Great Bend KS, Tornado Damage, Nov 1915

TORNADO SWEEPS THRU NEBRASKA, KANSAS AND IOWA.

GREAT BEND RUINS BURST INTO FLAME AND THREAT FINISH.

INITIAL FORCE STRIKES GREAT BEND, KAS. -- KILLS FROM DOZEN TO TWENTY AND INJURES MORE THAN HUNDRED.

HALF MILLION LOSS MANY BUILDINGS GONE.

TERRIFIC WIND AND RAIN HITS OTHER TOWNS, SPREADING WIDER AND DIMINISHING IN FORCE AS STORM MOVED NORTH.

(Associated Press Telegram)
Great Bend, Kas., Nov. 10. -- Twelve persons were killed and more than one hundred injured, many of them seriously in a cyclone which swept thru the residence section of Great Bend at seven thirty tonight.
The property loss is estimated at half million dollars. The city water plant, a laundry, three flouring mills, the Santa Fe depot and 50 residences were demolished. Santa Fe passenger train No. 5, narrowly escaped the path of the storm, which swept thru the souther part of the city.

Lightless, Waterless.
Several thousand sheep were killed, the animals being hurled into the air as the cyclone struck their feeding place. The city tonight is in darkness and without water supply.
Every available man tonight is tearing thru the debris in an effort to release many imprisoned.
Great damage was done to the country southwest of here from which direction the storm approached without warning.
Many of those injured were caught in their homes which were picked up from their foundations and crushed.
At a late hour tonight a list of those killed and injured was not available, due to the confusion.

Fire Adds Terror.
Fire broke out in several of the residences struck by the storm, and as the city was without fire protection these burned to the ground.
In the three flouring mills destroyed several men were killed. A long string of freight cars were overturned.
A path three-quarters of a mile long and several blocks in width as cut thru the residence district. Here the heaviest toll of life was exacted.

Searching The Ruins.
The people of the town responded immediately as voluntary rescuers, and the work of searching the ruins proceeded in a steady downpour of rain which followed the wind-storm.
More than 40 of the injured tonight were being attended in a local hospital. Physicians from surrounding towns have been summoned.
The storm passed over the south part of the city, wrecking the water works and electric light plant. The town was in darkness and confusion reigns. Telegraph and telephone wires were put out of commission.

Some Idea Of Loss.
Between 50 and 60 people were believed to have been killed in a tornado which swept this town shortly after 7 o'clock this evening.
According to reports which reached the long distance telephone office at 9 o'clock when wire communication was re-established with outside points the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railway station was demolished and half the houses of the city were wrecked.
Three large flour mills and a number of grain elevators were in the path of the storm.

WHAT DENVER HEARD.
Denver, Nov. 10. -- Terrific windstorms early tonight swept thru Great Bend, Kan., and Fremont, Neb., according to reports received at the railway offices of the Missouri Pacific at Pueblo.
Many buildings at Hoisington, Kan., were swept into a heap of debris, according to a Western Union Telegraph report. Telegraph wires failed shortly before seven o'clock tonight, and but one wire was working thru to Chicago.

STORM AT DERBY.
Wichita, Kan., Nov. 10. -- Three Mexican section hands are reported killed, two injured and property valued at about $40,000 destroyed by a tornado which struck Derby, a small town, 11 miles south of Wichita, about 10:30 o'clock tonight. A dozen farm homes, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad station, one store building and a score of bunk cars occupied by the Mexican laborers were demolished.

Waterloo Times-Tribune Iowa 1915-11-11
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!