3, NW MS–23

lornajarrettblanchard February 1, 1955

— 30 AP. “Delta Twisters Kill 30, Injure 100.” Hattiesburg American, MS. 2-2-1955, p. 1.
— 23 Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 985.
— 23 Weather Bureau. Climatological Data National Summary. Vol. 6, No. 2, Feb 1955, p. 3.
–20 Commerce Landing
— 3 Holly Springs area

Narrative Information

Grazulis: “MS FEB 1, 1955 1420 20k 141inj 600y 8m F3. TUNICA/DESOTO [counties] — Seen first as a ‘well defined cone-shaped funnel’ over the Mississippi River, this tornado cut a path from Commerce Landing, 5m W of Robinsonville, to Clark. Most of the deaths were in a plantation school, and several people died in the 45 tenant homes that were destroyed. About 50 other homes were damaged. The school was rebuilt, and named after the teacher who lost her life trying to get the children into ditches along the road. Her car was carried 300 yards. The body of one dead child was carried over a half mile. Despite the fact that a funnel was seen, that heavy objects were thrown long distances, and that the tornado was in a forecast box, the event was not officially called a tornado. A survey team stated that since all debris was thrown in one direction, the event should not be listed as a tornado. Mississippi losses this day totaled $300,000. Other probable tornadoes this day, that were not officially listed, included very damaging ones at Huntsville ($450,000), and other locations in northern Alabama.

“MS FEB 1, 1955 1445 3k 25inj 100y 2m F2.DESOTO [county] — Moved E, passing north of Lewisburg. A plantation school between Olive Branch and Lewisburg was destroyed. The teacher and two students were killed. This tornado is also not on official lists.” (Grazulis. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991. 1993, p. 985.)

Weather Bureau. Climatological Data National Summary, Feb 1955: “Destructive Storms. –
The month’s most violent storms developed along a squall line that crossed parts of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama on the 1st. Tornadoes in Tennessee caused $210,000 damage, and strong winds in the other 3 States were responsible for 23 deaths, 189 injuries, and property damage totaling $830,000.” [p. 3.]

“Linesquall began in Arkansas near town of Felton, extending about 75 miles north-south line and moved east-northeastward across northwestern corner of Mississippi and southwestern corner of Tennessee. Hail occurred at scattered places with high winds in counties named, but damage mostly minor, except at Commerce Landing in Tunica County and Lewisburg in DeSoto County. At Commerce Landing path of destruction was ½ to ¾ mile wide and 2 to 3 miles long; in Lewisburg path 100 to 700 feet wide and 3½ miles long. All debris carried eastward and investigation by meteorologists resulted in opinion storm was not a tornado. Deaths were 20 with 141 injured, mostly school children, at Commerce Landing, and 3 deaths with 25 injured at Lewisburg. Near Holly Springs 3 persons injured by high winds. Altogether 99 homes destroyed and 120 badly damaged (most of these were substandard tenant house); 140 other buildings destroyed, and 177 damaged. Moved eastward.” (Weather Bureau. Climatological Data National Summary. Vol. 6, No. 2, Feb 1955, p. 3.)

Newspapers

Feb 2, AP: “Memphis (AP) – A cluster of tornadoes ripped a vicious swath through the mid-South’s ‘tornado alley’ yesterday, flattening scores of buildings, including two school-houses, and leaving an unofficially estimated 30 persons dead and 100 injured. The twister, bursting from furious black clouds boiling up from the Southwest, roared through five small communities in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama. Heavy property damage was reported.

“Only in Mississippi did they kill, hitting a bloody jackpot in thinly-populated areas on the northwestern rim of the state. There was a possibility that name duplication where first names were not available, might lower the reported death toll. But there also was the possibility that it might be higher, with rescue workers hunting through the rubble of tenant farm homes for additional bodies.

“Twenty-seven were reported killed near Commerce Landing, Miss., about 30 miles south of here, including an unidentified Negro girl who died today in a Memphis hospital. Three perished in another twister at Olive Branch, Miss., 18 miles south of Memphis.

“Hop-scotching tornadoes also caused considerable damage near Marianna, Ark., and Huntsville, Ala., but no one was seriously injured.

“Many of the Mississippi dead and injured were schoolchildren.

“The Commerce Landing tornado cut a swath 200 feet wide through the 8,000-acre Leatherman plantation, destroying a row of tenant houses, a Negro church, a school and a cotton gin. W. V. France said the school was whipped away before his eyes, as if a giant hand had snatched it up and tossed both wreckage and bodies into the boiling clouds. ‘Afterward men and women came to the spot,’ he said. ‘They would find a child and come crying up the road with it in their arms. It doesn’t seem possible anybody got out, but they say two little boys did. The school had an enrollment of 45. No one knew how many of the children were in the school when the tornado struck. The teacher was among the battered dead.

“Ten-year-old Ruthie Lee Clark said she was at the Landing school when the giant twister struck. ‘The teacher told us we could go home before the storm got too bad,’ she said. ‘About five of us started up the road when the wind began to blow real hard. We went into a house and it just came apart. I landed about 10 feet away.’ The child suffered facial cuts.

“….Jim Reid, Press-Scimitar photographer-reporter who was sent to the Olive Branch area, said the Negro school there was smashed flat. ‘The roof rested flat on the ground,’ he said. ‘There was nothing but a splintered triangle on a nearby road. The blast of the tornado blew the roof of the school about 40 feet from its foundation. It fell onto the road.’ Mrs. Gladys Jones, 47, the teacher, was killed, along with her son and pupil, Joe Louis Jones, 14. Bobbie Jean Session, 13, was the other victim. There were 19 children in the school when the twister hit. Sixteen were absent because of illness….

“There was no accurate estimate of the number left homeless by the storm. The highway patrol reported about 50 homes destroyed or damaged.

“The tornado cluster first struck the small Arkansas communities of Bruins and Shelton, damaging farm building and tenant houses. Then the midafternoon squall line crossed the Mississippi River. A roaring funnel dipped into the Leatherman and adjoining Abbay plantations at Commerce Landing, then another struck near Holly Springs.” (Associated Press. “Delta Twisters Kill 30, Injure 100.” Hattiesburg American, MS. 2-2-1955, p. 1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Delta Twisters Kill 30, Injure 100.” Hattiesburg American, MS. 2-2-1955, p. 1. Accessed 4-13-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hattiesburg-american-feb-02-1955-p-1/

Grazulis, Thomas P. Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VE: Environmental Films, 1993, 1,326 pages.

Weather Bureau, US Department of Commerce. Climatological Data National Summary. Vol. 6, No. 2, Feb 1955, p. 3. Accessed 4-13-2023 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Climatological_Data_National_Summary/85xlDCYHwNIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Climatological+Data+National+Summary+february+1955&pg=RA1-PA25&printsec=frontcover