Last week a devastating tornado tore through the St. Louis area and now that time has passed. We now know how bad it actually was.

May 16, 2025 Tornado Tears Through St. Louis, Missouri

Our thoughts are with the families that are currently trying to figure out what to do after an EF3 tornado touched down in St. Louis. Five people lost their lives, 38 were injured, and it's estimated that 5,000 structures were destroyed in the storm's path. You might have heard about this storm last week because the person in charge of letting citizens know about a tornado touching down failed to press the tornado sirens.

St. Louis CEMA Commissioner Currently on Leave

St. Louis' City Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) is currently being criticized for failing to alert the area of a tornado on the ground. We will see what changes happen with them, but according to the St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer. The tornado from May 16th has caused the city 1.6 billion dollars in damages. Which puts it right below the famous Wichita Falls tornado of 1979.

April 10, 1979 Wichita Falls Tornado Becomes One of the Costliest in US History

Back on April 10, 1979 a tornado outbreak occurred in the Red River Valley of Texas and Oklahoma. It's estimated 58 tornadoes were apart of this deadly storm that killed 61 people. The worst was a F4 that touched down near Holiday, then traveled through Wichita Falls. At the time, it was costliest tornado in American history with an estimated 400 million in damages. If you factor in inflation, that number would be near 1.7 billion dollars in damages.

Wichita Falls Still in Top Ten for Costliest Tornadoes Ever

Although Wichita Falls would be beat out that very year due to a tornado in the Connecticut/Massachusetts area causing over 420 million in damages in 1979. The Wichita Falls tornado remains today one of the costliest tornadoes in American history. It's currently ninth on the list, while the St. Louis one that just happened last week is now number ten.

If you would like to read more on Tornado history, you can check out the deadliest tornadoes in Texas history below.

Top Ten Deadliest Tornadoes in Texas History

Over the next two months. All of these tornadoes celebrate their anniversaries in Texas. Let's look back on some of the worst storms this state has ever seen. Info taken from KSAT.

Gallery Credit: Stryker

Every Wichita County Death Row Inmate of the Past 100 Years

Wichita County voted this week to longer handle death penalty cases with how much it costs the taxpayers to have this program. You can read more about that ending here. Thanks to the Death Penalty Information Center, we can see who was a part of this program throughout the years.

Any information on their cases has been taken from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website.

Gallery Credit: Stryker