Rodessa, LA Tornado Victims: a Virtual Cemetery

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Rodessa, LA Tornado Victims

20 KNOWN DEAD AND SCORES HURT WHEN TORNADO STRIKES RODESSA.OTHER VICTIMS MAY BE FOUND.LOUISIANA OIL TOWN IS WRECKED BY TWISTER.Rodessa, La., Feb. 18 -- (AP) -- Twenty persons were known dead today, killed by a tornado that roared during last night's blackness into this rich Rodessa oil field town. Two additional were believed dead and scores were injured.Unofficial estimates in the confusion attendant to the disaster placed the number dead at between 25 and 30 persons, several of whom were still unaccounted for and the injured between 60 and 100.The tornado struck at 9:45 o'clock during heavy rains that raked adjoining portions of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas and crashed "supply row" in the business section of Rodessa, causing an estimated $250,000 to $500,000 property damage within a space of less than five minutes.It then bounded out toward Arkansas to the northeast, and ended up in a path across North Mississippi, causing several thousands of dollars in property damage around Water Valley.There were no casualties at Water Valley but felled trees clogged streets, windows were blown out of residences and outhouses were levelled.Pitiful stories were told by survivors in the Rodessa area where oil derricks and construction work were laid low and gas and oil spouted adding to the danger of fires.Continued heavy precipitation interfered seriously with rescue work and it was with great difficulty that the injured were removed to hospitals in nearby cities, Shreveport, and Vivian, La., and Atlanta, Texas.Early this morning Governor RICHARD W. LECHE of Louisiana sent Captain MURPHY J. RODEN, Assistant Superintendent of State Police to Rodessa to direct rescue work.Although martial law was not declared, several scores of national guardsmen, armed, were placed about the ruins of Rodessa to protect them from sightseers and to maintain order.Several dozen special deputies also were sworn in to aid in the relief under direction of the Red Cross.Continued rains and sloppy conditions made the clearing up of debris a slow process after oil trucks had hauled away the dead and injured in sight.Bodies of several persons were terribly mangled and twisted into portions of metal roof, shattered building materials and debris in general.The tornado cut a half mile path through the town and blew down a half dozen derricks. Rescuers unable to penetrate east of the railroad tracks said they feared a group of cabins there had been struck.