Post by SKYSUMMIT on Apr 24, 2008 6:07:33 GMT -6
| Cyclone of 1908 brought disaster to Washington Parish Between Friends By Bob Ann Breland He was only six years-old when it happened, but in his lifetime he never forgot that scary day. It was April 24, 1908 and on that date a terrible storm, then called a cyclone, measuring a mile to a mile and a half wide, cut a swath through Washington Parish killing and crippling numerous people and leaving great and memorable destruction in its wake. My late father-in-law, O.E. "Ode" Breland, told me about that storm a long time ago. I wrote it down so it would never be forgotten. Seeing the destructive storms in the mid-west the past couple of weeks brought it back to mind. His father had died two years before and there were still 10 children at their home in the heart of Pine. He was too young to be in the fields, but on that day the older children in the family were hoeing cotton. It had been thundering all morning, he remembered, but no rain. If it had been raining, they would not have been in the fields. The storm came on so fast they barely had time to get to the house. There was a steady roar that continued even after the storm passed. They ran into the front room and shut the outside door quickly, but didn't have time to put down the windows. Afterwards, they learned that this probably saved their house, which also had an open hallway or "dog trot" in the center. Only their kitchen was blown away. Their crop was a disaster - there was not one fence, not a rail left standing. The cows had huddled together and escaped harm. They had not had time to get scared. They discovered that they were on the north edge of the destructive storm, which only lasted from two to five minutes. The storm moved southwest to northeast through the edge of Franklinton, to Pine, through the Hilltop community near Angie, on to Angie and across the Pearl River into Purvis, MS, with great damage and destruction following in its wake. Years later he would talk to people in Purvis and learn of the many deaths and great damage also in that area. Click to learn more... He recalled one Pine family that didn't make it to their house, but ran and found shelter under a wooden packing crate and came out safely, only to find their home completely gone. In the Hilltop area, an entire family of seven was killed. In that incident, the storm was so strong the house was completely gone, leaving only a portion of the floor. Their cast iron stove was found across the hollow from the house. One child was killed as he was pulled from his brother's arms and swept into the storm's fury. Several other people were either killed or crippled, mostly children. He said miles of twisted timber was felled in every direction, missing leaves and vegetation. Hillsides were stripped of grass. As the storm traveled across the parish, it apparently intensified. There were almost no places in its path that were not destroyed. This storm didn't follow a tornado's usual up and down motion, destroying here and leaving things in tact in other places. He said, "It was a wide swath, as clean as if it had been cut with a mowing machine." After it was over, he remembered hearing a dinner bell ringing, as was the custom in the event of a disaster. He told other stories of death and destruction that occurred, but I only jotted down a few. The signs of the storm were visible for a long time. The Great Southern Lumber Company came in and started cleaning up the timber and it took them a "year or two" just to get the best of the timber. Much of it stayed on the ground for years, decaying like giant matchsticks. Everybody had a late crop as everything had to be replanted. The reason the death toll was so small was because the population in the parish was so scattered. But everybody living in the path had damage, some of it unbelievable, he said. The storm was so bad that those who remembered it never again in their lifetime faced a storm without fear. Some even built storm cellars. They had learned great respect for the fury of nature. Not only did my father-in-law actually remember the storm, but over the years he heard people talking and learned more about the storm and its effects on the people of Washington Parish. I would imagine most if not all of the people who experienced it are gone. My father-in-law would be over 100 now if he had lived, and he experienced it as a child of six. Apparently there has never been a storm in the parish that could even remotely be compared with this big one in 1908. This story lets us know that devastating storms can happen in places other than in the "tornado alley" of the mid-west. If it happened here once, it can happen again. |
We at least had battery operated radios and some text messaging. Red Cross was on the ground quickly here in Covington. 100 years ago, the people had nothing. 
