1953 — June 7, Tornado, Madsen farm near Arcadia, Nebraska –10-11
–10-11 Blanchard estimate.[1]
–11 Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 973.
–11 NetNebraska.org (Nebraska’s PBS & NPR Stations). Devil Clouds: Tornadoes Strike Nebraska.[2]
–10 Grazulis 2003, xiv.
–10 Levine, Mark. F5. 2007, p. 70.
— 0 Reber. “The South Platte Valley Tornadoes of June 7, 1953.” BAMS, 35/5, May 1954, 191.[3]
Narrative Information
Grazulis: “NE JUN 7, 1953 1515 llk 5inj 500y 10m F4. SHERMANNALLEY—Moved NE from south of Arcadia, passing 3m E of town. Ten of the dead were members of a family killed during a reunion. A car was carried a quarter of a mile through the air. There was F4 level damage to three homes near Arcadia and one in the Hays Creek area. The tornado was said to look like a “whip lashing the ground.” $150,000.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 973.)
June 8: “Arcadia, Neb. (AP)–A tornado wiped out a farm near Arcadia late Sunday [7th] and brought instant death to 10 persons enjoying a Sunday family reunion there. The twister was one of at least five which hop-scotched over widely scattered sections of Nebraska. Dozens of farms were damaged or destroyed, communication lines were downed and several persons were injured, at least one of them seriously. The tornadoes largely bypassed towns and cities. In this Central Nebraska area, the tornado hit at least six farms.
“The deaths were on the Madsen farm five miles east of Arcadia. Assembled for their customary Sunday get-together were the Madsens, three children and five grandchildren. They apparently were in the house and never knew what hit them. So vicious was the tornado that bodies were mangled and scattered as far as half a mile. ‘There wasn’t a stick of anything left on the place,’ said one visitor to the scene. Machinery, animals and buildings were ‘tossed around like feathers,’ said another. A farm just across the road also was leveled but six persons escaped injury by huddling in a storm cellar.
“The dead were Mr. and Mrs. Madsen, about 60; their son, Virgil Madsen, Central City, Neb.; Mrs. Dolly Johnson and her two children Kenneth, 12 and Barbara, 10, and another daughter of the Madsens, Mrs. Jack Witty, and her three children, Patty, 8; Thelma, 12, and Gary, 10.
“Other tornadoes hit areas in the vicinity of Hooper in eastern Nebraska, near David City about 70 miles west of Omaha, and in the Albion area of northeast Nebraska. Still another funnel was sighted near Big Springs along the Colorado-Nebraska border, but no damage from it was reported.
“The Arcadia tornado apparently travelled nearly 50 miles but touched the ground only long enough to flog six farms with its fury. It was first spotted south of Mason City….
“The storm struck at 3:15 p.m. (C.S.T.) Visitors to the Madsen farm had trouble even telling where the house had stood. There was no basement under it….Three automobiles and a pick-up truck were demolished….
“The Lutz’s saw the tornado coming and made for the storm cellar located only six feet from the house. A momentary dead calm was the tip-off that the storm was upon them, Lutz said. Suctin was so strong hands were held over ears to prevent injury.” (Associated Press. “Twister Kills 10 At Arcadia.” Beatrice Daily Sun, NE, 6-8-1953, p. 1.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Twister Kills 10 At Arcadia.” Beatrice Daily Sun, NE, 6-8-1953, p. 1. Accessed 5-14-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/beatrice-daily-sun-jun-08-1953-p-1/
Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.
Levine, Mark. F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the Twentieth Century. New York: Miramax Books, 2007.
NetNebraska.org (Nebraska’s PBS & NPR Stations). Devil Clouds: Tornadoes Strike Nebraska. Accessed 5-14-2019 at: http://netnebraska.org/basic-page/news/devil-clouds-tornadoes-strike-nebraska
Reber, Carl M. (U.S. Weather Bureau, DCP). “The South Platte Valley Tornadoes of June 7, 1953.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 35, No. 5, May 1954, pp. 191-197. Accessed 5-14-2019 at: https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0477-35.5.191
TornadoHistoryProject.com. “Tornadoes on June 7, 1953.” (Nebraska, 11 fatalities). Accessed 5-14-2019 at: http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/tornado/1953/6/7/table
[1] Neither Grazulis nor any other source we have located indicates where an eleventh death occurred.
[2] Cites Grazulis. Since Grazulis is a very reputable and conservative source, we include eleven deaths, but we have only located information of the ten Madsen family deaths.
[3] “They [6 tornadoes] occurred in an area that is very sparsely populated and, except for a few small towns and villages along the highway and a narrow belt of irrigated farm land adjacent to the South Platte River, is largely open range land. As a consequence, there was little property damage and no known loss of life or serious injuries.”