1950 — Mar 26-27, wind/dust storms, esp. auto deaths, southwest, midwest, south, east– 19
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard, 8-28-2023, for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–19 Blanchard tally of fatality from State and locality breakouts below.
–17 High winds
–8 Dust storms occasioned by high winds lead to low visibility road accidents.
–1 Electrocution; high winds topple power lines; woman comes
in contact.
–3 Trees fall due to high winds, crushing victims.
–1 High wind topples water tower crushing man beneath.
–4 Fire; 60mph winds fan, if not start a fire, out of control.
— 2 Unclear; car goes into icy creek during storm in Maine.
— 9 UP. “Wind, Dust Storms Take Nine Lives…Kansas…Texas.” Ruston Daily Leader, LA. 3-27-1950, p1.
— 8 AP. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p. 1.
Kansas (4)
–4 AP. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p. 1.
–4 AP. “Four Killed In Storm Crashes.” The Hutchinson News-Herald, KS, 3-27-1950, p. 1.
–1 Elyria. Mrs. H. G. Brandt, of Wichita.
–1 Moundridge area crash. Clarence Parks of Mound Ridge.
–2 Salena area. 10-car pileup killing Mr. and Mrs. Waclaw Kolcz.
Louisiana (1)
–1 High wind topples power line; woman comes into contact with fence, is electrocuted.[1]
Maine (2)
–2 During “a southeast storm…car plunged into an icy creek” killing two boys.[2]
Missouri (2)
–2 Kansas City, south of, 26th. High wind topples “giant tree” crushing two small boys.[3]
Nebraska (1)
–1 AP. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p. 1.
–1 Davenport area, Hwy 4. Autos collide in poor visibility due to dust storm; Mrs. W. Lang, 46.[4]
New Mexico (4) indirect[5]
–4 Gallup area. Fire. 60-mph winds “whipped through a wooden house” fanning flames.[6]
–4 Navajo Indian children and their babysitter.
Ohio (2)
–2 AP. “Spring Storm Fury Ebbs…Raging Winds In North and East Area.” The Iola Register, KS, 3-28-1950, p.1.
–1 High wind topples water tower pinning and killing a man.
–1 High wind topples tree, killing man below.
Texas (3)
–3 AP. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p. 1.
–3 UP. “Wind, Dust Storms Take Nine Lives in Kansas and Texas.” Ruston Daily Leader, LA. 3-27-1950, p1.
–1 Amarillo, 26th. Blowing dust, car crash injuring six, killing Mrs. Nora Shurts, 44.
–2 Lubbock, 26th. Blowing dust, head-on collision; Jack E. Stockstill, 31; Cecil Fox, 27.
Narrative Information
March 27, AP: “Howling Winds Sweep East Across Nation. By The Associated Press
“Blinding dust storms swept Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas Sunday [March 25], causing at least four deaths in Kansas highway accidents and damage to crop lands over the area. Reports from many sections told of highway collisions as the dirt-laden clouds rolled across highways and rural roads. Some communities were entirely cut off from highway traffic as officials sought to block off the most dangerous routes. Prairie fires also developed from the high winds. For a time, the town of Copan in northern Oklahoma was threatened by a blaze fanned by 50 miles an hour wind.
“The storm started Saturday and Sunday rolled northeastward through Kansas. High winds also buffeted Colorado and Wyoming and blizzard conditions prevailed in some sections.
“Worst dust-blamed accident in Kansas was a 10-car pileup near Saline in which Mr. and Mrs. Waclaw Kolcz, Polish displaced persons were killed. They were in route to mass with their four small children. The children escaped without critical injury….Sheriff Fred Bell, Saline, said the Kolcz car, eight other passenger vehicles and a truck smashed together in a blinding storm on US40, 10 miles west of Salina. Most of the people in the other cars escaped unhurt. The Kolcz family came to the United States about a year ago.
“Clarence Parks, Moundridge, was killed in another crash near his home and Mrs. Ho. G. Brandt, Wichita, was fatally injured in a smash-up at Elyria. Injured seriously in the headon collision near Moundridge were Park’s wife, Susie; Dora Schmidt, Minnie Schmidt, and E. R. Palmer, Loveland, Colo. ….
“Mrs. Brandt died in a three-vehicle pileup at Elyria which also injured her daughter, Betty Brandt, 26; Florentine Doll, Wichita; Mrs. Richard Curtiss and her son, Anthony, 2, Arkansas City….
“It was one of the most intense storms on record in the Great Plains area. By Monday morning it is expected to affect weather conditions in two-thirds of the nation. Howling cyclonic winds developed in the massive low pressure trough which pushed the barometer to depths never before recorded. Giant dust gales moved over a half dozen states, reducing visibility to near zero as the front of the storm rolled rapidly in a northeasterly direction.
“Numerous highway accidents occurred and in mid-afternoon roads were virtually closed to all traffic in the Ellsworth, Salina, McPherson, Wichita areas.
“The dusters moved out of eastern Colorado and Western Kansas as speedily as they had materialized. At 5 p.m. Sunday while sustained winds of 50 miles an hour blew in Hutchinson and gusts of 64 miles an hour were measured in Kansas City, LaJunta, Colo., had almost dead calm with only 5-mile-an-hour winds and visibility of more than 15 miles.
“Both Garden City and Dodge City reported winds back to normal after having experienced sustained blows of better than 50 mph and gusts of more than 60 mph for two hours in mid-morning….
