Easter Sunday - March 23, 1913 - will be a day long remembered in Nebraska and Iowa. That day, multiple violent tornadoes devastated entire communities in the region. The most violent of them went directly through Omaha, causing a path of utter devastation. However, the Omaha tornado was but one of several violent tornadoes that struck close to one another. Towns such as Craig, Yutan, and Berlin (Otoe) outside of Omaha in Nebraska suffered extensive damage; as did Council Bluffs, Woodbine, Gray, and others in western Iowa.
This short series on This Week in Weather History will look in detail not just at the Omaha tornado, but at the entire day of destruction for Nebraska and Iowa. Part 1 will establish the background into the world of 1913, what Omaha and the US was like, the state of meteorology, and the atmospheric conditions that led to such a violent tornado outbreak occurring. Part 2 (this part) begins by looking at the individual tornadoes, focusing on the tornadoes of eastern Nebraska. Part 3 examines the tornadoes recorded and unrecorded in western Iowa. Finally, part 4 takes a detailed look at the tornado which devastated Omaha. Take a look back at the tornado outbreak which shaped a region, 110 years ago this week.
TORNADO 1: CRAIG, BURT COUNTY
A few miles west of Tekamah in southwestern Burt County lies the town of Craig. In 1910, Craig had a population of 339 residents making it the smallest incorporated place in the county. Despite this, Craig still had a busy main street, visited by many farmers on the outskirts of the town. Easter 1913 probably went off like any other Easter, residents gathered in the local Church for services that morning, then went home to eat dinner.
The tornado that hit Craig was likely the first one to touch down on the day, as well as the northern-most tornado. It touched down in fields southwest of town, grazing the northern neighborhoods of the village before traveling northeast through rural Burt County north of Tekamah. One furniture store suffered damage to its chimneys, windows, and roofs. The building of the local newspaper, the Craig News, had its windows blown out and part of the wall near-collapse. Many homes on the northwest side of town suffered significant damage, a few being destroyed. One family was standing in their parlor when the tornado twisted the house on its foundation, making them fall into the cellar below. The tornado wrecked farmhouses farther northeast into Burt County, crossing the river into Monona County where it continued to do some damage.
When compared to the twisters to the south, the tornado that struck Craig was comparatively weaker, modern analysis of the damage places the Craig tornado around F-3 intensity. An F-3 contains winds between 158-206 mph.
TORNADO 2: YUTAN, SAUNDERS/DOUGLAS/WASHINGTON COUNTIES
Similar to Craig, the village of Yutan in eastern Saunders County had a population of 353 people in 1910. It was founded in 1876 but was an established village in 1913. Named after an Otoe chief, Yutan remained a small village in eastern Saunders County in 1913. Just recently, Yutan installed a new water tower which cost $3,600 ($110,000 in today's money). That Easter Sunday, Church services were more crowded as people got out for the nice weather. When people returned home, some reported the clouds growing ominous in the west, changing different colors. Suddenly, the roar of the wind broke upon Yutan.
The Yutan tornado touched down near Ithaca and moved northeast, destroying a farm and causing its first fatalities.
The tornado then rips into the northern and western sides of Yutan, wiping out homes, damaging businesses, and taking many lives.
Four churches were destroyed, two not being rebuilt.
The town water tower, just built, laid in ruins on the outskirts of town.
In Yutan, 17 people lost their lives within the city, two more in farms just outside of town. Damage from Yutan alone was estimated at around 100-300 thousand (2-7 million today). 30 to 40 homes were destroyed, with another 20 to 30 damaged in Yutan alone.
Yutan was only the start of the tornado's path of destruction. It crossed the Platte River south of Valley, passing between it and Waterloo as it rampaged through northern Douglas County. Farms were ripped up, many of them losing their entire buildings and farm equipment. Many homes also took direct hits, with a few being wiped clean off their foundation. The tornado narrowly missed Bennington a few miles to the west as it continued into Washington County. While several people were injured, no one was killed in Douglas County.
As it crossed into Washington County, two schoolhouses were wrecked south of Kennard. The tornado took a northerly turn, sparing Fort Calhoun, but DeSoto was not spared. The tornado twisted the schoolhouse in DeSoto around and smashed into many homes. Two people lost their lives in Washington County, bringing the death toll to 21 in Nebraska. It crossed the Missouri River and into Harrison County, to be discussed in the Iowa section of this series.
