Warren, AR Tornado Damage, Mar 1975

ARKANSAS TORNADO KILLS FIVE, ANOTHER 70 HURT.

Warren, Ark. (UPI) -- A tornado spun out of a heavy thunderstorm and smashed through a residential area of this southeastern Arkansas farming town Friday night, killing five persons and injuring more than 70 others.
"It tore a pretty good strip through an eight block area," said Arkansas State police trooper BILL YOUNG.
The Red Cross said the twister destroyed 50 homes and heavily damaged several hundred others.
The tornado also caused heavy damage at the Potlatch, Co., paper plant, the major industry in the town of 6,500 persons. State police said gas leaks caused by the tornado started several fires at the plant.
"The Potlatch plant was pretty well wiped out," he said.
YOUNG said the tornado apparently first touched down in a heavy thunderstorm near El Dorado 60 miles south of Warren but lifted back into the clouds without doing any damage.
He said the same twister dipped out of a thunderstorm on the southwest corner of Warren and cut a two-block wide path through the southern part of town.
Authorities said streets in the area were partially blocked with debris and telephone service and other utilities were disrupted.
State police said five persons were killed and 74 injured. Eighteen of the injured were hospitalized.
"They are still going through the wreckage," said JOE WEBB, a Red Cross official in Little Rock.
"Our first report indicates about 50 homes destroyed and 300 to 400 homes damaged so badly they are no longer liveable."
The Red Cross said four of the dead had been identified as FAYE McKINISTREY, JOHN FREY, DAVID BOYD and ALICE CLANTON. Their ages were not available and the fifth victim had not been identified.
WEBB said the Red Cross had set up a shelter in the Warren YMCA for the persons left homeless by the twister.
National guard units were sent to Warren to help move the injured from the rubble and to prevent looting.
Warren reporter BOB NEWTON said some of the victims were being taken to Bradley County Memorial Hospital stacked in the back of pickup trucks and on makeshift plywood stretchers.
Warren Mayor JOHN FRAZER, who witnessed the tornado from his patio, said the twister touched down about 100 yards away and destroyed a restaurant.

The Daily Courier Connellsville Pennsylvania 1975-03-29

Listing of the fatalities from The Eagle Democrat of 1975-04-02
ELLIS CLANTON, 61, Warren.
MRS. DOROTHY FAY McKINSTRY, 41, Warren.
JOHN ALBERT FREY, 75, Warren.
DANNY RICHARD BOYD, 22, Warren.
MRS. VERTIE LOU STODDARD, 73, Warren.
MISS MARILYN ROBERTSON, 30, Warren.
MRS. GENTENVAL MORGAN, 85, Warren.
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!