The Pittsburgh Press (January 6, 1946)
Texas tornadoes kill 24, injure more than 150
Rescue workers in eastern part of state search wrecked homes for other victims
PALESTINE, Texas (UP, Jan. 5) – The death toll in a series of tornadoes which swept scattered parts of East Texas mounted to 24 today. Rescue workers searched the wreckage of scores of homes for possible other victims. More than 50 persons were injured.
The winds, which snapped trees like matchsticks, cut several swaths through rural areas which have yet to be heard from due to lack of communication.
But a check by the United Press disclosed 23 known dead – 13 of them in the Palestine area, seven in the Nacogdoches area, three in the Lufkin area and one in the Shiloh-St. Paul community in Leon County.
The list of injured still hospitalized stood at 25 to 30 in the Palestine area, six of them critically hurt; 15 at Lufkin, four of them listed as critical; a score or more at Nacogdoches, three of them listed as critical, and 13 at Crockett where the injured from Shiloh-St. Paul were taken.
An 18-mile strip south and southeast of Palestine apparently suffered the worst. All buildings in the 100-yard-wide stricken area were leveled.
Seven persons were hurt, one seriously, when a tornado dipped to earth five miles south of Decatur, 60 miles northwest of Dallas. It overturned three cars of a Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad freight train.
Some wind damage and a few injuries were reported in sections of Parker County, 60 miles west of Dallas.