San Justo tornado

The San Justo tornado was a powerful tornado which struck San Justo, a town in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, on January 10, 1973. At least 63 people were reported dead and 350 were reported injured as it cut a 300 yard wide swath through the town. It was the most violent tornado ever recorded in South America, and also the entire Southern Hemisphere. However, the tornado was extremely short-lived, and only lasted for 7 minutes, reaching F5 intensity 2 minutes after it formed. Multiple factories and more than 500 homes were destroyed or damaged, and some homes were said to have vanished with little or no trace. Vehicles were thrown hundreds of yards and mangled beyond recognition, and grass was reportedly ripped from the ground. A newspaper image showed a vehicle motor that was embedded into a concrete wall by the tornado. A tractor was found in a wooded area 500 meters away from the dealership where it originated, and a pond outside of town was reportedly sucked dry by the tornado.[2] The tornado is widely considered to have been an F5 on the Fujita Scale. This tornado was the most violent ever reported in Argentina and Southern Hemisphere and had an economic cost of about $60,000 and was the deadliest tornado in Argentina's history.[3]

San Justo tornado
F5 tornado
Formed10 January 1973
Tornadoes confirmed1
Max. rating1F5 tornado
Highest winds
  • > 418 km/h (260 mph)
Damage~$60,000 (1973 USD)
~$324,000 (2016 USD)[1]
Casualties63 fatalities, 350 injuries
Areas affectedSan Justo, Santa Fe, Argentina
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The tornado

At about 14:17 local time, a tornado touched down right next to the General Belgrano Railroad tracks, in an open field. The tornado quickly became extremely violent, reaching F5 intensity two minutes later. The tornado tore through San Justo, sweeping several homes off of their foundations and tossing cars “like ping pong balls.” The tornado reached a maximum width of 300 meters, and abruptly dissipated 5 minutes after reaching F5 intensity. The tornado traveled for 1.4 kilometres (0.9 mi) and killed 63 people along its path.

Effects of the tornado

The tornado is said to have changed color multiple times, an unusual phenomenon. The tornado began with a unique violet color, and then turned red when it devastated brick homes, picking up brick dust along its path. The tornado destroyed several vehicles, threw some like “ping pong balls,” and left some unrecognizable. A trailer was buried in a 2 meter wide ditch, and some houses were said to have “simply vanished.” The tornado threw cows over 30 meters in the air. The tornado also passed over a lagoon, sucking up all the water that was inside of it. In total, the tornado killed 63 people, and caused millions of pesos in damage. The tornado destroyed a ton of wooden planks, and turned them into flying projectiles, which caused most of the fatalities.

After the tornado

The supercell that spawned the tornado continued to produce heavy rain for another hour, and then rescue efforts were started immediately afterwards. The local San Justo Hospital was turned into a morgue, with bodies waiting to be identified. Radio communications were cut, and San Justo was left without electricity for some time. The tornado left over 2000 people homeless, due to the extreme house damage. Dr. Ted Fujita studied this tornado, and called it “the most intense and violent tornado I have ever seen outside of the United States.” This is the only recorded F5 tornado in the Southern Hemisphere that is widely considered to have been an F5.

Sources
  • Worldwide Tornadoes--Argentina
  • (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3258-2
  • http://tormentasdebuenosaires.blogspot.com/2011/03/tornado-ef5-en-san-justo-santa-fe.html
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References
  1. CPI Inflation Calculator
  2. http://tormentasdebuenosaires.blogspot.com/2011/03/tornado-ef5-en-san-justo-santa-fe.html
  3. Viento Asesino (motion picture). Argentina: unknown. June 19, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2014.



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