22 years ago, on April 21st, 1996, the cities of Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and Van Buren (Crawford County) were changed forever. It was the peak of the Spring severe weather season, both cities being no stranger to strong thunderstorms during this time period. It was no different on this evening. This storm came as no surprise, as a deadly outbreak of severe weather was on-going over the southern United States. The strong supercell thunderstorm began to gain strength as it tracked across eastern Oklahoma. At approximately 11:12 PM, the tornado was on the ground and began moving into the western side of Fort Smith. This was only the beginning of a nightmare for the next several minutes. The residents of Fort Smith had a very small window of warning before the tornado struck due to the National Weather Service not having a Doppler radar in the city of Fort Smith - the tornado was simply not detected as it was far enough away from the nearest radar in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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| A view from above Fort Smith shows the damage results of the tornado |
After moving through the western sides of Fort Smith the tornado continued to move northeast, causing havoc and destruction throughout it's path. The residential areas over north Fort Smith were hit extremely hard, along with several historic buildings in the downtown area. The tornado wasn't done however, as it moved northeast it crossed the Arkansas River with ease, placing the city of Van Buren in it's sights.
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| View from above of a destroyed Van Buren neighborhood. |
Van Buren was struck once the tornado crossed the crossed the Arkansas River. Numerous injuries were reported in Van Buren once the tornado had passed, but thankfully no fatalities were observed. The tornado moved through western portions of Van Buren This area mainly consisted of houses, as the tornado did not move into the greater Van Buren area. As the tornado continued it's northeast track it moved into a much less populated area.
Two fatalities occurred in the residential areas of northern Fort Smith. Both fatalities were children who died in weak-frame houses. Countless injuries resulted from the tornado, both in Fort Smith and Van Buren - over 1,800 houses were heavily damaged or completely destroyed. It should be noted that this same supercell thunderstorm produced an additional tornado later in the evening, striking Madison County where two citizens lost their life.
The tornado was rated as a F-3 tornado on the original Fujita scale. Winds were measured at nearly 200 MPH, this type of wind strength caused train cars to flip over, site-built homes were destroyed, and automobiles were picked up off the ground and thrown several feet. The tornado is recorded to have only been on the ground for seven miles, with a width of one half mile wide.
Below are additional photographs from the event:
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| A look at Garrison Avenue in historic downtown Fort Smith |
-AW Team