Modern analysis places the Yutan tornado at F-4 intensity, with wind speeds estimated between 207 - 260 mph, with the rating namely coming from Yutan itself. The tornado tore a path over 50 miles long from Saunders County to near Woodbine in Harrison County.
TORNADO 3: GREENWOOD, LANCASTER/CASS COUNTIES
Lincoln got lucky on Easter Sunday as a storm swept over the area between 5 and 6 pm with some hail and heavy rain. That same storm which crossed through Lincoln would go on to produce a small tornado both southwest of town according to eyewitness reports, and then more tornadoes off to the north and east.
The first of these tornadoes touched down in eastern Lancaster County, possibly seen by William Jennings Bryan from his Lincoln home. The tornado gathered strength as it moved into Cass County south of Greenwood. Greenwood hosted a population of under 400 and was missed by the tornado. Others south of town were not so lucky, several homes suffered damage through Cass County. Luckily, no one was seriously injured or killed in the Cass County tornado.
Curiously, Ashland saw hail and "mud rain", where the rain took on a brown tinge as it fell over the town. Many ascribed this to a tornado passing through, but it is more likely it was dust carried from Kansas mixing with rain. This storm would lift before reaching the Platte River but would touch down again as it headed right into Omaha.
TORNADO 4: BELLEVUE, SARPY COUNTY
One of the earliest towns in Nebraska, Bellevue had a population of just under 600 people in 1910. Offutt AFB would not be established until the 1920s. Bellevue was a growing town in league with Papillion as being the largest city in Sarpy County, although in 1910 Papillion was slightly larger.
Bellevue largely escaped the destruction wrought in the rest of the Omaha metro. However, the beginning of the Council Bluffs tornado started just north of Bellevue. Trees were snapped near the riverbed, but little damage was done to structures in the city.
TORNADO 5: BERLIN (OTOE), OTOE/CASS COUNTIES
Sitting just north of Syracuse, the town of Berlin was the smallest town to suffer a direct hit from one of the violent tornadoes on March 23. With a population of 196, Berlin (as the name suggests), was largely composed of German immigrants who moved over the preceding decades. In 1913, when the tornado hit, the town was known as Berlin. Anti-German sentiment in World War I brought about the name change to its current name, Otoe.
What was to be perhaps the most violent tornado of the day, the Berlin tornado touched down in extreme southwest Otoe County near Douglas. The tornado immediately began wrecking barns, damaging homes, and snapping trees. One church east of Douglas suffered significant damage, with every tombstone but one broken in the cemetery. The tornado looked as if it were going to strike Syracuse head-on, but residents noted the tornado deviated slightly to the north sparing the town.
The same could not be said for Berlin, the 200+ mph tornado spent all its fury in the small town, destroying it. While Craig and Yutan had undamaged sections of town, Berlin was not spared. Only two buildings in the whole town were spared, the rest lay in ruins. The business section of the town suffered the worst, with storefronts being unrecognizable to many. Entire neighborhoods were demolished, with newspapers at the time unable to describe the destruction wrought on the small town. A dozen people lost their lives in and around Berlin, four of them being from the Koch family who resided in Berlin.
The tornado continued northeast, destroying more structures in northeastern Otoe County, missing Nebraska City by several miles. The tornado soon crossed into Cass County, where it caused one additional death near Rock Cliffs, and destroyed more homes and farms. The tornado would then cross the Missouri River to continue its destruction into Mills County. In Nebraska, 13 people lost their lives, a miracle that more were not killed was frequently touted in the newspapers. The tornado was highly visible along its journey, allowing many people to seek safety in their cellars. Many who were killed in Otoe County lived on downward-facing slopes, making the visibility of the tornado more difficult.
Modern estimates place the Berlin tornado at F-4 intensity, similar to the Yutan and Omaha tornadoes, with wind speeds between 207 - 260 mph.
TORNADO 6: PAWNEE COUNTY
The final tornado to touch down in Nebraska was the weakest, in Pawnee County. Modern documentation of the Pawnee County tornado has its track through central and eastern Pawnee County. However, based on other newspaper reports it is possible the tornado was longer-tracked as damage occurred in Gage County near Wymore as well as Nemaha/Richardson Counties east of the tornado.
A schoolhouse was unroofed, needing to be torn down and rebuilt. Otherwise, homes were damaged, barns shifted off their foundation, and trees snapped. Modern estimates place the tornado at F-2 intensity, or wind speeds between 113 - 157 mph.
READ PART 3: Easter Sunday 1913 Tornadoes - Part 3 | Tornadoes of Western Iowa
