1969 Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornado outbreak

1969 Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornado outbreak

Type	Tornado outbreak
Duration	January 23, 1969
Tornadoes confirmed	3 confirmed
Max rating^1	F4 tornado
Duration of tornado outbreak^2	13 hours, 20 minutes
Casualties	32 fatalities, 241 injuries
Areas affected	Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee
^1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale ^2Time from first tornado to last tornado

The 1969 Hazlehurst, Mississippi tornado outbreak was a tornado outbreak on January 23, 1969 that produced an F4 tornado that devastated the Hazlehurst, Mississippi area, which caused 32 fatalities. Two additional tornadoes also occurred.^[1]

Notable tornadoes

Hazlehurst, Mississippi

At 4:19 a.m. (CST), radar indicated a strong thunderstorm cell strengthening rapidly southeast of Jonesville, Louisiana in Concordia Parish. A tornado soon occurred in Jefferson County, Mississippi, south-southeast of Fayette, where some damage was reported. The tornado mainly traveled through sparsely populated areas, excluding the Hazlehurst area. Mainly trees were either debarked or uprooted, but structures in Hazlehurst sustained extensive damage. Several parts of the path were widened, with the widest part being about 0.5 mi (880 yd) wide. At another point, the tornado caused ground scouring and downed trees in all directions. Most of the structural damage occurred to outbuildings and farm buildings. The tornado was first noted near the Hazlehurst area at 5:45 a.m. (CST). A number of families in Hazlehurst lived on a hill near a lumber pond. The tornado dumped 18 people into the pond, of which all became missing. Afterwards, the pond was drained to try recovering the missing bodies. In Shady Grove, several buildings were destroyed. In Copiah County, 11 people were killed and 140 people were injured. The tornado caused $900,000 (1969 USD) in Copiah County. A family in Simpson County lied down on the floor and were not injured. A bus was parked in front of the home, and its body was blown away. South of Harrisville, a log house was reduced to rubble. Throughout the rest of the path (until the city of Puckett), 12 people were found dead. A family near Puckett were trying to escape the tornado, but their car wouldn't start. Instead, they jumped into a ditch and survived as their three-bedroom home was lifted off of its foundation. One of the family members was seriously injured by a falling limb. The tornado also lifted a tenant house into the air. A hog barn was also destroyed, which resulted in the fatalities of four hogs, of which 800 were in there. The tornado caused minor damage to trees before dissipating near Newton. Overall, 32 people were killed and 241 were injured.^[2]

Confirmed tornadoes

Confirmed tornadoes by Fujita rating

F0	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	Total
0	1	1	0	1	0	3

January 23 event

List of confirmed tornadoes - January 23, 1969
F#	Location	County	Time (UTC)	Path length	Damage
Mississippi
F4	SSE of Fayette to SW of Newton	Jefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Rankin, Smith, Scott, Newton	0925–1200	117.8 miles (189.6 km)	32 deaths – See section on this tornado. A tornado tracked through the Hazlehurst area.
Kentucky
F1	NW of Cerulean	Caldwell	2000	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	A tornado destroyed a barn and tore the roof off of an outbuilding. Several trees were uprooted.
Tennessee
F2	W of Dover	Stewart	2005	0.1 miles (0.16 km)	Five homes and a tobacco barn were destroyed by a tornado. The tornado caused at least $75,000 (1969 USD).
Storm Data: January 1969

See also

• List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks
• Tornadoes of 1969

References

1. "Tornadoes on January 23, 1969". tornadohistoryproject.com. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
2. http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-E77A8EA9-D9A3-40BA-BC0F-8A96673D7E03.pdf