THE TORNADO IN IOWA AND ILLINOIS
MONSTER TORNADO SWEEPS ACROSS RIVER--DESTRUCTION IN IOWA--THE
STORM-CLOUD OVER ILLINOIS--GALE AND FIRE IN CHICAGO.
The monster tornado that wrought such havoc in Omaha leaped across the
Missouri River and swished its wicked tail through Council Bluffs. Then
it sped northeasterly, wrecking several villages before it finally
disappeared.
DESTRUCTION IN IOWA
Reports from Mills County stated that it caused loss of life in every
town in the county reached by telephone. Many deaths occurred at
Glenwood and at Council Bluffs. Scattering towns all through the
district reported one to two deaths.
Eastern Council Bluffs suffered heavily, the storm breaking in the
valley just east of the town proper and following the lines of the
Milwaukee, Rock Island and Great Western railroads for a distance of a
mile.
The storm, which was accompanied by hail, rain, sleet, lightning and a
gale which blew seventy miles an hour for a time, was felt most
severely in the northwestern section of the city, where houses were
overturned, windows broken, trees uprooted and electric light and
trolley poles blown to the ground. Nearly fifty small fires resulted and
hundreds of men, women and children fled from their homes in terror.
Considerable damage was done to Des Plaines, Park Ridge and other
suburbs. The property damage in the city and suburbs was estimated at
more than $500,000.
THE STORM-CLOUD OVER ILLINOIS
Illinois also suffered severely from a tornado on the night of Easter,
March 23d, and the following morning. The storm was less severe than
that which struck Omaha, but the wind was blowing at a rate of seventy
miles an hour for a time, and in Chicago alone thirty-two structures
were damaged and a number of persons killed. Out in the state the
heaviest suffering was at Rockford, Elgin, Wheaton, Bloomington,
Galesburg, Peoria, Erie and Des Plaines. The aggregate loss in other
communities was great.
The storm covered all of Illinois north of Peoria. In Galesburg many
buildings were moved from their foundations. Half a dozen residences in
Peoria were demolished. All streams rose high and costly floods occurred
along the Kankakee, Illinois and other rivers.
GALE AND FIRE IN CHICAGO
In Chicago all the elements seemed to meet Sunday night. The wind blew a
violent gale; snow flew before it in some places; hail crashed windows
in other parts of the city. Every available fire apparatus in the north
and west sides of the city was called out to extinguish fires which
broke out in business blocks and dwellings partly wrecked by the storm.
A number of lives throughout the state were lost by this storm and the
property loss was estimated at $2,500,000.
A second storm on Monday caused great destruction in Mahanda. Thirty
cars of a southbound Illinois Central freight train were blown from the
track a mile north of the town. Two firemen were injured.