Lessons from tornadoes past in Emporia and elsewhere continue to drive Lyon County’s mentality when it comes to emergency response.
Monday is the 46th anniversary of an F-4 tornado that started near Emporia’s Hostess plant and tracked to the northeast, killing six people and injuring more than 200 as it blasted Flinthills Mall and Lincoln Village before leaving town. The half-mile-wide tornado had a nearly 40-mile track across Lyon, Osage and Shawnee counties before dissipating near Auburn, causing $25 million in damage based on 1974 estimates.
The attention on the 1974 twister has overshadowed an F-2 tornado — again on Emporia’s west edge — on June 7, 1990. It was a smaller tornado, about 100 yards wide, and the path length was around 10 miles. Nobody was killed, but close to 20 people were injured. Longtime resident Jennell Tebbetts had about 15 minutes of lead time before the twister destroyed her house.
When she left the basement, Tebbetts expected some roof damage or a total roof replacement but learned the whole house would have to be replaced.
Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell encouraged residents to take the same approach, do their own planning well ahead of tornado season and review the plans before they have to be used. For government officials, Fell says emergency planning for tornadoes is a year-round effort.
Fell says the process has three stages: planning, response and recovery, with short-term and long-term angles to the planning and recovery stages. Before a tornado — and it could be several days beforehand — Emergency Management is sharing a lot of information with its government, health, law enforcement, education, media and other partners about what may be coming. During a tornado, the focus — as you can imagine — is on getting resources where they need to go as well as life safety and property protection. Recovery is a longer-term process involving a wider net of resources partners, including recovery committees, the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In related items, Fell reminded residents no town in Lyon County has reached out to Emergency Management to announce a dedicated, 24-7 community shelter for emergencies like tornadoes. He also said the Emergency Communications Center will sound the outdoor warning alert sirens for all county towns, but each individual town owns its siren or sirens. Emergency Communications typically receives calls from the public if sirens don’t go off as they should, and Emergency Management then notifies city officials about those issues.
June 8, 1974
Start: Emporia
End: Near Auburn
Path length: 38 miles (Lyon, Osage, Shawnee counties)
Maximum path width: 0.5 miles
Deaths: Six
Injured: Over 200
Damage: $25 million (1974 dollars, over $130 million in 2020 dollars)
June 7, 1990
Start: Approximately five miles due west of Emporia Municipal Airport*
End: Approximately three miles north of Emporia*
Path length: 10 miles (Lyon County)
Maximum path width: 100 yards
Deaths: None
Injured: 18**
Damage: Not listed
*-Tornado Project data.
**-United Press International
All information is from National Weather Service unless otherwise listed
Photos and documents of 1974 tornado courtesy National Weather Service
{gallery}1974 Emporia Tornado-NWS{/gallery}
Photos of 1990 tornado courtesy Jennell Tebbetts
{gallery}1990 Emporia Tornado-Jennell Tebbetts{/gallery}
