toric Xenia Hotel. The tornado showed no mercy yanking thick trees from the ground, cars from the streets, and people from their homes. It tossed two tractor-trailers 150 feet into the air and onto the roof of a bowling alley. A wooden utility pole about 20 feet long snapped in half like a twig and soared 160 feet away from its original location. Five schools in Xenia were in the direct path of the tornado. When the tornado passed, three of the schools were destroyed almost completely. The other two were extensively damaged. The devastating tornado that struck Xenia killed 37 people, injured 2,000, and damaged 7,000 homes. In the Xenia tornado, as in any major disaster, the damage to buildings and lifelines and the effort required responding to casualties and destruction significantly disrupted traditional group activities in all spheres of life, from work to recreation, from religious worship to banking services. A tornado does more than wreck buildings and sever lifelines, it completely interrupts the cycles of community life, or at least puts considerable strain on them. With stores and places of employment closed in Xenia, not only were some people temporarily unemployed, but necessary goods and services could not be obtained in the usual ways at the times and locations wanted. With so many schools destroyed, educational schedules were sharply altered, as were recreational habits for children. Ultimately, the tornado very sharply disrupted community life.So what exactly was the cause of the Super Tornado Outbreak of 1974? The approximate cause of the huge tornado outbreak of April 3-4, 1974, in roughly layman's language, was the result of a number of important factors coming together at the right critical time. A very vigorous upper level atmospheric disturbance, along with a strong polar jet stream lead to the amplification and general strengthening of a low pressure region to the east of the Rocky Mountains. As this low pre...
