on April 25, 1957, two patrolmen were driving in northern Saline County outside the community of Friend. It was a routine evening for the men. They couldn't help but notice an "ugly cloud formation" off to their southwest. At first, the men were puzzled, but it soon became apparent as to what it was. It was a tornado, clear as day, and heading northeast. The two patrolmen passed along their report to the State Patrol Headquarters, who passed it along to the Weather Bureau office in Lincoln.
25 minutes later, a violent F-4 tornado slammed into the community of Milford in Seward County. Many homes were damaged with a few destroyed. It was the hardest hit community in a string of towns from Geneva to Papillion impacted by the tornadoes. In this installment of This Week in Weather History, the Milford tornado is examined, one that went down in Nebraska history as one of the most violent tornadoes to impact the state up until that point.
THE WEATHER SET-UP
1957 was a wicked year for tornadoes. Up to that point, it was the most active tornado year in US history, beating out the historic 1953 tornado season for the top spot. Almost every month, major tornado outbreaks swept through the United States. The first tornado outbreak occurred on January 21-22 when 16 tornadoes occurred from Oklahoma to Tennessee. After a lull in February, tornado activity began again with a tornado outbreak near Houston TX on March 17. Several more tornadoes occurred in the Deep South as March 1957 ended.
On April 2, an F-3 tornado moved north over Dallas, TX. This tornado was unusual in that it was widely photographed and filmed. With the advent of film cameras in the 1950s, the Dallas tornado became one of the first well-videoed tornadoes in history. The wealth of documentary evidence allowed meteorologists to study the storm and derive many conclusions. The Dallas tornado of 1957 would pave the way for a better understanding of tornadoes.
Tornado activity continued into April. Outbreak after outbreak pummeled the southeast US with tornadoes. Tornado season had been quiet for Nebraska, but it was about to roar to life on April 25.
On that day, a cold front was sweeping through Nebraska. Ahead of the front, warm and moist air began returning from the Gulf of Mexico over the central US. This provided the ingredients for severe storms. In 1957, radar was primitive as well as satellite, so data on how many storms formed is sparse. We know at least 2 storms fired south of Hastings, one of them went on to produce the Milford tornado, and the other dropped a tornado near Geneva.
THE MILFORD TORNADO
The tornado that would impact Milford began north of Geneva, about 40 miles east of Hastings. At first, the tornado only crossed over rural areas of Fillmore County before crossing into Saline County. The tornado gathered strength as it approached Highway 6 near Friend, but would ultimately pass to the north of town. It was right about here that the patrolmen spotted the tornado and radioed ahead to warn those in the path, including Milford.
76-year-old Paul Cast lived alone on a farm about 10 miles southwest of Milford. The tornado impacted his farm directly, leading to his death. He would be the only fatality of the tornado, while 8 others were injured.
In Milford, the patrolman radioed Lincoln, who called Milford to warn the town. Eirene Brandhorst was the phone operator that evening and was the first to get word of the tornado. She called Milford Fire Chief William Rumler to get the town warned. Rumler rode through town blasting his siren urging those to take shelter as the storm approached. So they did.
One eye-witness described it as "a fast-moving parade" as residents got into their cars to flee outside the town. Some took shelter in their home, while others fled to the trade school (now Southeast Community College) to shelter in the tunnels connecting the buildings. Minutes later, the tornado rampaged through the southeast side of town where Highway 6 goes through the city.
Homes were smashed, and some were only left with their foundations. Brick buildings were reduced to rubble. At the trade school, one dorm building had its roof torn off while another had minor damage. Trees were snapped, many stripped bare of branches. The tornado did its work in under 60 seconds, moving off to the east after. 49 homes were destroyed with another 99 damaged to varying degrees, most of these occurring at Milford. Due to the early warning, only a handful of injuries were reported, and there were no fatalities in the city.
The tornado likely lifted north of Pleasant Dale, but the supercell was not done dropping twisters. A few farms were damaged north of Lincoln, perhaps due to a weak tornado. Another tornado dipped west of Ashland, destroying a barn two miles west of town. The tornado again dipped south of Papillion, damaging two barns. Despite reports of funnel clouds over Omaha, no tornado came from them. The storm weakened over Iowa.
Within minutes after the tornado passed, hundreds of people flocked to the town to assist in any way they could. For the next few weeks, debris was cleaned up, and rebuilding began. By the first anniversary of the tornado, most of Milford was rebuilt, although one can still notice the spots where there were no trees.
Less than a month later, on May 20, another tornado passed near Milford going west of Lincoln. This tornado was much weaker, but it was another aspect of the active tornado season of 1957. That same day, an F-5 tornado slammed into the Kansas City suburb of Ruskin Heights, destroying much of the town. Another F-5 tornado leveled parts of Fargo, North Dakota a month later. The year ended on an active note, with a tornado outbreak in southern Illinois on December 18. The third and final F-5 tornado of the year occurred on that day, the farthest north F-5 in December, the tornado hit the small town of Sunfield in Illinois. It was a grisly end to the most active tornado season up to that point.
