1975 Omaha tornado outbreak
Three people were killed and 133 reported injured. One of the fatalities was thrown by the tornado from her home to a backyard four or five houses away. Debris was found miles away. Over 4,000 buildings were damaged and 287 were destroyed. In terms of damage, it was the costliest tornado in American history to that date, with damages costing at least $250 million to $300 million (around $1.7 billion in 2015 dollars), and insurance costs estimated at up to $1.1 billion (in 1975). It was the third-costliest tornado, behind the Oklahoma City-area F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, and the Wichita Falls, Texas, tornadoes on April 10, 1979, until the Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado on May 22, 2011. It is now currently the seventh-costliest tornado on record.
Tornadoes of 1974
The 1974 Super Outbreak was one of the destructive tornado outbreaks ever known in United States history. Many notable tornadoes occurred, such as the Xenia, Ohio tornado which was an F5 tornado that killed 34 people and destroyed a large portion of the town. The Xenia tornado was so strong and the damage so severe, that Dr. Fujita considered rating it an F-6, although the scale only went to F-5. He decided not to since some of the damage that would indicate that it could be the mythical F-6, might have been due to the structure not being as strong as it should in the first place. One of the 30 violent tornadoes, and F4 striking Monticello, Indiana, produced the longest damage path recorded during the 1974 Super Outbreak, on a southwest to northeast path that nearly crossed the entire state of Indiana. According to most records, this tornado formed near Otterbein in Benton County in west central Indiana to Noble County just northwest of Fort Wayne - a total distance of about 121 miles (195 km). Much of the town was destroyed including the courthouse, some churches and cemeteries, 40 businesses and numerous homes as well as three schools. It also heavily damaged the Penn Central bridge over the Tippecanoe River. Overall damage according to the NOAA was estimated at about US$250 million with US$100 million damage in Monticello alone. The Monticello tornado caused 18 deaths. One of the seven F5 tornadoes, the Huntsville, Alabama tornado, took a similar path of the tornado that struck Huntsville on April 1. A large, F4 tornado struck Louisville, killing 3 people and demolished most of Audubon Elementary School and affected the neighborhoods of Audubon, Cherokee Triangle, Cherokee-Seneca, Crescent Hill, Indian Hills, Northfield, Rolling Fields, and Tyler Park. The fast-moving nighttime tornado that devastated the town of Guin, was the longest-duration F5 tornado recorded in the outbreak and considered to be one of the most violent ever recorded. The Guin Tornado traveled over to just west of Huntsville before lifting just after 10:30 pm CDT. It formed at around 8:50 pm CDT near the Mississippi-Alabama border, striking the Monterey Trailer Park, resulting in major damage at that location. The tornado then became extremely violent as it approached and entered Guin, with multiple areas of F5 damage noted in and around town. The tornado first struck the Guin Mobile Home Plant as it entered the town, completely obliterating the structure. Nothing was left of the plant but a pile of mangled steel beams. The town's downtown area was also heavily damaged, with many businesses and two churches completely destroyed. Residential areas in Guin suffered total devastation, with many homes swept completely away and scattered across fields. There were at least 148 tornadoes in the tornado outbreak and 318 fatalities, a record that was beat by the 2011 Super Outbreak.