PLUMFIELD (WSIL) -- An aging storm shelter just off of IL-149, is one of the few good things that came from the Tri-State Tornado, that tracked through this region, exactly 95 years ago Wednesday.
"You will see community storm shelters, regretably not in place in 1925, but they were built soon after the tornado, or in the years following, because people remembered how much damage."
Local historian and writer with Jon Musgrave shared with me one of the many reasons why the tornado was so devastating.
"I mean, there were something like 695, almost 700 people were killed by this tornado, a lot of them were in schools. Behind me, in what's now this church gymnasium, that was the site of the plumfield school, and of course it got hit," said Musgrave.
Being on record as the country's deadliest tornado in history, it was also the longest tracking, leaving a more than 200 mile long path of damage stretching from southeast Missouri to Indiana.
"To see this level of devastation, and this wide of path constantly, you know, it doesn't end. That was something different."
Musgrave says this anniversary is a reminder of how seriously we should take severe weather.
"I've grown up in this area, and it's like you get storm warnings, you take them seriously. You look, what's jim saying, turning on the T.V. or now, you know, open up Facebook, and see what's there, because these things are serious. "
Musgrave says these storm shelters serve as somewhat of an unofficial memorial to those impacted by the Tri-State Tornado.
