FLINT, Mich. – On June 8, 1953, disaster struck the north side of Flint and the northern suburb of Beecher when the Flint-Beecher tornado, Michigan’s worst natural disaster in terms of deaths and injuries, tore through the area.
The Flint-Beecher tornado is the only tornado to hit in Southeast Lower Michigan to be classified as F5 on the Fujita scale. According to the National Weather Service, an F5 tornado is defined as, “incredible damage. Strong frame houses leveled off foundations and swept away; automobile-sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters; trees debarked; incredible phenomena will occur. Wind speeds approximately 261-318 mph.”
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The day of the tornado
For those of you who want to get sciency, the National Weather Service explains the theory of how this tornado happened:
“The surface map at 1:30 p.m. that afternoon showed strong lower pressure for early June over the Minnesota ‘arrowhead’ region, with a warm front south of the Great Lakes, and an occluded front immediately west of Lake Michigan. By late afternoon, the warm front had moved quickly into southern lower Michigan, allowing temperatures to climb to near 80°F and dewpoints to in excess of 70°F.
Not only were the thermal and moisture profiles in the region conducive to strong, severe thunderstorms, but the wind profiles were suggestive of tornado-producing “supercell” thunderstorms. Winds in excess of 50 knots in the 700-500 mb layer were indicative of strong, deep shear through the lower troposphere (0-3 km Storm Relative Helicities ~300 m2/s2 and 0-6 km cumulative shear ~55 m/s) - and supportive of supercell thunderstorm formation. And, meanwhile, the presence of the warm front in southeast lower Michigan added a “veering” with height aspect to the winds in the lowest 1 to 3 thousand feet of the atmosphere, adding to the tornado potential that evening.”
It is believed winds were likely in excess of 200 mph. The 800-yard-wide tornado travelled 27 miles at approximately 35 mph, killing 116 and injuring 844 in its path.
The aftermath
So many were killed by the tornado that the National Guard Armory building and other shelters were temporarily converted into morgues. Over 100 people, families and friends of victims, waited outside these morgues in the rain for hours before they could move inside to identify the bodies. State Police Captain James Berardo warned the people outside that the tornado had horribly battered some victims and that the scene inside would be gruesome.
The Flint-Beecher tornado took the lives of people as young as 5 months and as old as 80. At least 20 families reported that more than one of their family members had been killed, multiple deaths. The Gensel and Gatica families each lost 5 members. Out of the 116 people killed, 55 of them were under 20 years old, and out of those 55, five were less than a year old. Of the 844 injured, the last two to leave the hospital were discharged 5 months after the tornado.
Community response
In the wake of the disaster, State Troopers, the National Guard, and the Red Cross quickly mobilized to assist. Within 12 hours of the tornado, they provided first aid, food, and clothing to the victims.
The National Weather Service noted in their Beecher 50th Anniversary Commemoration that the Flint-Beecher Tornado was one of eight tornadoes that occurred that evening across the eastern portion of the Lower Peninsula, resulting in an additional nine deaths and 52 injuries.
The tornado destroyed nearly 340 homes, with 107 sustaining major damage and 153 experiencing minor damage. In addition to residences, 50 businesses and other buildings were damaged, totaling an estimated $19 million in damages, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars today.
Personal accounts
Pearl Chapman, a tornado survivor and Flint resident, told his account in a June 11, 1953, publication of the Flint Journal.
“I had just pulled into the driveway. I got out of the car and saw it coming. The boy was in the garage, and I yelled to him, ‘We all got in the basement,’” Chapman recalled. “It’s hard to describe it. It sounded like 10 freight trains coming down Coldwater Rd. None of us will ever forget it.”
His house was among the few that were not completely demolished. It was lifted off the basement and moved about five feet from the original foundation, every window shattering in the process.
Chapman said, “The house was twisted so bad I’m pretty sure it will have to be torn down.”
Rebuilding the community
Beecher was able to rebuild thanks to the Flint community that supported a “Red Feather” campaign to gather relief and rebuilding funds. With the community money and the Red Cross, Beecher rebuilt its community. In the late summer of 1953, a community-supported “Builder Bees” project had volunteers help rebuild some of the homes that were lost in the tornado.