The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-03-15
81 KILLED AS
TORNADO RIPS
THREE STATES
500 Left Injured in Wake of
Storm Which Hits
Southern District.
DAMAGE TOLL is HUGE
Relief Work Is Concentrated
in Remote Cumberland
Mountain Area.


NASHVILLE, Tenn, March Is
A tornado cut narrow path across
three states Tuesday night, leaving
thirty-four known dead, at least 500
injured, and property damage es-
timated in the tens of thousands
of dollars.
Relief work concentrated today
in the remote Cumberland noun
tain region, along the eastern Ken
tucky-Tennessee border, where the
tornado reached its greatest fury
and caused the heaviest loss of life.
TWenty-one of those killed were
in this section, approximately sew
enty miles long. Scores were home
less, sheltered in stores and public
buildings, and it was feared the
death toll might mount when COM
municationS were restored to lso-
lated mountain communities.
Ten Die at Nashville
Eight were killed in Pruden,
Tenn, a mountain town twelve
miles west of Cumberland Gap. At
Harrogate, Tenn, three miles east
of the gap, two were killed. The
tornado hit again at Kingsport, ap-
proximately IS miles east of Harro-
gate, where five were killed.
Before reaching Pruden, the
storm wrecked a section Of Nash
vile, approximately $50 miles
southwest of Cumberland Gap,
killing ten and injuring more
than 300. One was killed in Os-
wego, Tenn, a hamlet fifteen miles
west of Pruden, two were killed at
Bellwood, two at Lebanon, and one
at Mill Point.
100 Troops Modified
One hundred national guardsmen
were modified in Nashville and
placed on guard duty in the city's
devastated section. Searchers still
were removing debris and there
was a possibility more bodies would
be found.
The Nashville electric light sys-
tenn failed temporarily and doctors
in General hospital treated scores
of injured by candle light. Heavy
rain and hail stones reported by OBJ
servers to be as large as eggs pre-
coded and followed the tornado and
handicapped the search for victims.
The storm first was reported in
Charlottesville, Mo-, on the Missis-
sippi river, approximately thirty
miles above the Arkansas line.
Swerves at Memphis
It moved in a general southwest
erly direction to LepantO Ark, fifty
miles distant, where injuries and
property damage were reported.
Then it veered southeastward, cross
ing the Mississippi at Memphis,
forty-five miles away.
Swerving northeast, the storm
reached furious intensity in Nash
vile, 1876 miles from Memphis, and
thence moved on to Oswego, where it
SWerved easterly, roared over the
Cumberland Gap, caused heavy
damage in Bristol, Va. approx
mately ninety miles from the gap,
and was lost in the remote Virginia
hills. The total charted distance
was 543 miles.
Rescue parties went into the Ten
nessee and Virginia mountains, but
were driven back by hail and rain.
They planned to set out again to-
day.
More Deaths Feared
At least a dozen of the injured
were in critical condition and ply
Sicians feared several would die. In
Kingston, Tenn, two hospitals
treated eighty-one victims. Two
hotels and the Salvation Army home
were given over to care for the
homeless.
The tornado wiped out commune
cations over most of the affected
area. From Pruden, citizens drove
through hail and rain to Mindless
boro, twelve mIles away, to summon
aid.
Injuries and property damage
from hail and high winds were re-
ported all along the storms course.