Regina Cyclone

Regina Cyclone

F4 tornado
Metropolitan Methodist Church and YWCA after the Regina Cyclone
Formed	June 30, 1912 4:50 p.m. CST (2245 UTC)
Max rating1	F4 tornado
Damage	$4.5 million CAD
Casualties	28 fatalities
Areas affected	Regina, Saskatchewan
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The Regina Cyclone is the popular name for a tornado that devastated the city of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada on June 30, 1912. It remains the deadliest tornado in Canadian history, with a total of 28 fatalities. At about 4:50 p.m., green funnel clouds formed and touched down south of the city, tearing a swath through the residential area between Wascana Lake and Victoria Avenue, and continuing through the downtown business district, rail yards, warehouse district, and northern residential area.

The tornado formed 18 kilometres (11 mi) south of the city and continued for another 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north before dissipating. It was approximately 150 metres (490 ft) wide. The tornado's wind velocity has been estimated at 800 kilometres per hour (500 mph), though this conflicts with the F4 Fujita scale estimate based on reports of damage and historical photographs.

The tornado hit Regina at approximately 5:00 p.m. on June 30, 1912. The tornado formed 18 km south of the city and was roughly 150 metres wide by the time it reached Regina. The worst damage was in the residential area north of Wascana Lake and the central business district. Many buildings, both brick and wood, were entirely destroyed. "The new Central Library building was opened May 11, 1912, and just six weeks later, the new library was among the many buildings that suffered damage."

"In just twenty minutes it completely leveled a number of houses, and caused other houses to explode as the pressure inside the structures rose when the tornado passed overhead." The affluent residential area to the south was substantially diminished, but the tornado left houses untouched here and there immediately adjacent to houses which were flattened. "[I]n the warehouse district, it destroyed many of the storage buildings. The CPR Roundhouse was stripped to the rafters, and boxcars were pulled from the tracks and hurtled into the air."

Such damage was especially appalling to see as well as experience since Regina had been built on an entirely featureless plain, lacking any trees or vegetation other than natural wild prairie grass and without any hills or rivers apart from the tiny spring runnoff Wascana Creek, which only flowed in early spring.

"The cyclone claimed twenty-eight lives and was the worst in Canadian history in terms of deaths. It also rendered 2,500 persons temporarily homeless, and caused over $1,200,000 in property damage. It took the city two years to repair the damage and ten years to pay off its storm debt."