Woodward, OK Devastating Tornado Rips Towns, Apr 1947

PANHANDLE TORNADO DEATH TOLL 152.

WOODWARD HARDEST HIT WITH ESTIMATED 85 DEAD, TEXAS TOWNS SUFFER MANY FATALITIES.

MORE THAN 1,000 INJURED, PROPERTY DAMAGE INTO MILLIONS OVER WHEAT-CATTLE COUNTRY; FEAR MORE BODIES YET IN STORM DEBRIS; INJURED BEING TAKEN AS FAR AS WICHITA AND OKLAHOMA CITY.

Woodward, Okla., April 10, (AP) -- A devastating tornado swept across a 100-mile path of a rich wheat and cattle country today killing an estimated 152 persons, injuring more than 1,000 and inflicting property damage running into millions.
The Texas state highway patrol quoting a Red Cross estimate, reported at least 152 were believed dead with the probability more bodies were buried in the rubble.
Hardest hit was Woodward, where 100 were estimated to be dead, with between 800 and 1,000 injured. Approximately 100 blocks of buildings were destroyed in this city of 5,500 population.
Other estimates includes Shattuck, Okla., 20 dead; Higgins, Tex., 24, and Glazier, Tex., 8. Earlier, two were reported dead at Gage, Okla., which would bring the total to 154.
Moved Northwestward.
The general course of the storm was northeastward from White Deer, Tex., 50 miles from Amarillo, then through Glazier, population 200, Higgins, population 750, Woodward, and Gage, a community of 800 persons.
Many of the injured were being taken to nearby towns, and hospitals as far away as Wichita, Kan., were preparing beds for possible patients.
Disaster crews were rushed to the stricken areas, and peace officers and hastily formed vigilante crews guarded against looting after early reports of vandalism.
Fires which followed the tornado were brought under control early today. Firemen were aided by torrential rains accompanying the southwest's most disastrous storm of the year.
Fear Toll to Rise.
Rescue workers today probed rubble and debris for bodies and officials said they believed the toll might be higher than now estimated.
JEWELL L. WILSON, night supervisor at the Woodward Memorial hospital, said the injured might run as high as 800. Mortuaries were lighted by candles.
Third of Woodward Flattened.
Approximately a third of Woodward (population 5,500) was flattened by the storm. Fire followed the tornado, but was quickly extinguished by firemen and by the heavy rain. Medical corpsmen from Tinker Field near Oklahoma City aided in treating the injured, and other military units helped with relief work.
Woodward is in the heart of the Oklahoma cattle country.
Power and lights failed, and emergency generators were used at hospital and dressing stations. The Oklahoma Gas and Electric company plant was leveled and IRWIN WALKER, 67, veteran night engineer at the plant, was killed as he started to work.
Only one telephone line remained in operation, but by daybreak another circuit was established. Striking telephone workers volunteered to return to their switchboards during the emergency.
Streets were blocked by debris and cars were rolled into knots as if they were pieces of tinfoil, twisted between huge fingers.
Survivors wandered the streets in a daze, still unable to realize what had happened.
Higgins Hit Hard.
The estimate of dead at Higgins, Tex., varied between 24 and 30. The Red Cross today estimated 24 for the Texas Panhandle town but HOWARD BUXWELL, a mortician, said the toll might reach 30. About 150 are believed injured. The town has a population of 750. It was levelled except for the telephone exchange, the bank and school building, all of brick. The business district was destroyed by fire, brought under control early today.
All traffice was blocked by rubble in the streets, and only ambulances were permitted into the area.
The state sent a bulldozer to clear the streets and to haul out wrecked cars. A five-room house was blown into the middle of the highway leading to Shattuck, Okla., and traffic detoured through a wheat field.
Barbed wire fences clogged highways, further impeding travel.
Twenty persons were reported killed at Shattuck, Okla. Information there was fragmentary.
The Red Cross said 8 were killed at Glazier, Tex., a village of 200. Forty injured persons were treated at Canadian. Only one building was left standing. Townsmen organized a vigilante committee who stopped incoming cars, turning away curiosity seekers.
Derails Train.
Eyewitness accounts today said the tornado first hit White Deer, Tex., about 5:45 p.m., lifted a house from its foundations, wrecked a garage and derailed 21 cars of a moving Santa Fe freight train. The storm was sighted at Pampa and Miami, Tex., as it moved northeastward along the line of the Santa Fe railroad. It skirted Canadian and then struck Glazier with full fury.
Coburn, a railroad switching station, was reported razed. The tornado struck Higgins, moved into Oklahoma, and smashed into Woodward and Gage.
JOHN BITTLE, 40, of Mounds, Okla., visiting at White Deer, said the house in which he was staying begain to "quake and crawl."
"Everything started to fall on us and the floor moved up. My wife fell across me and I fell to the floor. The buffet had her pinned over me."

