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In the afternoon and early evening hours of May 10, 2008, a large and violent tornado would move through Eastern Oklahoma and western Missouri, striking the communities of Picher, Quapaw, Racine and Granby. Twenty-one people were killed by the tornado and over three hundred more would be injured. The tornado would produce damage that would later receive an EF4 rating. It was one of nine to receive this rating worldwide in 2008, and was the second-deadliest of the year.
 The tornado at EF4 intensity in Picher, where it would kill six people | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | May 10, 2008, 5:20 p.m. CDT (UTC−05:00) |
| Dissipated | May 10, 2008, 6:55 p.m. CDT (UTC−05:00) |
| Duration | 1 hour, 35 minutes |
| EF4 tornado | |
| on the Enhanced Fujita scale | |
| Highest winds | 175 mph (282 km/h) |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 21 (second-deadliest of 2008) |
| Injuries | 350 |
| Areas affected | Eastern Oklahoma and portions of Western Missouri |
Part of the Tornado outbreak sequence of May 7–11, 2008 and Tornadoes of 2008 | |
The tornado first touched down near Chetopa before rapidly intensifying and hitting Picher at EF4 intensity. The community was devastated, and was hit so hard that it would become an unincorporated community. The tornado extensively damaged Picher, collapsing wooden buildings and loft several cars while tracking through the southeast portions of the town. The tornado would then pass to the north of Quapaw, which avoided a direct hit. The tornado would then cross state lines into Missouri, hitting Racine and killing several people in mobile homes and other poorly-built structures. The tornado would lift some time afer crossing Route 59.
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While weak tornadoes touched down north of Xenia, Ohio, during the early evening hours of May 9, the second outbreak of the day produced several strong tornadoes across the western Carolinas and southwestern Virginia. A line of showers and thunderstorms moved across the Appalachians. CAPE values were at around 1500 j/kg across parts of North Carolina.[1] One tornado hit the Clemmons, North Carolina area producing EF3 damage to several homes. The same area was hit an F3 tornado on the same date in 1998. Just after 11:00 pm, another tornado from the same supercell struck the western Greensboro region, killing one person inside a truck overturned by the tornado. The storm also damaged several buildings including homes, businesses and warehouses. Two Fed-Fex planes at the Piedmont Triad International Airport were pitched off the tarmac as the storm lifted near the area.[2] Other tornadoes produced some significant damage north of the Piedmont Triad region across southern Virginia.[3][4]
The following day, a new wave of tornadoes from a second system affected portions of the southern Plains and the Lower-Mississippi Valley. Temperatures across the region reached the 80s across portions of the South with mostly upper 70s elsewhere. CAPE values were between 1000 and 2000 j/kg near the center of the low with reading over 2000 j/kg across Mississippi. Helicity levels were over 250, and a moderate risk of severe storms was issued for a large portions of the Mississippi Valley as well as the Eastern Plains as a result.[5] Tornado watches extended from eastern Oklahoma to South Carolina and north to near Kansas City.[6][7] One of these watches covered the area in which the Picher tornado would form in.[8]
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The deadliest tornado and most notable tornado of the outbreak took place from a single supercell that tracked through Ottawa County, Oklahoma, Newton County, Missouri, and Barry County, Missouri, in the late afternoon of May 10. Twenty-one people were killed in the tornado – fatalities took place in Picher, Oklahoma (where six people were killed),[9] and Newton and Barry counties in Missouri (where 15 people were killed). One other person was killed in Jasper County, Missouri from an EF1 tornado.[10][11] Eight of the victims died inside their cars, troubling experts who say the inside of a vehicle is one of the worst places to be during a tornado.[12] This was the second deadliest tornado of the year behind the EF3 tornado that affected areas northeast of Nashville, Tennessee, on February 5, 2008 and killed 22.
