Tornado Outbreaks of 1938

A series of tornadoes killed twenty-one people, injured scores of others, and caused widespread damage across Arkansas on March 28 and 30, 1938.

The first storm hit Miller County around 7:20 p.m. on March 28, 1938. It reportedly “dipped south of Texarkana, skimmed the eastern edge of the city, swooped again in southern Hempstead county, struck with full force at Gurdon” in Clark County “and then lifted and did not come down again until it reached Randolph county, by which time its force had diminished.”

The twister killed three children in Miller County, including an infant girl, and caused damage at Mandeville (Miller County) and Texarkana, with a total of fourteen houses destroyed and eighteen damaged; losses were reported at $20,000. In Hempstead County, a tree struck a locomotive, leading to the amputation of the engineer’s arm. Several others were injured in the county, and “five Negro homes in another section of the county were demolished.”

Gurdon was hit particularly hard, and “many homes of white residents were destroyed and the Negro resident section was described as ‘torn to pieces.’” Some fifty houses were destroyed in Gurdon, and several people were injured, though there were no fatalities.

The Arkansas Gazette reported on the March 30 tornado that “its path of damage could be traced all the way from Polk county in the southwest, where damage was comparatively light, to Greene county, where three people were injured.”

The first major tornado apparently touched down near Plumerville (Conway County) and caused injuries at Hill Creek (Conway County) and Springfield (Conway County) before moving around 2:30 a.m. into Faulkner County, where a woman was killed at Republican (Faulkner County), and damage was reported at Bono (Faulkner County) and Guy (Faulkner County). That storm nicked Cleburne County, fatally injuring a woman in the Prayer Mountain community near Quitman (Cleburne and Faulkner counties) before moving into Van Buren County, where it caused damage and injuries at Damascus (Faulkner and Van Buren counties), Martinville (Van Buren County), Central (Van Buren County), and Gravesville (Van Buren County). At least sixteen people were injured by that storm.

A second and far more deadly tornado struck Cleburne County around 6:00 p.m. when it “struck a deadly blow to the Miller community,” which was a farming community, and “cut a quarter-mile swath westward” to the north of Heber Springs (Cleburne County). Three members of the Dugger family were killed outright at Miller, and two others would die of their injuries over the next few days.

The twister also caused damage at Ida (Cleburne County), Case Ford (Cleburne County), and Tumbling Shoals (Cleburne County), where one person was killed and twelve houses were demolished. The general store and post office owned by C. E. Black also was destroyed, and Black and his wife would die a few days later of injuries sustained in the storm. A youth in Cleburne County’s Banner community would also die of his injuries. The Gazette reported that in the county “the total of property loss was appalling.”

Two other people died when the storm demolished their house near Minturn (Lawrence County), “and between 12 and 15 homes [were] destroyed.” The outbreak also caused damage at Oil Trough (Independence County), Sulphur Rock (Independence County), and Moorefield (Independence County). A woman from Floral (Independence County) died of her storm-related injuries a few days later.

The outbreak also hurt a dozen people in White County, “and many buildings [were] destroyed with the heaviest damage” near Higginson (White County).

The same storm system that devastated Arkansas on March 30, 1938, also caused extensive damage in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois, killing at least thirty-five people and causing some $2 million in damage.

For additional information:
“12^th Victim of Tornado Dies.” Arkansas Gazette, April 2, 1938, p. 7.

“14^th Tornado Victim Dies at Batesville.” Arkansas Gazette, April 3, 1938, p. 15.

“35 Killed by Storms; Losses $2,000,000.” Arkansas Gazette, April 1, 1938, p. 1.

“Baby Girl, Injured in Storm, Dies at Texarkana.” Arkansas Gazette, March 30, 1938, pp. 1, 13.

“Eighth Cleburne County Victim of Storm Succumbs.” Arkansas Gazette, April 1, pp. 1, 17.

“Engineer, Hurt in Storm, Suffers Loss of Arm.” Arkansas Gazette, March 30, 1938, p. 13.

“Fruit Crop Damage Less Than Expected.” Arkansas Gazette, April 4, 1938, p. 1.

“Many Persons Injured, 50 Homes Destroyed at Gurdon.” Arkansas Gazette, March 30, 1938, p. 1.

Porterfield, Jan. “March 30, 1938 Tornado.” Cleburne County Historical Journal 3 (Winter 2005): 1–9.

“Several Hurt, Houses Damaged by Storm at Gurdon.” Arkansas Gazette, March 29, 1938, p. 1.

“State Suffers Two Tornadoes.” Arkansas Gazette, March 31, 1938, p. 1.

“Storms Death List in State Total 11.” Arkansas Gazette, April 1, 1938, pp. 1, 18.

“Three Dead as Storm Hits in Miller County.” Arkansas Gazette, March 29, 1938, p. 1.

“Three Dead in Tornado with over 30 Hurt.” Arkansas Gazette, March 30, 1938, p. 1.

“Three More Victims Die at Heber Springs.” Arkansas Gazette, April 3, 1938, p. 15.

“Two Storms in Cleburne Kill Four, 75 Hurt.” Arkansas Gazette, March 31, 1938, p. 1.

Mark K. Christ
Little Rock, Arkansas