On Saturday evening June 17, 1978, forty seven passengers and thirteen crew were on board the Whippoorwill Show Boat on Lake Pomona in Osage County, Kansas. The Whippoorwill featured a popular dinner theatre cruise on the beautiful lake.
A tornado watch was in effect when the vessel set sail early that evening. Storm clouds were building in the distance. As the boat cruised the lake, the storms intensified and moved closer. Suddenly, a funnel snaked out from the thundercloud and touched down on the lake, throwing a furious spray up from the surface of the water. Seeing the twister develop, the captain turned his boat to shore began sailing quickly toward the dock.
The tornado or waterspout was small by Kansas standards, only 150 feet wide. During its time on land, it only received an F1 rating. But in an unlikely tragedy, the funnel overtook the boat and capsized it. People were thrown into the water and some were trapped under the overturned hull. Despite heroic rescue efforts by other boaters on the lake, the final death toll was sixteen. One of the fatalities was the unborn fetus of a pregnant woman.
1978 was a very quiet year for tornado related fatalities. There were only fifty eight people killed by tornadoes that year in the United States, making it the 24th least deadly year since modern records began in 1950. The Whippoorwill tornado was the deadliest in the U.S. that year and remains one of the dealiest in the history of the state of Kansas.
A tornado watch was in effect when the vessel set sail early that evening. Storm clouds were building in the distance. As the boat cruised the lake, the storms intensified and moved closer. Suddenly, a funnel snaked out from the thundercloud and touched down on the lake, throwing a furious spray up from the surface of the water. Seeing the twister develop, the captain turned his boat to shore began sailing quickly toward the dock.
The tornado or waterspout was small by Kansas standards, only 150 feet wide. During its time on land, it only received an F1 rating. But in an unlikely tragedy, the funnel overtook the boat and capsized it. People were thrown into the water and some were trapped under the overturned hull. Despite heroic rescue efforts by other boaters on the lake, the final death toll was sixteen. One of the fatalities was the unborn fetus of a pregnant woman.
1978 was a very quiet year for tornado related fatalities. There were only fifty eight people killed by tornadoes that year in the United States, making it the 24th least deadly year since modern records began in 1950. The Whippoorwill tornado was the deadliest in the U.S. that year and remains one of the dealiest in the history of the state of Kansas.