Inside Oklahoma’s Deadliest Tornado Disaster

When the sun set on April 9, 1947, the people of Woodward, Oklahoma, had no idea what was coming. Churches were filled for Wednesday evening services. Three hundred people settled into the Woodward Theater for the evening show. Life was ordinary, and then, at 8:42 pm, everything changed.

An F5 tornado of catastrophic proportions struck the city without warning. In just five minutes, more than 100 city blocks were destroyed.

A Storm Born in the Texas Panhandle

The storm that would devastate Woodward actually began hours earlier, originating near White Deer, Texas, around 5:42 pm CST. Meteorologists believe this was one of at least six tornadoes from a single supercell. The Woodward tornado cut a nearly 100-mile-long path through the Texas Panhandle and into northwestern Oklahoma, remaining on the ground for most of that distance.