Joplin High School in Joplin, Mo. always holds graduation ceremonies in the high school. However, in early May 2011, it was moved to another location due to the higher-than-usual crowds watching their loved ones graduate. This venue change meant that on May 22, the day of graduation, hundreds of people were in another location when an EF-5 tornado tore through the high school. It is one of these seemingly ordinary changes that can have huge consequences, and this likely saved hundreds of lives in Joplin that day.
Stories such as these, while sometimes not on that grand of a scale, happen all the time in extreme situations. In Pilger, back in 2014, the decision to turn around and sound the tornado sirens likely saved lives. Several of these events occurred in Thurston County back in 1928 when a tornado had it out for schools across the country. From tales of warning schools to narrow escapes, the Thurston County tornado of 1928 still retains a significant place in history. In this installment of This Week in Weather History, let's head to the schoolhouses of Thurston County to look at how a deadly tornado could have been so much worse.
SEPTEMBER 13, 1928: THE SET-UP
September 1928 had started on a cooler note for Omaha and northeast Nebraska. Temperatures on the first week of September were mostly in the 70s, with one day dropping into the 60s. On Sept. 11, a cold front brought heavy rain to eastern Nebraska, with 2.08" recorded in Omaha which caused some localized flooding. After a cooler day on Sept. 12, Sept. 13 it was very warm in Omaha, reaching a high of 88.
The forecast in the Omaha World-Herald on Sept.13 stated: "For Omaha and vicinity - Unsettled tonight and Friday, probably showers; cooler". Indeed, there was a cold front heading in the direction of eastern Nebraska. That cold front was being driven by a strong low-pressure system, something not commonly seen in September. It was warm and windy, with wind gusts reaching 20-30 mph at times ahead of the cold front in Nebraska. The low-pressure system was over southeast South Dakota, providing extra directional wind shear (the turning of the winds with height) across northeast Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, and northwest Iowa. This was the target region for several powerful tornadoes to move through the vicinity of Sioux City.
THE TORNADO
The school bells rang in the morning on Sept.13, calling the students of Thurston and Dakota Counties in for school. During the day, young schoolteachers began teaching their lessons. At the James School, a few miles east of Pender, Miss Dorothy Smith was teaching unconcerned about the weather outside. Sure, it looked stormy, but it was September and bad weather does not always happen in September. This was the same feeling that Miss Phyllis Stewart probably felt at the Lamere School, seven miles northeast not too far from Walthill. Finally, up in Homer in Dakota County at the O'Connor School, Miss Helen Rooney felt the same way, although she was more weary of thunderstorms than the other teachers. What these teachers who probably did not know one another at the time was they were about to face the wrath of the tornado which touched down between 3:30 and 4 p.m. that afternoon.
The tornado first touched down southwest of Pender, in far northern Cuming County. As it moved towards Pender, the tornado took its first life of a carpenter from Omaha who was working on a farm home when the tornado likely surprised him. He would be the first of five people to lose their lives, but it could have been much worse.
At the James School, Dorothy Smith was teaching her students when the rain and hail began, she noted the slight concern on the kid's faces but did not think much out of the ordinary. The school sat downhill, meaning if anything was coming they could not see it until it was too late. A mile away, 20-year-old farmer Dale Larson was also watching the sky when he saw the tornado coming up east of Pender. Knowing it was heading for the school, Larson hopped into his Ford and sped towards the school two minutes away. He burst through the door yelling "Cyclone!" and gathered the children into the storm cellar. Larson brought down a jump rope, which it tied to the door handle as the tornado roared overhead, silent after 60 seconds. Emerging from the cellar, the entire school save for the swing set was gone, obliterated. Dale Larson and Miss Smith's cars were hurled and mangled, and the bell on Smith's desk was found three miles away. Due to the quick-thinking actions of Larson, not a single soul at the James School had a scratch on them.
The tornado continued northeast through Thurston County, next coming upon the Lamere School. Ed Keyser lived near the school where he expressed concern about the bubbling clouds overhead. Worried, he began walking to the school to pick his son up when he saw the tornado approaching. Arriving and warning the students, they all ducked beneath their desks as the tornado's roar could be heard. Unlike the James School, there was no cellar at the Lamere School, so everyone had to hold on and pray. To calm the nerves of the students, Miss Phyllis Smith began playing the piano and singing, but that only lasted a few seconds before the tornado struck. For several seconds it was chaos of screaming children and flying objects, including a horse that flew overhead the school (it survived). Of the 23 students at the school, two lost their lives and the others were injured. Despite the tragedy, if they had not been warned by Keyser ahead of time and dove under desks, the death toll could probably have been higher. Miss Smith suffered extensive injuries, but she recovered to teach another day.
Between the Lamere School and the O'Connor School, several farm homes were completely razed to the ground. This has led tornado expert Thomas Grazulis, who has extensively documented American tornadoes, to give this tornado a post-mortem F-4 rating with wind speeds over 200 mph. However, Grazulis does not leave out the possibility the tornado reached the F-5 status with winds over 260 mph, but due to the lack of data, this will never be truly known. Those farmers who saw the tornado ran over to the schools, and thus no one was killed between the Lamere and O'Connor Schools.
At the O'Connor School, at the first sign of trouble in the southwest a local farmer went to the school and picked up the kids. Helen Rooney, the 19-year-old teacher, did not follow them as she wanted to finish up plans for the next day, a fatal decision. The children were taken to a residence, not aware that many minutes later the school they were at was destroyed. Helen Rooney's final moments will never be known, her body was found 100 feet away with the doorknob to the school in her hand with a book in the other. Whether she was attempting to hold the door closed or run to escape will never be known.
The final death was of a three-month-old infant who was taken from its mother's arms, a horrific tragedy during the tornado.
The tornado continued through Dakota County, grazing the west side of Dakota City before dissipating just a few miles south of Sioux City. In Sioux City, debris in the form of corn stalks and dirt rained over the town. School supplies were found over 50 miles away in northwest Iowa. As well, the photograph of one of the children from the Lamere School in Thurston County was found 110 miles away from the site on a golf course in Sheldon, Iowa. In all, 66 homes were either damaged or destroyed. In the aftermath of the tornado, 50,000 people visited the damage scene either to sightsee or assist. The Red Cross also was involved in the recovery efforts. By the next few years, most of the homes and schools had been rebuilt.
The Thurston County tornado was not the only tornado that day, as others were reported across northeast Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, and northwest Iowa. The other violent tornado touched down north of Yankton, S. D., hitting the town of Davis not too far away from Sioux Falls. Four people were killed and 19 others injured in that tornado.