SURVIVORS ARE LEFT DAZED
WOODWARD WATER SUPPLY OFF, WATER LACKS EVEN TO WASH BODIES OF DEAD.
Woodward, Okla., April 10, (AP) -- Eighty-five persons were known dead and an estimated 1,000 were injured in a tornado which levelled approximately 100 blocks of this northwestern Oklahoma city last night.
Searching parties in groups of five went out to dig through the debris for other victims. Bulldozers were used.
Medical services slowly were being organized, with doctors and nurses from distant cities on hand to aid.
But if was certain an accurate count of the injured would be delayed for many hours. Hospitals and aid stations were jammed and the injured were being taken away by train and plane for treatment.
Train, C-54 In Use.
A Santa Fe railroad special train moved some of the injured to Alva, Okla. An Army C-54 was shuttling between Woodward and Oklahoma City, taking serious head injury cases to University hospital in Oklahoma City.
Authorities began compiling a list of the known dead and injured for posting, as frantic relatives went from undertaking establishments to medical aid stations searching for the missing.
In contrast to the devastating storm which struck at 8:40 p.m. (CST) last night, a bright sun shone on the city of 5,500 today. Dazed residents still wandered the streets and there was an incessant screaming of ambulance sirens.
Power Off, No Water.
Mayor R. A. BOSCH, whose own electrical business was wiped out, said he hoped to get emergency water service established by late afternoon.
The city's water plant was electrically powered and power went off during the storm. One mobile generator had reached the city and three more were on the way, BOSCH said.
Cities hundreds of miles away sent doctors, nurses, policemen and ambulances to aid in emergency work. Field workers were being set up and the Red Cross was serving food to the homeless and to the rescue workers.
Most of the devasted area was in the residential district, though a small portion of the business section was hit.
Damage in the rest of the city was spotted.
Woodward's First.
This was the first tornado ever to hit Woodward.
Hardest hit section sppeared to be Highland park.
Many of the injured were being taken to nearby towns and some were taken to Oklahoma City, 143 miles away.
A fire burned one industrial block following the tornado.
There was no water to fight it as city water is pumped electrically from wells and power was still off today.
Only a few of the dead had been tentatively identified. Many of the bodies were disfigured. There was no water to wash the bodies.
Streams of sorrowing relatives walked through the morgues.
Blood Donors Sought.
An automobile moved through the streets broadcasting a plea for blood donors to go to hospitals.
Emergency hospitals were set up to aid the Woodward Memorial hospital. An emergency call was sent to Oklahoma City for more doctors, especially those to handle fracture cases.
Ten additional ambulances were sent from Oklahoma City and Guthrie.
One-fourth of the population had no housing.
Many streets were blocked with debris. Cars were rolled into knots by the tornado as if they were pieces of tinfoil between one's fingers.
Those who did survive -- many bearing bandages -- aimlessly treaded the rubble strewn streets in a dazed condition, still unable to realize fully what happened.
Typical of what happened to families was that of the LONG household. There were five children, mother and father. The mother and one child were killed, 14-months-old JUDITH ANN LONG, was injured, and the father and three other children unaccounted for.

Ada Evening News Oklahoma 1947-04-10
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!