ST. LOUIS — This week's Vintage KSDK takes us back to February 1959 when a deadly tornado outbreak created a disaster in St. Louis.
We have video from the clean up after the storm that killed 21 people and left at least another 345 injured. It shows backhoes and dump trucks dwarfed by buildings that turned to rubble in the storm.
Structures from downtown to Forest Park were damaged or destroyed. The twister tore through around 2:20 a.m. on the morning of Feb. 10, 1959, while many slept.
Rescues were staged across the region. Damage totals were around $50 million, which would be more than $483 million in damage today.
The old Arena was hit and damaged, and a nearby television tower toppled.
The tornado started in St. Louis County, hit parts of downtown, and crossed over the Mississippi to south of Madison, Illinois.
It was on the ground for 50 minutes and 23 miles.
The National Weather Service ranked this tornado as an F4, with winds between 207 and 260 miles an hour.
