On this day in Arlington history, November 17, 1927, Arlington and indeed much of the Washington, DC area was threatened by a tornado which touched down near Old Town Alexandria.
The Alexandria Gazette reported that the tornado hit at about 2:30 in the afternoon and that it happened so suddenly that few realized what had happened until afterwards. The paper went on to say that “It was one of the fiercest storms our area has ever seen, with winds estimated at 125 mph. Within minutes it ripped through Alexandria, DC and Prince Georges County, Maryland, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.”
The Washington Post described the scene this way: “Through its mile wide path, the twister strode like a giant, crushing entire blocks of houses, picking others up and tossing them about, nudging over automobiles until they capsized, and then skipping around like a giant gone mad. Its erratic course was a scene of devastation, scores of buildings left roofless, others left without walls, and still others standing jagged in the pouring rain, entire sides ripped out.”
Hundreds of persons hovered over the wreckage, frantically seeking members of their families or friends who might possibly be buried in the piles of stone, brick, lumber and tin which had once been their homes. Through the hours of an early dusk brought on by the clouds that accompanied the tornado, people looked for their loved ones. Wild rumors of heavy death lists spread over the city. Hospitals, police stations, and newspaper offices were besieged far into the night by anxious inquirers. Surprisingly, there was only one fatality even though the storm caused hundreds of injuries and millions of dollars in property damage.
It was no wonder that the tornado was a surprise to everyone. At the time, tornadoes were almost unheard of in Northern Virginia and Maryland. And with broadcast meteorology just a dream for the scientist, no warnings for fast developing tornados like this one were possible.
