tornadoes – Texas History Notebook

Zephyr Tornado, 1909

Zephyr, Texas was a quiet little town of several hundred residents when on early Sunday morning of May 30, 1909 a late spring storm generated a tornado a little after Saturday at midnight. The tornado was rated F4 under the old Fujita scale (winds exceeding 200 mph). Virtually all the structures in town were affected in some way. Destruction was described as having completely destroyed some fifty residences, six businesses, two churches and the high school. The casualty totals usually cited are 34 deaths and 70 or more injured. The twister appears to have formed to the southwest of town and touched down long enough to damage most of the residential and business areas. A lightning strike started a lumber yard fire that spread to other businesses. Tornado survivors had no way to fight the flames as they spread. Heavy hail was reported in the surrounding areas as well.

Saragosa Tornado, 1987

On May 22, 1987 a violent tornado touched down outside of the small community of Saragosa, Texas and stayed on the ground for about three miles with a width of roughly 1,000 yards. When the twister left the area, the residents began to recover from the storm to find that dozens of people had been killed and many more were injured.

Jarrell Tornado, 1997

Jarrell, Texas is located in the northern part of Williamson County, about thirty miles north of Austin. It was founded in 1909 and named for O. D. Jarrell. It has been the site of two recorded tornadoes. The first occurrence was on May 17, 1989 when an F3 tornado touched down. The second and more devastating F5 tornado struck the area on May 27, 1997.