Published: June 06, 2009 06:56 pm      

STRINGER: The Great Frost Tornado of 1930

Tornadoes are a major part of the weather scene in Texas each spring. An average of 118 touch down in the state every year, and due in large part to the enormous size of the state more tornadoes have been recorded in Texas than in any of state in the Union. When Hurricane Bulah hit the Gulf Coast in September 1967, that storm spawned 115 twisters in Texas in a five day span. Sixty-seven struck the state on Sept. 20 alone in conjunction with Bulah, marking the single day record for twisters. For the year 1967, Texas reported 232 tornadoes.

May 11, 1953, a tornado ripped Waco, killing 114 people and injuring an additional 597. On May 11, 1970, a killer storm hit Lubbock, claiming 26 lives, injuring more than 500, and damaging more than 15 square miles of the city.

The worst twister to hit Navarro County came on May 6, 1930, when the community of Frost was literally blown away by a killer storm. It hit at 3:30 in the afternoon, inflicting tremendous loss of life and extensive property damage. The late Paul Moore, long time journalist for the Corsicana Daily Sun, remembered that tragic day. It was almost time to go home when a telephone call to the newsroom informed the staff of the storm.

Moore rode to Frost on a train carrying doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel en route to render aid to the injured. He recalled seeing some unusual sights, which is not uncommon in the aftermath of a tornado. For example, he saw splinters from 2x4s driven into creosote pilings and there was a huge piece of steel that that had been picked up by the force of the storm and deposited several hundred yards away. One resident who had been in the hospital in Corsicana when the storm hit returned to find the town a corpse of what it had been when he left. The devastation defied description. Virtually the entire business district of Frost, which included approximately 70 businesses, was destroyed. The death toll numbered 22, and 65 more were injured. The storm system which produced the Frost tornado also spawned twisters in Bynum, Mertens, Irene, and Ennis. The final death count from all the storms combined was 41, and property damage was in excess of $2 million.

At the time of the storm, Frost had a population of 1,600 people and the promise of a bright future lay ahead. But the extensive damage brought by the tornado coupled with the economic problems of the Great Depression made total recovery and rebuilding of the town virtually impossible. Frost never returned to the status it had enjoyed prior to the storm.

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Dr. Tommy Stringer is executive director of the Navarro College Foundation.

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