Clio, Iowa Tornado

April 29, 1947

Buildings Wrecked in Vicinity of Clio, IA.

Clio, AP - A tornado that swept northeastward Tuesday after virtually leveling Worth, Mo., about 50 miles southwest of here, smashed windows, tipped off shingles and overturned outbuildings in this community of about 300 persons.

Clio apparently was the hardest hit town in Iowa in the wind, rain and hail storms that moved across the state. High wind damage to farm buildings in the Pleasanton and Lineville area, south and west of Clio, was reported.

No one was reported seriously injured.

The George Nickels family fled to their fruit cellar when they saw the tornado approaching their farm two miles southwest of Clio. The storm destroyed the farm home and buildings.

Pahl Thompson, Northwestern Bell telephone manager at Corydon, who went down to the Nickels farm to repair wires, gave this description to the Associated Press:

House Reduced to Splinters.
“The main part of the house was just picked up and laid down flat in splinters. The barn and other buildings all were just debris except one little hoghouse.

“One horse was dead and another blinded. Other livestock was scattered and the chickens were all muddy and wandering around in kind of a daze.

“The Nickels had gone into their fruit cave when they saw the spout coming. It touched the ground away from the house, lifted up and then came down and hit the house and barn and buildings. Part of the buildings were left lying in the road about 50 feet away from the house.”

Two large barns on the Vic Lovett farm near the Nickels’ place were flattened by the winds.

In Clio many roofs were picked clean of shingles and nearly every window in the south part of town were blown out. There were no windows left in the Methodist church, and its chimneys were down and its sides battered.

Lumber Yard Damages.
A lumber yard in town operated by Albert Lewis and Frank Atkinson was badly damaged. Though many piles of lumber were untouched the front end of the yard was smashed. One man caught in the storm in the yard lay down by a truck and escaped injury in the flying debris.

Power and telephone lines were down.

The wind flipped over a garage but left unharmed a car that had been parked in the building. A mattress was blown out of the home.

Barns on the Ben Flannigan farm south of Pleasant were badly damaged in the storm and Mrs. Flannigan suffered a broken arm when struck by flying debris. The farm home of H. Yingling in the same area was damaged and two brooder houses full of chicks was burned.

Heavy hail was reported at Davis City, Corydon, Lamoni and south of Eldon

Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, IA 30 Apr 1947

A tornado also struck Clio, a town of about 200 population, in southwestern Iowa, causing extensive property damage. No loss of life was reported, however.

In Iowa, Pahl Thompson, Northwestern Bell telephone manager at Corydon, Ia., reported considerable damage at Clio, a town of about 200.

“The lumber yard had been hit and some residences were damaged but mostly it was the outbuildings that were hurt. A lot of folks were standing around but seemed to know of anybody who had been hurt or killed.”

Atchinson Daily Globe, Atchinson, KS 1 May 1947

Clio Storm Victims Bless Good Neighbors

Clio, AP – New roofs and windows were plentiful in this tornado-damaged town Saturday as a result of a good will project carried out by more than 200 Wayne county persons Friday.

Businessmen and farmers from all parts of the county turned out to repair some of the $50,000 damage done by a tornado which struck this southern Iowa town of 200 last Tuesday.

Maurice Goode, Clio farmer, supervised the cleanup project which was spearheaded by the Corydon Chamber of Commerce and Don Carter, county extension workers.

Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, IA 3 May 1947

Articles transcribed by Jenni Lanham.  Thank you, Jenni!

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