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Story: Remembering 1949 tornado in Cape Girardeau (12/22/23)Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau and former lieutenant governor of Missouri gave a presentation Wednesday, Dec. 20, to the Cape Girardeau Noon Lions Club about a tornado that struck the city May 21, 1949. Kinder showed photos of the aftermath and said the tornado first touched down at 6:56 p.m., obliterating the Albert Spaulding farmhouse about 1 mile west of Cape Girardeau. ...
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Blog by Fred Lynch: Frony recalls 1949 tornado (5/21/12)In a 1983 interview, Southeast Missourian photographer G.D. Fronabarger talks about his experience on May 21, 1949 when a tornado devastated Cape Girardeau. "A Look Back: Cape tornado of '49" has archived photos and stories...
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Story: St. Louis assesses tornado damage (4/25/11)BRIDGETON, Mo. -- The St. Louis area's most powerful tornado in 44 years rips into an airport and through a densely populated suburban area, destroying up to 100 homes, shattering hundreds of panes of glass at the main terminal and blowing a shuttle bus on top of a roof. Yet no one is killed, or even seriously hurt, and the airport reopens less than 24 hours later. How?...
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Story: Survivors recall deadly 1949 tornado that struck Cape Girardeau (5/21/09)For Doc Ford, the evening of May 21, 1949, was supposed to be a fun night spent with friends at Broadway Theatre. Instead, the evening's events claimed the lives of 22 people, injured many more and etched painful memories in the minds of residents who survived the tornado that touched down in Cape Girardeau...
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Photo gallery: 1949 Tornado (5/21/09)Archive photos of the tornado that ravished Cape Girardeau 60 years ago.
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Story: Submitted by readers: 1949 tornado stories (5/20/09)The May 21, 1949 tornado was one of the biggest natural disasters ever to hit Cape Girardeau. Below, our readers tell their stories of the tornado, submitted as comments on our website and email...
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Story: Articles from the days following the storm (5/20/09)The May 21, 1949 tornado that devastated a large section of Cape Girardeau was closely covered for days in the pages of the Southeast Missourian. Click on the links below to download PDF versions of some of the articles that appeared following the storm...
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Story: List of those killed in the 1949 tornado (5/20/09)The May 21, 1949 tornado left a trail of destruction through much of Cape Girardeau. In the aftermath 22 people were dead, 72 hospitalized and hundreds injured. Below is a list of those killed by the storm. Rev. R.P. Basler, 81, 811 N. Park Rev. G. Jack Crowe of Middletown, Ohio, evangelist at Church of God in...
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Story: Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. talks about the tornado (5/20/09)Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr. practiced law in Cape Girardeau from 1916 until his death in 1996 at the age of 104. At the time of his death, he was the nation's oldest practicing lawyer. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, he sat down with Southeast Missourian reporter Mark Bliss to reminisce about a...
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Story: Front pages from the tornado aftermath (5/20/09)Pictured here are front pages from an extra edition of the Southeast Missourian published a day after the storm and the edition that published two days after, on Monday, May 23, 1949.