Fort Wayne, IN: 1965 Palm Sunday Tornado Outbreak

I was in high school in Fort Wayne when this happened.

Tommy Lee Fitzwater posted

Who remembers this?

Here is an issue of the Fort Wayne (Indiana) News-Sentinel newspaper, dated Tuesday, April 13, 1965, with coverage of the swarm of tornadoes that swept through northern Indiana and other nearby states two days earlier in what became known as the "Palm Sunday Outbreak."

On Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, Indiana was one of six Midwest states to be raked by deadly tornadoes. In all, 47 tornadoes killed 271 people and injured over 1,500. This was the fourth deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history and the deadliest of all Indiana outbreaks.
Samii Taylor Yakovetic If my childhood memories serve me, those were some of the first swarm tornadoes - they violated normal rules of tornadoes by following watercourses for long distances and remaining on he ground for extended periods of time. Is this the storm that wiped out Zanesville, OH?
Maury Harris Not sure about Zanesville; they did have a twister in November of 1965. Their worst was in 1912. Might you be thinking of Xenia? "On April 3, 1974, an F5 category tornado struck Xenia, Ohio. The tornado that struck Xenia was just one of at least 148 tornados that occurred in the South and Midwest in a twenty-four period. This was the worst outbreak of tornados recorded in the twentieth century." Ohio History Central
Scott Gilbert Yeah, I bet the question refers to Xenia in the Super Outbreak of 1974. I know the daughter of the man who was the Xenia fire chief then.

Sandy Race Remember it well, the grocery stores were giving frozen food away! Electricity was out and everything was melting!
Dennis DeBruler Indiana & Michigan lost everyone of their high-tension lines that fed the city. So all of the I&M customers lost their power. We had City Utilities at the time, so we didn't feel that impact.

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