OMAHA NEBRASKA TORNADO ALBUM
GERMAN VERSION

25 March 1913

PAGE 13

Page 13

 

Berlin, Neb.

 

   There lives a strong German community; it was through hard work that they prospered. The tornado had laid down all the houses on the north side of the city. All four members of the Koch family lost their lives. Also the farmers of the surrounding area had suffered heavily. The farmer Reinhard Brandt lost his life and his wife was badly injured. In the entire area seven people died and 17 were badly injured. The property damage that was caused was estimated around $350,000.

   Also around Bennington, Craig, Waterloo, De Soto and other towns roared the tornado, leaving death and injured in its path.

 

Council Bluffs and western Iowa

 

  were badly damaged by the tornado. In each part of the state the tornado caused property damage estimated at $775,000; the tornado claimed the lives of 21 people and over 50 people injured. Council Bluffs alone had seven dead as a result of the tornado. Below Folsom, Iowa, passengers that had just left a Burlington train were injured, as the tornado came roaring towards them. Luckily the thunderstorm went by the train; but the tornado continued parallel to the train after the station, keeping the passengers in fear and horror.

 

Opinions from Scientist about the Tornado

 

   Father William F. Rigge from Creighton University, famous for his knowledge in the areas of Astronomy, could not explain the sudden outbreak of the tornado. Even though the Barometric pressure was low, but under no circumstances was this extraordinary. Furthermore in this region, similar low pressure has been recorded without the occurrence of devastating tornados. As stated by the Professors Condra and G. A. Loveland from the University of Nebraska, on the evening of Easter Sunday, we had encountered three probably four tornados. The men stated, Omaha could say it was lucky, that it was not hit by the tornado that hit the town of Berlin. That one was much more horrible than the Omaha tornado and covered a larger, wider area. Had this one hit Omaha, it would have affected the entire city; and removed them from the map.

 

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