# 1973 San Justo tornado

The 1973 San Justo tornado was an extremely powerful and deadly F5 tornado which struck San Justo, a town in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, on January 10, 1973. At least 63 people were reported dead and 350 were reported injured as it cut a 330-yard-wide (300 m) swath through the town. It was the most violent tornado ever recorded in South America, and also the entire Southern Hemisphere. This tornado was widely considered to have been an F5 on the Fujita Scale, and in 2017, it received its official F5 rating. The tornado had an economic cost of about $60,000 and was the deadliest tornado in Argentina's history. The tornado is also the only F5 tornado to have been reported in Argentina and in South America.

## Meteorological synopsis

After a morning of intense heat, at noon, huge cumulonimbus clouds were seen forming and coming. Due to the high relative humidity content and extreme instability, around 13:00 local time, the clouds produced some isolated rainfalls.

## Tornado summary

Then, at about 14:15 local time, a tornado touched down in an open field. Slowly tracking to the south-southwest, the tornado killed several heads of a livestock, tossing cows over 30 m (98 ft) into the air and downed power poles. Several outbuildings were destroyed and lagoon was sucked dry before the tornado crossed the General Belgrano Railroad tracks and entered into town. According to eyewitnesses, the ground was shaking, "as if several jet planes were landing over the houses". The tornado quickly became extremely violent, reaching F5 intensity a few minutes later. The tornado reached a maximum width of 300 m (980 ft) and tore through western part of the San Justo, wrecking multiple factories and over 500 homes, leveling or sweeping clean some homes entirely. "Like ping pong balls", vehicles were thrown hundreds of yards and mangled beyond recognition, and grass was reportedly ripped from the ground. A newspaper image showed a vehicle motor that was embedded into a poured concrete wall by the tornado. A 10 t (22,000 lb) tractor was found in a wooded area 500 m (1,600 ft) away from the dealership where it originated. Large trees were torn out of the ground and flew "like matchsticks". A trailer was buried in a 2-metre-wide (6.6 ft) ditch.
As the tornado passed through the town, it turned more to the southwest. Crossing the National Route 11, the tornado struck a family car, lofting it 30 ft (9.1 m) into the air. Three children, man and woman were ejected from the car. The woman sustained only minor injuries, but man and children were killed and thrown 600 metres (660 yd) into eucalyptus forest, where hundreds of trees were snapped or debarked; their bodies were later found hanged on trees, being "unrecognizable and stripped of clothes". The tornado abruptly weakened and dissipated seven minutes after reaching F5 intensity. The tornado traveled for at least 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi), killed 63 people along its path, and caused millions of pesos in damage.
The tornado is said to have changed color multiple times, an unusual phenomenon. The tornado began with a unique violet color, and then turned red when it devastated brick homes, picking up brick dust along its path. The tornado destroyed a ton of wooden planks, and turned them into flying projectiles, which caused most of the fatalities.

## Aftermath

The supercell that spawned the tornado continued to produce very violent rain for another hour, and then rescue efforts were started immediately afterwards. The local San Justo Hospital was turned into a morgue, with bodies waiting to be identified. Most of the victims were reportedly rendered unrecognizable or caked in mud. Radio communications were cut, and San Justo was left without electricity for some time. The tornado left over 2000 people homeless due to the extreme house damage. Dr. Ted Fujita studied this tornado, and called it "the worst tornado ever recorded in the world outside the borders of the United States."
In 2013, a memorial was erected near the intersection of Roque Sáenz Peña boulevard and May 1st street for perished and their relatives.
In 2018, a group of sanjustinos made a documentary film entitled Vorágine about the experience of 3 relatives of tornado casualties. The film was directed by Fernando Molinas and produced by Imanol Sánchez.