“The winds were even more violent in eastern Kansas. At Topeka top velocity was gauged at 80 miles during the morning and 75 miles an hour in the afternoon while the barometer went to a record low of 28.96 inches – sea level reading. Roofs were blown off buildings and many trees were uprooted in the Topeka area while shingles were ripped completely off south sides of houses and bars in rural areas….
“Three Navajo Indian youngsters and their teen-age baby-sitter died Saturday in flames which 60-mile winds whipped through a wooden house near Gallup, N. Mex.
(Associated Press. “Four Killed In Storm Crashes.” The Hutchinson News-Herald, KS, 3-27-1950, p. 1.)
March 27, AP: “Kansas City. March 27.- (AP) – Blinding dust storms, whipped by gale-like winds, swirled over wide areas of the plains states Sunday. So thick was the dust pall that eight highway fatalities were blamed on the choking clouds. Approximately 50 persons were injured in automobile accidents in Kansas and Texas alone.
“Rich top soil over thousands of acres was blown away. The winds also caused some damage to buildings and fanned prairie fires….
“High winds swept over Oklahoma. Texas, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico and Nebraska. But it was Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas that took the brunt of the dust storms. Four of the fatal accidents occurred in Kansas and three in Texas. Nebraska also reported a fatality….
“Kansas highway patrol officers closed off some routes because of the dust hazard. As many as 10 automobiles were involved in a single pileup. Officers said they considered five miles an hour a safe driving speed in the worst spots. The winds averaged 40 miles an hour, but gusts of up to 80 miles an hour were reported.” (AP. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p.1.)
March 28, AP: “The weather’s violent spring spree, killing at least six persons and causing heavy property damage Monday, simmered down slightly Tuesday. Storms in the midwest, the south and the great plains dealt snow, rain, sleet, hail, floods, dust blizzards, and gale strength winds in various sections of the nation. In the wale of these Monday [March 27] disturbances came colder temperatures and more winds.
“In Maine, a southeast storm which killed two persons continued a second day Tuesday. The victims were two boys whose car plunged into an icy creek.
“The south listed one dead and 53 hurt in spring storms, and Ohio’s high winds killed two men – one pinned by a falling water tower and the other by a toppled tree. In the south, a woman was killed at New Iberia, Ia., when she touched a fence charged by a fallen power line.
The intense snow-sleet-rain and wind storm that whipped across the western plains and into the north-central region appeared diminishing as it moved eastward. It left in its wake blankets of snow over areas of Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Drifts piled seven feet in parts of North Dakota.
“The dust storms which caused heavy damage to wheat crops in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska eased but there still was dust in then air in parts of Texas.
“Rain, wind and dust storms buffeted thee south Monday. Scores were injured and property damage was heavy. The gale-like winds and rain extended over areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana. Winds of 70 to 100 MPH swirled across a 700-mile front of Louisiana and Arkansas. Small craft warnings were hoisted from Texas to the Florida keys and to Cape Hatteras, N.C.” (Associated Press. “Spring Storm Fury Ebbs. Cold In On Heels Of Raging Winds In North and East Area.” The Iola Register, KS, 3-28-1950, p. 1.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Dust Storms Swirl Over…” Independent Record, Helena, MT. 3-27-1950, p. 1. Accessed 8-27-1023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/independent-record-mar-27-1950-p-1/
Associated Press. “Four Killed In Storm Crashes.” The Hutchinson News-Herald, KS, 3-27-1950, p. 1. Accessed 8-27-2023 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/hutchinson-news-herald-mar-27-1950-p-15/
Associated Press. “Six States Struck By Dust Storms.” Clovis News-Journal, NM, 3-27-1950, p. 1. Accessed 8-28-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/clovis-news-journal-mar-27-1950-p-1/
Associated Press. “Spring Storm Fury Ebbs. Cold In On Heels Of Raging Winds In North and East Area.” The Iola Register, KS, 3-28-1950, p. 1. Accessed 8-27-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/iola-register-mar-28-1950-p-1/
Associated Press. “Three Met Death in Traffic Accidents Over The Weekend.” The Fairbury Daily News, NE, 3-27-1950, p.1. Accessed 8-28-2023 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/the-fairbury-daily-news-mar-27-1950-p-2/
United Press. “Wind, Dust Storms Take Nine Lives in Kansas and Texas.” Ruston Daily Leader, LA. 3-27-1950, p.1. Accessed 8-28-2023 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/ruston-daily-leader-mar-27-1950-p-1/
[1] AP. “Spring Storm Fury Ebbs…Raging Winds In North and East Area.” The Iola Register, KS, 3-28-1950, p. 1.
[2] AP. “Spring Storm Fury Ebbs…Raging Winds In North and East Area.” The Iola Register, KS, 3-28-1950, p. 1.
[3] Victims identified as Philip Bell, 9, and Kenneth Bell, 7. UP. “Wind, Dust Storms Take Nine Lives in Kansas and Texas.” Ruston Daily Leader, LA. 3-27-1950, p.1.
[4] AP. “Three Met Death in Traffic Accidents Over The Weekend.” The Fairbury Daily News, NE, 3-27-1950, p.1.
[5] “Winds…contributed indirectly to the deaths of four children Saturday night. Sixty-mile gust whipped flames through a wooden house near Gallup, N.M., burning to death three Navajo Indian youngsters and their teen-age baby sitter. Chimney sparks were believed to have started the fire.” (Associated Press. “Six States Struck By Dust Storms.” Clovis News-Journal, NM, 3-27-1950, p. 1.)
[6] Associated Press. “Four Killed In Storm Crashes.” The Hutchinson News-Herald, KS, 3-27-1950, p. 1.
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