Friday marks the 47th anniversary of the deadly 1979 tornado that struck Wichita Falls.
The twister on April 10, 1979, was part of what the National Weather Service calls the “Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak,” which it describes as “one of the most significant tornado outbreaks that ever occurred in western north Texas and southern Oklahoma.”
On Terrible Tuesday, tornadoes struck Vernon and Lawton that afternoon, but the worst happened in Wichita Falls. It touched down west of Memorial Stadium at 5:55 p.m. and moved through the southern and eastern sides of the city.
The weather service said it stayed on the ground until it almost reached Waurika, Oklahoma.
Forty-two fatalities were recorded in the city, and three more people died of heart attacks, NWS said.
More than 3,000 homes were destroyed, and another 1,000 were badly damaged. In addition, the weather service tallied more than 1,000 apartment units that were destroyed, along with 140 mobile homes.
The tornado destroyed more than 100 commercial business and two schools.
“It is estimated that 5,000 families containing 20,000 residents were left homeless in Wichita Falls,” NWS said.
The total damage was $400,000 in 1979 dollars.
“The passage of a violent tornation through an 8-mile section of a city is an almost unheard of natural disaster,” the weather service said.
In August 2025 the Texas Historical Commission approved an official state historical marker in remembrance of the disaster.
It will be located in Rotary Park at Hughes Drive and Phillips Drive, an area struck by the twister, according to the Wichita County Historical Commission.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Wichita Falls marks 47th anniversary of deadly tornado
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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