5. 1896 – St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado
Causing severe damage to downtown St. Louis, Missouri, East St. Louis, Illinois, and surrounding areas on Wednesday, May 27, 1896, with the hardest-hit areas of the city being the fashionable Lafayette Square and Compton Heights neighborhoods, as well as the poorer Mill Creek Valley. This single-day event would be recorded as one of the deadliest and most destructive tornadoes in U.S. history.
The St. Louis tornado injured over one thousand people and claimed the lives of at least 255 people. As well as the lives affected and lost, this event would cause more than $10 million in damage, equivalent to $311 million today, destroying more than 5000 people’s homes along with all their worldly possessions.
