3 May 2023
Video: KSN News coverage of the 20th anniversary of the tornado
HAYSVILLE, Kan. (KSNW) – On May 3, 1999, an F4 tornado tore through Haysville and south Wichita.
The tornado had winds estimated between 207 to 260 mph. Its track was 24 miles long and around one-half mile wide. It killed six and caused around $140 million in damage.
The tornado went nearly straight north along Seneca to I-235 into Wichita. From there, the tornado weakened as it traveled northeast. Tree damage was also observed as far north as College Hill, where numerous trees were uprooted.
The tornado was part of an outbreak that day in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
National Weather Service radar from May 3, 1999
The most infamous, no doubt, was the immense F5 that tore through Moore, Oklahoma. Oklahoma City’s KFOR-TV documented the outbreak with storm trackers.
The National Weather Service said a portable Doppler measured rotational velocities that may have reached 318 mph just off the ground, the most violent winds ever recorded on Earth. The storm caused nearly $1.1 billion in damage.
The NWS says 74 tornadoes were reported that day, of which 58 occurred in Oklahoma.