25 years ago on this night (1999): the Haysville/S. Wichita tornado.
The Southern Plains Tornado Outbreak produced an afternoon and evening of devastation across Central and Eastern Oklahoma, South-Central Kansas, and North Texas; 74 tornadoes were reported that day, of which 58 occurred in Oklahoma. Among them was the most powerful tornado in history that plowed through Moore, OK.
The most violent tornado in Kansas that day was the F4 variant that barreled through Haysville and South Wichita, around a half-mile wide. It killed six people, injured 150, and caused around $140 million damage.
Around 7:15 p.m., a tornado touched down four miles north of Wellington and tracked north for 24 miles, eventually producing F4 damage in Haysville.
The National Weather Service Damage assessment team completed an aerial storm damage assessment of the Haysville/S. Wichita tornado. The path was about 24 miles long beginning west of Riverdale and traveled northeast to just south of Haysville and then went nearly straight north along Seneca to I-235. From there the damage weakened significantly as the tornado went northeast to about Linwood Park. Tree damage was also observed as far north as the College Hill area where numerous trees were uprooted but structural damage was minimal.
This tornado caused F4 type damage in the Haysville and southern Wichita areas. The definition of an F4 on the Fujita scale is one that has winds estimated 207-260 miles per hour, in which well-constructed houses are leveled; structures with weak foundations are blown some distance; cars are thrown and large missiles are generated.
The tornado hit between 8:20-8:40 p.m., just after sunset. It was also rain-wrapped -- nobody ever saw this massive twister.
At 8:35 p.m., the now-violent tornado struck a mobile home park in Haysville, destroying much of the subdivision and killing three people. Continuing into the city's central business district, the tornado caused further damage and killed a fourth person. Throughout Haysville, 186 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Continuing into South Wichita, the tornado leveled the Lakeshore and Pacesetter mobile home parks, killing two residents. The tornado maintained a general northeast track before dissipating in the College Hill District of Northeast Wichita around 8:55 p.m.
Throughout Sedgwick County, 1,109 buildings were destroyed and 7,371 buildings were damaged, 2,456 severely.
In Oklahoma, the most infamous tornado that day was the immense F5 that tore through Moore, a South Oklahoma City suburb. The hideous vortex had a track 38 miles long and up to one-mile wide. The most powerful tornado on record killed 36, injured 583, and caused nearly $1.1 billion damage. It moved northeast and tracked nearly parallel to Interstate 44. When it roared into Moore, a portable Doppler measured rotational velocities that may have reached 318 m.p.h. just off the ground, the most violent winds ever recorded on Earth. This placed the tornado on the threshold of becoming the first twister to achieve an F6 rating. Obviously, the destruction was mind-boggling.
In all on the day of the outbreak, 46 people perished, 895 were injured, and $1.5 billion damage resulted.
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