Hurricanes, Tornadoes and Wildfires in 1953

By Paul Homewood

Hurricane Carol was the strongest Atlantic hurricane of 1953 in what was a quiet season. Its 160 mph winds fortunately stayed well away from any land, before making landfall in New Brunswick as a Cat 1 storm.

But it was out in the western Pacific where the year’s biggest storms played havoc, including three Cat 4 and four Cat 5 Super Typhoons:

• Typhoon Judy – Cat 4 – hit the Japanese island of Kyushu, leaving 37 dead and 15 missing
• Typhoon Kit – Cat 5 – although it had winds of 175 mph, it stayed away from land until it had considerably weakened.
• Typhoon Nina – Cat 5 – the strongest typhoon in 1953, made landfall in China as Cat 4. Nina is believed to have had the 2nd lowest central pressure of any Western Pacific typhoon. Only Typhoon Tip in 1979 had lower.
• Typhoon Rita – Cat 4 – again did not make landfall until it had weaken to a tropical storm
• Typhoon Tess – Cat 5 – struck the Central Honshū Island in Japan. 393 people were killed and 85 were missing.
• Typhoon Betty – Cat 4 – hit Hong Kong
• Typhoon Doris – Cat 5 – A rare late-season Super Typhoon. Did not affect land.

A tropical cyclone also hit Madagascar in January 1953, killing twelve.

Tornadoes

1953 was one of the deadliest tornado years on record in the US, with 519 dead. There were five F5/EF5 tornadoes, the third most on record. In stark contrast, there have been no EF5s at all since the Moore Tornado in 2013.

Some of the worst included:

• Feb 6th – an F3 killed two people in Centerville, La
• Feb 19th/20th  – an outbreak of 15 tornadoes struck Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama leaving one dead.
• March 12th to 15th – a major outbreak of 23 tornadoes, including an F4, hit areas from the Great Plains to the Ohio Valley, killing 21
• March 21st/22nd – another outbreak killed three
• April 18th – three strong and destructive tornadoes struck Alabama and Georgia, killing eight people
• April 23rd/24th – another deadly outbreak killed two in Oklahoma
• April 28th to May 2nd – a major tornado outbreak sequence struck areas from the Great Plains to the Southeast, producing 24 tornadoes, including five F4 tornadoes. Overall the death toll was 36
• May 9th to 11th – Well known as the Waco Tornado Outbreak, at least 33 tornadoes hit the Great Plains and Upper Mississippi Valley killing 144. Of these, 114 died when Waco, Texas was obliterated by an F5, the deadliest tornado in Texas history
• May 20th/21st – three intense tornadoes hit Iowa, Michigan and Ontario killing eight.
• May 29th – an F5 hit Fort Rice, ND, killing two people.
• June 7th to 9th  – another notorious outbreak, known as Flint-Worcester, which hit the Great Plains, Great Lakes and even New England, and included five F4s and another F5. This outbreak was even deadlier than the Waco one. Overall, at least 50 tornadoes touched down, killing 247.
• June 27th – yet another F5 destroyed four farms in Iowa, but luckily only one person died.
• Dec 1st to 6th – five violent tornadoes, including an F5, something unheard of in December, hit the South. The F5 hit Vicksburg, MS, killing 38.

Downtown Waco, Texas – Before and After

https://wacohistory.org/items/show/53

US Wildfires

The Rattlesnake Fire was the most famous one that year, killing 15 firefighters after being started by an arsonist.

Overall 9,976,000 acres burnt in the US, compared to the average these days of 7,400,400.