7. The tri-state tornado of 1925
In March of 1925 a series of tornadoes struck the Midwestern and several southern states, with a least a dozen known tornadoes causing significant damage at the cost of human life. A single tornado which became known as the tri-state tornado was the most significant. It traveled an estimated 235 miles across the states of Missouri where it formed, Illinois, and deep into Indiana before its trail of destruction came to an end. It was the longest traveled tornado in history. In its wake it left behind at least 695 dead, making it the deadliest tornado in American history, and has been equated to a Force 5 tornado, though the designation was not in use at the time it occurred. The tornado formed in the early afternoon and continued to move for just over three and a half hours.
Beginning in Shannon County in Missouri the storm set off to the east and slightly north, with anything in its path destroyed. By the time it crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois it had already killed a dozen people and carried with it much of the debris it had caused. The town of Gotham, Illinois was completely destroyed. The town of Parrish was likewise completely destroyed, never to be rebuilt. The tornado swept across the Wabash River into Indiana, leaving 613 dead in Illinois, giving the state the dubious distinction of having suffered the worst rate of deaths from a tornado event in America. More died in Indiana before the tornado came to an end near Pershing, Indiana just after 4.30 that afternoon. It had destroyed nine school buildings (killing 72 students), countless homes and farms, and obliterated whole towns on its trek to the east.