On the afternoon of May 11, , an F5 tornado made a direct hit on Waco, Texas. By May 11 the warm, close weather was uncomfortably routine to the people of Waco, Texas. The day before had been muggy and the day before that, too. The big news in the Morning News-Tribune was of a tornado in far-off Minnesota. At mid-morning the New Orleans weather bureau warned there might be a few tornadoes close to home.
But an Indian belief that tornadoes would never strike Waco had always held true and no one in the city worried about the report At Three hours later the skies suddenly darkened. Follow her on Twitter lizabethronk. Rescuers attempted to free a woman trapped in rubble, Waco, Texas, May In the downpour which followed the twister, a group of volunteer workers stood aside as another body was found in the ruins of the Torrance pool hall where 25 players, mostly teenagers, were trapped and killed when the roof caved in.
At A. A human chain of rescue workers operated outside this building throughout search for Lillie. Gently as they could, the men who had labored through night to disentomb her carried her out of the wreckage.
A vigil without hope was kept by Beth Parten, 25, whose husband, Cecil, was missing. She alternated between listening to reports coming in by portable radio in the store and keeping watch in a car parked outside the Red Cross headquarters. Men looked out at destruction in Waco, Texas, after an F5 tornado hit the town, May A respite from horror came for Seaman Howard Wilkerson, 18, after a dreadful moment. Just before this picture was taken he had helped to remove the bodies of a dead man and woman from a car which had been crushed by a falling wall.
Scene of destruction in Waco, Texas, after an F5 tornado hit the city, May Clean-up and recovery efforts in Waco, Texas, after an F5 tornado hit the city, May People crowded around an ambulance in the aftermath of the Waco tornado that killed people. A survivor surveyed the destruction in Waco, Texas, after an F5 tornado hit, May Shop Latest Issue. Not published in LIFE.
