Luzerne County, PA Tornadoes – August 19, 1890

This tornado first developed in a hollow in the northern part of Greenwood Valley. It moved generally east-northeast. It first hit the Freas Farm, north of Rohrsburg. A house was unroofed and fences and outbuildings were destroyed. An eyewitness nearby reported that the tornado, “moved faster than a railroad train, roaring fearfully.” Another witness in the area described the funnel as “a white cloud that suddenly turned black.” It cut a clear path through the wooded areas. About a mile north-northwest of Stillwater, near the village of Fishing Creek, a “sulfurous smell” was noted, and people for the next six miles of the track noticed this stench. It was also here, in the Fishing Creek area, where the first injury occurred. A person was injured when their house was unroofed and torn apart. Several barns in this area were leveled.

About a mile east of Fishing Creek a woman stated, “the tornado column separated into two distinct funnel-shaped clouds, moving onward side by side. Two fully formed columns surrounded by fine debris which appeared like a swarm of bees.” Near the Columbia/Luzerne County border, about 3 miles east-southeast of Benton, the tornado likely reached its first intensity maxima. It was here where the NWS Binghamton estimates the tornado was an F3, but it is the author’s personal opinion that the tornado was probably close to, if not, an F4 at this location. The quarter-mile-wide funnel leveled three houses. One farm was “blown to pieces.” The tornado even scoured the ground in this area, deep enough to tear sprouts from their roots and removed stones from the ground.

Crossing into Luzerne County the tornado weakened, producing mostly tree damage. It quickly intensified on a steep hill overlooking Pine Creek, where George Smith and his family lived. The house was lifted off its foundation and thrown 200 feet over a ledge, where it crashed down as mass of debris. George’s 6-year-old son was killed instantly when his skull was crushed by debris.

The tornado widened to about 600 yards wide and then plowed into Harveyville. The town was nearly completely destroyed. One person was killed and three others were injured in the town. The library was demolished. Debris from the library was scattered in all directions. A carpet was found a quarter of a mile to the northwest. Clothing and tinware was found half a mile to the northeast. The brick schoolhouse was “left as a mass of rubbish.” The general store was torn apart and a flouring mill was blown off its foundation. The M.E Church was unroofed. A barn in which several people took shelter was leveled, resulting in the town’s only fatality.

Continuing east-northeast from Harveyville, the tornado maintained F3 to possibly F4 intensity. The twister tore into the Gregory Schoolhouse and completely destroyed it. Eyewitnesses in the area described the tornado as “a silvery color and seemed like a stream pouring down into the darker mass of clouds at the earth.” They also noted that the trees were carried high into the air and “whirled rapidly.” Several homes in this area were leveled to the ground. One of the houses was lifted off its foundation and thrown down several yards away as a mass of debris. A basement wall also collapsed at this house. Another home was completely destroyed and debris was blown into small unrecognizable pieces. At this home, a girl was killed and her parents injured. At a third home that was swept away, Mamie Burns was on her way to the cellar but didn’t make it in time. She was crushed by debris and tragically died from her injuries four days later.

South of Sylvan Lake, about 5 miles east-northeast of Harveyville, another house was swept away, and trees were stripped and denuded. The twister then tore through Prichard. In Prichard, the tornado likely reached its second intensity maxima. The Signal Service papers noted that, “The destruction rivals the severest tornadoes of the Mississippi Valley.” The tornado leveled the forest through here. Nearly every tree in the path was destroyed. In some places, the fallen trees were stacked six to eight feet high. One pine tree that was 100 feet tall, and 30 inches in diameter was removed entirely from the ground and dropped tens of yards away. Other trees were reported to have been dragged along the ground, leaving gouges. Several homes were completely swept away, and one person was paralyzed after her spine was crushed by falling timber.

The tornado crossed Hunlock’s Creek and started to narrow and weaken. It finally roped out and dissipated about two miles southwest of Lehman Centre, at Mr. White’s property. A detailed description of the rope out was reported by him and will be included here. “While we were all watching the storm I noticed that directly north of the house the leaves that were carried by the wind were moving in a circle, and I called to the women to run to the back windows as there was a cyclone passing. We all ran to the windows and looking almost over our heads and to the north, we saw a huge black funnel-shaped cloud moving toward the northeast and whirling rapidly on its axis as it went. As soon as the funnel had fairly passed us, it quit raining, and I threw up a window and jumped out that I might see better. The funnel was about five or six hundred feet above the ground and seemed to be suspended in the air, but all at once a tail or nozzle came spinning down to the ground. It did not come straight down but seemed to writhe or gyrate as it came down. The tail broke into pieces almost as quickly as it came down leaving only the funnel revolving in the air. A second and third time this happened but the last time the tail did not extend more than a hundred feet below the funnel. Soon after, the funnel went to pieces precisely as a little whirlwind goes to pieces on a summer day, i.e. the ragged pieces of clouds continued to revolve for a time after the funnel went to pieces, but all ceased to revolve after a time and sailed away to the northeast. Now there are some other things that I ought to mention. In the first place, I thought that the funnel revolved more rapidly each time it sent a tail downward and slowed up somewhat as the tail disappeared.”

It should be noted that our summary differs significantly from Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes. The main discrepancy is the rating. Grazulis rates this as an F2. The F3 rating used here was applied by the NWS Binghamton and is also used in the NWS State College tornado database. It is my opinion that this tornado could be a candidate for an F4 rating. He also has the location of the tornado wrong. The tornado actually moved from near Rohrsburg (Columbia County) to the northeast of Silkworth (Luzerne County), and it was continuous along this 25-mile path. He does not include Columbia County, despite near F4 damage occurring there. We also were able to uncover a fourth fatality that occurred but was not counted. It also seems as though the injury total of 10 is too low. Per newspaper reports, it seems as though at least 25 to 30 people were injured.

This is what Grazulis has on this tornado in its entirety. “Skipped northeast of Shickshinny to near Silkworth. This event was probably a family of small but intense tornadoes. At least three people were killed, and others may have died. Most of the attention in the press was paid to the Wilkes-Barre event. Two of the deaths were in separate barns, and one was in a home.”