Brookside residents assess damages along Peoria Avenue following the "worst storm in Tulsa history". Tulsa World file photo.
This is a June 9, 1974 file photograph of tornado damage at what remained of Braum's, 3733 S. Peoria Ave., in the Brookside area. Tulsa World File
This is a June 9, 1974 aerial file photograph of tornado damage in Brookside along 3600-3700 blocks of Peoria Avenue. Right side top: Brook Manor HairStylist, northwest corner: Joe Wilson's Service Station, southwest corner: Louie's Service Station. Top left: northeast cornder: Shakey's Pizza. southwest corner, Channel 2 (then KTEW-TV now KJRH-TV)
Last week when officials told me that
Oklahoma's busiest tornado month (May) was just about over, a commenter warned readers that Tulsa's strongest tornado event was in June.
The storms in June the commenter referred to was on the front page of the Tulsa World 37 years ago today, June 9, 1974, one day after a deadly series of tornadoes in the same storm system hit both Oklahoma and Kansas.
Headlines proclaimed "12 Reported Dead, Hundreds Hurt As Tornadoes Ravage Oklahoma," and "3 Reported Dead as Tulsa Hit by Its Worst Tornado" and "Five Feared Dead In Drumright Storm." You can view the page
here.
As is the case with a lot of tornado-related information, these declarations were preliminary. As
this 25th anniversary story shows, the storm system's final death toll in the two states was 24. Of Oklahoma's 18 deaths, 3 were in Tulsa County. More than $30 million in damage was reported in Tulsa County alone. According to dollartimes.com, that amount would be more than $142 million today with inflation.
"At the same time the Brookside area was getting hammered about 7:10 p.m., twin F-3 tornadoes were hitting Oral Roberts University" the article states. "The area of 21st Street and Garnett Road was also damaged by a tornado, and the same funnel that hit ORU moved through Broken Arrow and lasted about 50 miles before dissipating in Mayes County, records show."
Statistics will show you that many tornadoes occur on or before May in Oklahoma. For example, officials reminded readers a few months ago that
May 10 last year had 55 tornadoes in Oklahoma.
However, the storms of June 8, 1974 should show something more telling than any statistic, the word every meteorologist seemed to love repeating when speaking about tornadoes:
"Variability."
And variability calls for vigilance, no matter what the calendar says.
-- Althea Peterson
