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HIGGINS 1947
TORNADO
Vintage Photos
Higgins, Texas
"Photos
taken by my Great Grandmother Alice Akers of the April 9, 1947 F5
tornado that hit Higgins, TX" - Rob McLain |
| On
April 9, 1947, the event that was to become forever linked to Higgins
occurred. A tornado or tornadoes approached Higgins
from the south, after first hitting Glazier,
Texas. Forty-five people lost their lives as the storm continued up
into Oklahoma and even into Kansas. |
| Broader view
of destruction on Main Street |
| Men and car
in Main Street after the tornado |
| Surveying the
destruction of Main Street |
| A car sits destroyed
in front of Weis Dry Goods. That Building still stands today |
| People walking
around dazed and confused looking for anything. |
| Higgins Hotel
after tornado |
| First Baptist
Church after tornado |
Higgins,
Texas Forum
Glazier
and Higgins Tornado of April, 1947
Dear TE, The recent pictures of the Greenburg, Kansas tornado brought
back memories of the tornado that hit Hemphill County back in 1947.
I was 12 years old on April 9, 1947 when I witnessed the tornado
that hit Higgins and Glazier.
It was just southwest of the airport at Canadian,
Texas, where my father Thomas L. McCurdy was the airport manager.
The tornado was so large that there were five or six smaller twisters
circling the main column. The tornado was so close that the air
seemed to be all sucked up. It was such weird feeling. The main
tornado lifted as it crossed the South Canadian River but went back
on the ground after reaching the north side. We were so frightened
by it, that we talked about it for hours after it had passed. The
next morning someone was banging on the door at the airport. The
man who ran the paper at Canadian
was saying that Glazier
was wiped out. My dad flew the photographer over the area and took
the original pictures of the devastation. After returning to the
airport, my dad flew back to Glazier and landed on the highway to
pick up two of the injured and bring them back to the Canadian hospital.
He remained in that plane for the next two days flying people from
Higgins and Glazier because the
highway from Canadian to Higgins
was impassable. All the barbed wire and telephone/ telegraph lines
were twisted together and wove back and forth on the highway for
many miles. Cars couldn't drive over it because of the barbed wire,
so Dad's airplane was the main lifeline between Canadian
and the other two towns. On the second day the Army flew in with
stretcher planes and helped. Dad’s plane was a Stinson Voyager with
a stretcher in it. He could carry one in the stretcher and one in
the back seat. I don’t know how many trips he made but I know he
was in the airplane for two solid days. The local gasoline dealer
brought kerosene smuge pots to the airport and lined both sides
of the runaway. They did the same in Glazier
and Higgins and he flew all night
long to bring the injured to Canadian.
The basements of the Baptist and Methodist churches were filled
with injured people after the hospital had run out of room. The
high school gym was also used. Even though I was only twelve at
the time, my memories of that event remain vivid. - Otto W. (Bill)
McCurdy, Houston Texas, May 14, 2007
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