Ute, Iowa Tornado
April 27, 1899
TORNADO’S ROAR
WARNED THE PEOPLE OF ITS APPROACH – FIVE KILLED
AT UTE, IOWA.
Ute, Iowa, April 28. – This section of
Monona County and the whole of the Soldier River
Valley was swept by a terrific tornado about
midnight, and the list of killed and injured is
extensive, while the property damage is
incomparably greater than anything of the kind
that ever visited the state.
The Killed – HANSON
SEVERSON, HARRIS FERRIN, MRS. GEORGE FERNE,
AND UNKNOWN MAN BELIEVED TO BE A TRAMP NAMED
SHIELDS, AND
JAMES AMERSTON.
The great funnel shaped cloud which carried
devastation and death through Monona County
seemed to follow the valley of the Soldier River
and even curved in and out among the numerous
bends of the stream. The terrible ravages of the
tornado were scarcely realized until daylight
divulged the extent of the wind’s damages. It
was a twister in every sense of the word.
ROAR WAS FRIGHTFUL.
The people of this section were first made aware
of the approach of the cyclone by the roar as it
came up from the Missouri River. The terrifying
noise could be heard for 20 miles, and many
people were up and outside their homes gazing in
the direction of the approaching tornado before
they realized the death dealing nature of the
approacaing [sic] funnel. This accounts for the
large list of injured who were struck by flying
timbers. Eye witnesses testify that the air was
so full of twisted trees, pieces of houses,
picked up in its path, and other debris that any
one exposed for a second to its fury could not
escape injury. Great quantities of dirt were
scooped up and carried along with the storm, and
bodies of dead cattle thickly strewed the
storm’s path.
Lima Daily News, Lima, OH 28 Apr 1899
Transcribed by
Jenni Lanham. Thank you,
Jenni!
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