On April 3, 1974, a total of 148 tornadoes struck across the Ohio Valley and the Deep South. Locally, the strongest was a tornado which formed near the community of McQuady, in Breckinridge County and grew into an F5 strength storm as it entered the western edge of Meade County.
As it churned across the rural landscape, it destroyed everything in it’s path including the main business and residential areas of Brandenburg before lifting over the southern edge of Harrison County, Indiana as the storm system traveled northeast toward Louisville. In Brandenburg, 31 people lost their life in a split second as a hot, muggy afternoon turned violent for a short time during the storm.
The Brandenburg tornado along with the other storms in the outbreak brought attention to the lack of preparedness in weather forecasting and began the main foundation that the alert systems in use today are built upon. Dr. Ted Fujita actually visited Brandenburg and studied the damage further developed the Fujita Scale that is used today to determine the strength of tornadoes based on the debris field and damage left behind.
We dedicate this page and media clips in the honor and to the memory of those who were lost on that fateful afternoon. We thank the survivors who have shared their experiences for their courage to share the horrific events of that day will educate and aide in the effort of personal preparedness incase the modern generation is faced with such a situation in the future. The 1974 Super Outbreak has thankfully never been eclipsed in modern weather since.
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