5. 1936 Tornado Outbreak near Gainesville and Tupelo
On April 5 and 6, 1936 a series of tornadoes raged across the American south, with confirmed tornadoes occurring in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas. The storms varied in strength from Force 2 to Force 5. A storm cell near Tupelo, Mississippi, spawned several storms, including one which killed over two hundred people alone and caused an additional 700 injuries, as well as massive structural damage to the city. The following day, April 6, a storm cell gave birth to tornadoes in Gainesville, Georgia. Two tornadoes swept into the city, grew together near the town’s Grove Street, and destroyed much of the downtown area and over 700 homes. More than 200 were killed in the Gainesville storms, during which at least three separate tornadoes swept through the city’s neighborhoods.
Gainesville’s Cooper Pants factory was destroyed by the storms, with at least 70 workers trapped inside the burning remains of the building after it was crushed by the winds. All of them were killed in the rubble. As the storm system moved to the east it continued to produce tornadoes which devastated the communities in its path. Letters which had been posted at the Gainesville Post Office were found as far away as Anderson, South Carolina, more than seventy miles away. The tornado scourge lasted about 16 hours, and at least twelve separate storms occurred, though in all likelihood several more took place in rural areas. More than 450 were killed, 2,500 injured, and untold thousands rendered homeless, or unemployed because their place of employment was destroyed. The system which created the tornadoes also produced heavy rains which created flash floods, adding to the overall destruction in its wake.