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Science 15 February 1980:
Vol. 207. no. 4432, pp. 734 - 738
DOI: 10.1126/science.207.4432.734
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Articles

Injuries from the Wichita Falls Tornado: Implications for Prevention

Roger I. Glass 1, Robert B. Craven 1, Dennis J. Bregman 1, Barbara J. Stoll 2, Neil Horowitz 3, Peter Kerndt 4, and Joe Winkle

1 Bureau of Epidemiology at the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia 30333
2 Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia
3 Instructor at the School of Health Care Sciences, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas
4 Elective student at the Center for Disease Control

We examined the circumstances of death and injury among victims of the tornado that struck Wichita Falls, Texas, on 10 April 1979. We also assessed the protective measures taken by a representative sample of community residents who suffered no major injury in order to estimate the relative risk of injury to people directly in the tornado's path. Twenty-six (60 percent) of the 43 traumatic deaths and 30 (51 percent) of the 59 serious injuries occurred in people who, despite ample warning, went to their cars to drive out of the storm's path. These people had a risk of serious or fatal injury of 23 per 1000. People who remained indoors and in stationary homes were at relatively low risk (3 per 1000) if they took simple precautions; people in mobile homes were at greatest risk (85 per 1000). Current safety recommendations and housing codes for single family homes and mobile homes need to be amended to decrease the impact of future tornadoes on human health.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Risk of Tornado-related Death and Injury in Oklahoma, May 3, 1999.
W. R. Daley, S. Brown, P. Archer, E. Kruger, F. Jordan, D. Batts, and S. Mallonee (2005)
Am. J. Epidemiol. 161, 1144-1150
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Role of Environmental Interventions in Injury Control and Prevention.
C. Peek-Asa and C. Zwerling (2003)
Epidemiol. Rev. 25, 77-89
   Full Text »    PDF »
Tornado-Associated Fatalities--Arkansas, 1997.
(1997)
JAMA 278, 279-280
   Abstract »    PDF »
Tornado Disaster--Texas.
(1988)
JAMA 260, 1364
   PDF »
New prospects for epidemiologic investigations.
R. Glass (1986)
Science 234, 951-955
   Abstract »    PDF »
Leads from the MMWR.
(1986)
JAMA 255, 3067-3080
   PDF »
Leads from the MMWR.
(1985)
JAMA 253, 2630-2638
   PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)