Top 12 Most Powerful Tornadoes in the World: A Force of Nature's Fury

9. The Tupelo-Gainesville Tornado of 1936: A Double Disaster

Within barely 15 hours of one another, the April 5–6, 1936 Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak yielded two of the worst tornadoes in U.S. history. On the evening of April 5, a first tornado tore across Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 216 people and severely damaging a good portion of the city. Early on April 6, another strong tornado struck Gainesville, Georgia, destroying the town's business centre and killing 203 people. Both tornadoes were judged to be at least F4 in intensity; the Gainesville tornado might have reached F5 strength. The timing of this epidemic—occurring during the Great Depression when many towns were already suffering financially—made it more catastrophic. The double calamity of Tupelo and Gainesville underlined the need of better building techniques in areas prone to tornadoes as well as of enhanced weather prediction and warning systems. Emphasising the need of tornado readiness throughout a large geographic area, these tornadoes also showed the possibility for strong tornadoes to develop outside of the conventional "Tornado Alley."