Guadalupe Neighborhood Looking West.
Burrus Elevator At 4th And Avenue M In Background.
(May 11th, 1970).
Lubbock National Weather Service Office Summary.
Friday, May 11th 2018 will mark the 48th anniversary of the devastating tornado that struck Lubbock. In 2010, for the 40th anniversary, the National Weather Service in Lubbock conducted an outreach campaign in commemoration of the tornado for Lubbock County schools. To learn more about this campaign, read the PRESS RELEASE (pdf) recently released. The centerpiece of this campaign is a 20-minute long educational video that you can view HERE.
To discover more about the 1970 Lubbock tornado read on.
On May 11th, 1970, a devastating tornado struck Lubbock. The tornado, actually the second of two that struck the city that night, touched down around 9:30 in the evening southwest of downtown and moved northeast, causing terrible damage along its path, until it lifted around the Lubbock Municipal Airport shortly after 10:00 pm.
The tornado killed 26 people and injured more than 1500 along its 8.5 mile track, while covering about 15 square miles of Lubbock. Dr. Theodore "Ted" Fujita later determined that all but one of the deaths (96%) occurred along the path of suction spots (also know as suction swaths and suction marks). These suction spots, which create localized areas of increased damage, are created when smaller-scale vortices develop and rotate around the larger parent tornado forming a multiple-vortex tornado.
The tornado caused extensive damage to the northeast side of Lubbock and resulted in approximately 250 million dollars worth of damage (in 1970 dollars), equivalent to about 1.25 billion dollars in 2005. The tornado was rated an F5 on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, which is the highest a tornado can be rated. No known photographs were taken of the tornado, which is attributed to the fact that the storm occurred after the sun had set.
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Lubbock Tornado Facts
| Deaths | 26 persons |
| Serious Injuries | 255 persons |
| Minor Injuries | 1,500 persons |
| Homes Destroyed | 1,100 |
| Homes Damaged | 8,876 |
| Property Damage | $135,000,000 |
| Public Property Damage | $7,500,000 |
| Automobile Damage | 10,000 cars sustained $6,000,000 in damages |
| Debris Removed | 375,000 cubic yards |
| Federal funds allocated for relief | $59,000,000 |
The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!
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