The date of May 11 stands as a sobering date in Texas history, a day when powerful tornadoes struck in different years and left a shared legacy of destruction.
AUSTIN, Texas — For weather historians, May 11 in Texas has special meaning. Three deadly tornados struck in different parts of the state on May 11 – two in 1953 and another in 1970.
By far the most devastating was in Waco.
For a long time, some Waco residents believed tornadoes couldn’t happen there. Legend had it that tornadoes couldn’t touch down in Waco, supposedly due to the bluffs around the Brazos River making severe weather relatively rare and mild in the city.
But on May 11, 1953, that legend was shattered.
A tornado with winds of up to 260 mph struck the heart of downtown toward the end of a busy weekday. Buildings crumbled, trapping people who had sought shelter from the blinding rain and baseball-sized hail.
The tornado injured 600 people, took 114 lives and damaged hundreds of businesses. Some victims were trapped in the rubble for days.
Many of the deaths occurred at the R.T. Dennis Furniture Store. It had been a popular downtown department store for decades. But there was no steel re-enforcement used when it was built, and it simply collapsed in the high wind.
“This company had been in Waco for a long time,” Waco historian Eric Ames said. “People knew the name. They came here for their daily needs. And in 1953 on May 11th, it was packed with shoppers. When the tornado hit, it essentially collapsed-in on itself and became a death trap.”
That same today a tornado touched down in San Angelo, leaving 13 people dead and 159 injured.
Then, 17 years later, on May 11, 1970, history repeated itself in Lubbock. A powerful tornado carved a destructive path through the city, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds. Neighborhoods were flattened, and parts of the business district suffered heavy damage.
But from tragedy came change: The tornadoes of 1953 and 1970 led to the development of a system of weather radars across the U.S., and a better way to give us earlier warnings of approaching severe storms.