The tornado first touched down near the Kansas–Oklahoma border in Oklahoma southwest of Chetopa, Kansas and tracked eastward.[13] It then slammed into Picher with devastating results. Twenty blocks of the town suffered extensive damage with houses and businesses destroyed or flattened, and some swept away. The damage in Picher was rated EF4. At least 150 others were injured in Picher alone. The tornado continued eastward, passing just north of Quapaw and Peoria before crossing Interstate 44 into Missouri. This was the deadliest tornado in Oklahoma since the South Oklahoma City F5 tornado on May 3, 1999, which killed 36.[13]
Most of the fatalities in Missouri were reported near the Racine community at the intersection of Route 43 and Iris Road, northwest of Neosho, where automobiles were thrown as far as 1⁄2 mile (800 m) away. Nearly 20 people were hospitalized in Newton County.[14]
The tornado continued eastward toward Granby, Missouri. It passed very close to the intersection of US 60 and Route 59 about three miles west of Granby, destroying a church building and numerous homes/buildings as it passed through. The tornado continued southeastward and crossed Route B about 1 mile south of Granby. The area surrounding Granby's cemetery and rodeo grounds took heavy damage. The tornado continued eastward toward the village of Newtonia. There were no reported storm related deaths in the area surrounding Granby.[15]
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Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry sent National Guard Troops as well as emergency personnel to assist the hardest hit area in Picher where a 20-block area suffered major damage including several destroyed structures. Damage was reported near Peoria and Quapaw. Governor Henry and as well as US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff visited the tornado-ravaged area in the following days. Chertoff told that "it looks like a small nuclear bomb went off". Federal and state officials confirmed there would be no funding for rebuilding the town. Governor Henry did however requested a federal disaster declaration for storm victims. Before the tornado hit the town, the government had planned to buy-out homes in the area which was the site of a large zinc mine.[16][17] Picher was so hard-hit that it would become an unincorporated area in November 2013,[18] and was considered a ghost town by 2015.[19]
Fatalities
Twenty-one people were killed by the tornado, six of which occurred within Picher.[20] Nine of the fatalities occurred within vehicles, and twelve occurred in homes.[21] The tornado was the second-deadliest of the year; the EF3 tornado that affected areas northeast of Nashville, Tennessee, on February 5, 2008 killed twenty-two. The tornado was also the in Oklahoma since the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado, which killed thirty-six.[13]
At the time, the tornado was the deadliest single tornado in Missouri histor since a tornado hit the St. Louis Metro area on February 10, 1959, killing twenty-six. That record stood for three years until the 2011 Joplin tornado killed 158 people.[22]
Damage survey
Over two hundred homes were destroyed in the Picher area.[23] Tornado damage surveyer and forensic engineer Timothy P. Marshall conducted a ground-based damage survey in the city limits of Picher, along a 1.2-mile (1.9 km) path.[24] The southeastern portions of Picher were particularly hard-hit; several homes that lined South Francis Street and South Emily Street were impacted and subsequently were destroyed at EF4 intensity.[25] The tornado retained EF4 intensity over Harrell Park, and homes that lined the wooded area were destroyed.[25] The survey also found that the damage was either little or structures were completely destroyed as a result of sharp damage gradation.[26]
Marshall noted that the failure and collapse of exterior walls was unusually common in homes that were hit by the tornado. It was also found that termite infestations were discovered in homes that had collapsed after the tornado; it is unknown whether termites contributed to the collapses.[26]
| Vehicle not moved | Vehicle moved | Vehicle lofted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EF0 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| EF1 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
| EF2 | 8 | 3 | 0 |
| EF3 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| EF4 | 24 | 25 | 6 |
| Total | 55 | 25 | 6 |
| % of total damage | 59% | 35% | 6% |
EF4 rating
Preliminary information from the National Weather Service office in Springfield, Missouri, suggested the Newton County tornado was a violent tornado. The preliminary rating was EF3, but it was later upgraded to EF4 according to a later survey. The tornado continued into Barry County, where one person was killed in Purdy. In Barry County, several buildings were damaged including numerous houses, a church, four mobile homes and many outbuildings. The tornado lifted just southeast of McDowell. Debris from the storm such as letters, bills and foam traveled as far east as the Springfield area about 80 miles (130 km) to the east of the hardest hit region in southwestern Missouri.[28]
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- 2008 Parkersburg–New Hartford tornado, an EF5 tornado that would hit Iowa the same year
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