1953 Flint–Beecher tornado
On Monday, June 8, 1953, a powerful F5 tornado went right across the city of Flint, Michigan and its suburb Beecher. The latter city had 113–114 people dead after the severe tornado.[4] Before the 2011 Joplin tornado in Joplin, Missouri, it was the final tornado that led to triple-digit death tolls in the United States.[5]
 Tornado damage in Beecher, Michigan | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | June 8, 1953, 8:30 pm EST (UTC−01:30) |
| F5 tornado | |
| on the Fujita scale | |
| Highest winds | >261 mph(420 km/h)[1] |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 116 |
| Injuries | 844 |
| Damage | $19 million (1953 USD)[2] $223 million (2024 USD)[3] |
| Areas affected | Flint and Beecher, Michigan (part of a larger outbreak) |
| IBTrACS | |
Part of the 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence and tornado outbreaks of 1953 | |
Related tornadoes
Other tornadoes also hit lower Michigan and northern Ohio. The overall outbreak killed 116 or 117 in Michigan alone. Affected states also included Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York, and Massachusetts.[6]
The overall people who died from June 6 through 9 was 247 (some reports mention higher numbers).[7] The full damage went beyond $340 million (1953 USD; almost $3.3 billion 2021 USD). Michigan's deaths alone were 125. Others were killed across Nebraska, northern Ohio and east-central Massachusetts (mostly around Worcester).[8] The Massachusetts tornado was its most expensive (costing $53 million) before 1979.
References
- ↑ June 8, 1953: Remembering the Flint-Beecher Tornado. Absolute Michigan (8 June 2017). Retrieved 18 February 2026.
- ↑ Detroit/Pontiac, MI. weather.gov.
- ↑ $19,000,000 in 1953 → 2024 | Inflation Calculator.
- ↑ The 1953 Beecher tornado. The National Weather Service. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ↑ Tornado Season is Deadliest Since 1953. The Wall Street Journal Newspaper (24 May 2011). Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ↑ Worst Tornado in New England's History. The New England Historical Societies (9 June 2014). Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ↑ Flint, MI/Other Towns' Tornadoes. Gen Disasters. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ↑ Massachusetts' Tornadoes of All Time. Mass Live. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
