Mike Smith
Well, for one, these storms hit much more densely populated areas... Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Huntsville, Chattanooga...
Louisville, Cincinnati, Xenia, and Huntsville - all hit on April 3, 1974 - are at least as densely populated as the areas hit the 27th. I don't believe population density explains it. My theory is that it was the power failing 12+ hours before the violent tornadoes arrived so that people didn't get the warning on a timely basis and/or were out of their normal routines and could not respond effectively when the warning was received.
Andy's link to the Washington Post will take you to an article about the report I have written. You may email me at msmith ([at]) accuweather DOT com and I'll email it to you if you would like to read the whole thing. I believe the cause of the shocking number of fatalities was the power failures that occurred twelve hours before and still affected well over 500,000 in the tornado-stricken areas when the tornadoes arrived.
Mike
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