Tornado Talk Thursday at Winston County Archives

DOUBLE SPRINGS - Local residents who lived through or had relatives directly impacted by the devastating 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes will have the opportunity to tell their stories this Thursday, Aug. 10.
The creators of Tornado Talk, a website dedicated to tornado history, are working in conjunction with The Journal Record newspaper in Hamilton to learn more about how the Super Outbreak affected residents locally by coming to Winston and Marion counties to gather the stories of those who lived through the storms or had relatives affected by them.    Tornado Talk representatives will be at the Winston County Archives, located across from the Winston County Courthouse on Highway 195 in Double Springs at 11:30 a.m. Thursday to gather recollections.
According to research compiled by now-Journal Record General Manager P.J. Gossett in the Alabamian’s “Tornado Tracks” special edition that was printed March 31, 2021, the only F-5 tornado known to history to strike Winston County occurred during the Super Outbreak of  tornadoes nationwide on April 3-4, 1974.  Winston County was struck during the evening hours of April 3, as the F-5 tornado cut a path through Delmar and the Berry community, killing five people.  Those killed were Oda Ray Cagle, James Marvin Tidwell, James E. Henderson, Martha Elizabeth Herald Guined and Idella J. Berry.
Nationwide, the tornado outbreak killed 319, with the most deaths occurring in Alabama, a total of 77.  Twenty-three of those deaths occurred in Guin, which is why the Tornado Talk representatives will be traveling to Marion County to collect further recollections after their visit to Winston County Thursday.
Representatives will be at the Journal Record office, located on Alabama Highway 17 next to the Marion County Co-Op in Hamilton Thursday, Aug. 10, at 1:30 p.m. for research purposes and to record stories from the public about the horrific storms.

For more information, visit tornadotalk.com.

 


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