Earth’s Most Violent StormBy: Harley Davis

Tim Smith lived in Topeka, Kansas in the 1930’s. Kansas is a hot spot for tornadoes and they wreak havoc all over the state. Tornadoes are a very violent and dangerous storm that can reach speeds of up to 300 M.P.H. In the United States, an average of 800 to 1,000 tornadoes occur each year, typically killing 60 people a year and this is Tim’s encounter with an unearthly tornado.

It was a scorching hot day in June in Topeka. Tim was outside tending to his farm, while his wife and two children were inside their small wooden hut. Tim was out in the heat plowing the field to try to plant his crops. He and other farmers were having problems with making money since the Midwest was going through a drought making it just a flat barren landscape.

Tim’s wife Clara was inside the hut trying to prepare dinner for the family. The young children Joseph,6, and Katherine, 3, were entertaining themselves with their toys inside to try to stay out of the unbearable heat. Outside Clara could hear the family dog begin to bark loudly and incessantly. Tim began to notice that the cattle were becoming restless and trying to find shelter. Tim didn’t think anything of it at first and just continued on with his farm work.

All of a sudden, the sky turned black and the winds began to pick up. This began blowing dust into Tim’s eyes and he lost his bearing out in the field. He stumbled across the field trying to find his tiny hut to get to his family and make sure that they were safe. He stumbled outside aimlessly for a good five minutes but it must have seemed like hours. When he finally reached the hut he quickly entered the door and looked for his wife and children. He found them huddled in a corner weeping.

He went over to them in the corner to comfort them. As he knelt down to them the windows in the hut began to rattle as the turbulent winds increased outside. The children began to sob even more and exclaim that they were afraid. All Tim and Clara could do for them is to just tell them that everything will be just fine. Little did they know what was brewing outside that hut.

Outside there was a double-funnel F5 tornado forming and heading straight towards their hut. Tim could hear the cattle crying out as the storm approached the farm. The rattling windows eventually shattered as the winds increased outside throwing glass all over the Smith family. The tornado was almost right on top of them now. Tim and Clara began to pray and hope for the best because they knew their demise was imminent.

The massive tornado was right over the hut and began to lift it off the ground the children began to scream even louder. The wind became so intense that the whole hut was lifted into one of the funnels of the colossal tornado. The hut twisted round and round in the funnel for a good ten minutes and did not disintegrate. The family must have felt like they were in there for a lifetime.

The tornado carried them 80 miles to the east right into Missouri, where they landed with their little hut still intact. They exited the hut when all was calm outside and saw that they had landed in an empty fertile field. The family decided that this was better for farming than their recent location in Topeka, so they decided to stay where they were and begin a new life in Missouri.

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