20th Anniversary of the Plainfield Illinois Tornado
UPDATE: There is an excellent video of the damage here from Fox Chicago.
Facebook Fan Billy R. asked me to blog about the Plainfield, Illinois F5 tornado which struck the suburbs of Chicago on August 28, 1990 [WikiPedia]. It's not a storm that you hear a lot about - it seems the 1990's lie in that odd area in-between "historical" twisters and "internet-era" tornadoes. No photos or video exist of the twister, because it was rain-wrapped. As a result of those two issues, it's hard to find a lot of information about it, especially maps.
An apartment building in Crest Hill, Ill., is shown Aug. 28, 1990, after being destroyed by a tornado. (DISPLAYED UNDER EXCLUSIVE LICENSE WITH AP Photo/Mark Elias, File)
Here are some stats about the storm:*
- 29 Killed, 350 Injured
- 470 Homes Destroyed, 1000 Damaged
- 16.4 Miles Long, Up to 1/2 Mile Wide
- $165 Million ($230 adjusted) Damage
- The only F5 tornado in the U.S. in August (Illinois had never seen an F4 that month either)
That last stat makes it the 15th most damaging U.S. tornado between 1890-1999 (when adjusted for inflation). Note that only one other tornado ranks above it since 1990!
*Most of those stats were from the best resource I could find on the tornado, which was this PDF by the National Weather Service in Chicago, though you should also check out this 20th Anniversary page with news & video by WGN.
The image above is an aerial shot (by Steve, a pilot from Chicago) showing the "tornado scar" (view his other photos on Flickr). Below is the only map of the track that I could find, from the Plainfield Library.
The NWS PDF says that this tornado happened without a watch or warning. Think how much development has occurred in the last 20 years. If the same storm hit today, the damage would be much greater, though lives would likely be saved by a more modern warning system. Take for example this screenshot of part of the interactive digital path from the NWS -- note the number of new roads (indicated in red) built since then, and the houses that lines them. Is Chicago prepared for the next F-5? Both the NWS and WGN pontificate on that in the links above.
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