April 11, 1965 was grim in many Indiana towns… places like Marion, Kokomo, and Goshen. The picture you see below, via NOAA, is a shot of the famous Elkhart, Indiana “double tornado” that killed 36 people during the “Palm Sunday Tornado” outbreak. Seven of the ten tornadoes that day were killers, and took 137 lives between 4:45 and 6:30pm. Over 1,500 were injured in the state. This was the fourth deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history and the deadliest of all Indiana outbreaks. All these tornadoes occurred during the late afternoon and early evening on a balmy Palm Sunday.
In Indiana, 137 people were killed and over 1,200 injured by ten tornadoes during the late afternoon and evening hours that day. Indiana was one of six Midwest states to be raked by deadly tornadoes. In all, 47 tornadoes killed 271 people.
The first tornado of the day occurred at about 1 p.m. local time in Clinton County, Iowa. Later rated an F4 (with winds between 207-260 mph) on the Fujita tornado intensity scale, the twister was an omen of what was to come for the rest of the day.
By late afternoon, the storm system began to intensify over Indiana and spawned several killer tornadoes. Indiana’s first tornado touched down around 5:30 p.m., in Koontz Lake. The F4 tornado killed ten people and injured 180. Another tornado in Wakarusa, Ind., tore through the Midway Trailer Park. A third tornado touchdown occurred near Goshen, Ind., where only home foundations indicated that there was once life in the Rainbow Lake community.
Tornadoes continued to develop, and the only F5 tornado (with winds of 261-318 mph) of the day occurred near Elkhart, Ind. Some accounts indicated the famous “double tornado” hit the Sunnyside subdivision killing 36 people, while other eyewitnesses said it actually hit the Midway trailer park. High winds had taken out telephone and electrical lines, leaving residents with no way of receiving warnings of the tornado. With telephone lines down, emergency personnel in Elkhart could not warn southern Michigan communities of the danger approaching their area. A second tornado struck minutes later near Goshen at Rainbow Lake. Another tornado formed just south of South Bend and tracked to just south of Elkhart. This tornado killed 45 in the town of Dunlap and 33 of those killed were at a trailer park. Other Northern Indiana locations hit by tornadoes included Lapaz, Koontz Lake, Wyatt, Wakarusa and Wanatah.
At least four tornadoes swept through Central Indiana during the evening between Indianapolis, Lafayette and Fort Wayne. One touched down just southeast of Lafayette and moved to near Moran. Another formed near Middlefork, destroyed much of Russiaville and Alto and passed across the southern part of Kokomo, through Greentown, and into southern parts of Marion before dissipating near Arcana. The tornado was reported as 800 yards wide near Kokomo. That twister killed 25 people. The tornado reformed near Roll and passed through Berne before leaving Indiana. Multiple tornadoes were seen near Kokomo, Marion and Berne. The last tornado struck just southeast of Crawfordsville moved north of Lebanon and through Sheridan before it lifted between Cicero and Arcadia.
The storm system rolled to the east and tornadoes moved from Indiana into Ohio, wreaking havoc along the way. A double tornado was spotted near Toledo. In Michigan, tornadoes hit as far north as Ottawa County, just east of Grand Rapids. All but three of the southern tier Michigan counties (Berrien, Cass and St. Joseph) were hit by tornadoes. Near Detroit, a mile-wide tornado hit Milan, Mich. Among other damage, the tornado destroyed Wolverine Plastics, the town’s top employer.
When officials of the U. S. Weather Bureau (known today as the National Weather Service) investigated the high number of fatalities, they were somewhat surprised by the reason—a failure in communicating the approaching storms to the public and community officials. Tornado Watches or Tornado Forecasts as they were called at the time were out well in advance. Tornado warnings were also considered excellent. Many people did not receive the warnings, because they were outside.
At that time, the weather radars were few and far between. The 1950s-vintage radars (converted from aviation use) were only able to identify tornadoes if they picked up the tell-tale “hook echo” characteristic, but the radars weren’t to blame. The danger in the storm system was identified early on and the Bureau disseminated warning information quickly. However, most of the public never received the warnings and those that did could not tell the difference between a forecast and an alert.
To reduce public confusion, the Weather Service launched its current Tornado Watch (conditions are prime for tornado development) and Tornado Warning (a tornado is on the ground or eminent) program. The agency began a massive public education effort to help prevent a repeat of the terrible toll of the Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak.
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