Forty Years Ago - The Orrick, MO Tornado

It was the early afternoon of January 24, 1967 when this deadly twister struck the small community of Orrick in the eastern Kansas City Metro.

Here is a description of that day from my yet-uncompleted book on Kansas City MetroRegion Tornadoes:

"Weather conditions more like April than January that day contributed to a noteworthy tornado outbreak over the Central U.S. and western Great Lakes states. Noteworthy it was ... at the time it was the furthest north a tornado outbreak in winter had occurred in recorded history. Thirty-two tornadoes were reported in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Two of the tornadoes during the outbreak reached F-4 intensity. Four of those twisters ... in MO, IA and IL ... were killers.

The first killer tornado of the outbreak touched down in the noon hour about 20 miles east of Downtown KC,MO ... in JACKSON County ... then moved northeast into southwestern RAY County MO, striking the high school in ORRICK,MO..
The thunderstorm that would spawn the tornado formed about 30 miles southwest of Kansas City just before noon. The storm quickly became severe as it moved northeast near 40 m.p.h.. Around 12:25 p.m., straight-line winds estimated near 60 m.p.h. caused damage to the-then under contruction Metcalf South shopping center at 95th Street and Metcalf in OVERLAND PARK,KS.
The storm moved through southern PRAIRIE VILLAGE, northern LEAWOOD,KS, into KC,MO around 83rd Street and State Line. At Southeast High school across from Swope Park, winds estimated at 50 m.p.h. chased a boy's gym class from outdoor fields. The storm moved on, passing over the Blue Ridge Mall area. Reports of hail up to quarter size began to be received as the storm moved over southern and eastern INDEPENDENCE. There were also scattered reports of damage to trees and power lines there, and at least one unconfirmed report of a funnel cloud near the Lake City munitions plant at Missouri Highways 7 and 78.
At 12:40 p.m., the funnel dropped to the ground about 3 miles southwest of BUCKNER (present-day eastern INDEPENDENCE). The tornado spared a direct hit on BUCKNER, damaging outbuildings and barns in the nearby rural hills. The funnel then moved into the Missouri River plain, just missing the small community of SIBLEY..
As the tornado moved across the river into southwestern RAY County, it reached it's maximum F-3 strength. Around 12:50 p.m., the estimated 250-foot wide tornado with winds as high as 200 m.p.h. slammed into the high school in ORRICK, a town less than a few hundred people shy of 1,000 on Highway M-210.
The winds lifted - then collapsed - the roof of the gym as well as the upper walls of the building. This caused another part of the school's roof to collapse. Debris blew in and rained down onto the more than 200 students and their instructors taking cover in interior hallways, killing two of the students. The number injured was officially reported as 18.
At least three other homes were either damaged or destroyed in town where the remainder of the injuries were reported. Dozens of police, fire units and ambulances responded from a three-county area to assist in rescue and treatment of the injured in ORRICK that day.
The tornado continued on for about another 20 minutes, taking out more barns and outbuildings until it lifted 4 miles west-northwest of RICHMOND in central RAY County."


The ORRICK tornado ... rare as it was that January day ... was not the deadliest. That distinction went to an F-4 twister that moved northeast through the western and northern suburbs of ST. LOUIS,MO., just missing the city's Lambert airport.