the city in Archer County, and traveled over mostly open country. Moving into town from the southwest, it first struck Memorial Stadium and McNeil Junior High School in Wichita Falls proper, leaving both with severe damage.

The tornado's first fatalities were recorded in an apartment complex and neighboring housing. As the funnel continued on the ground, it leveled the Southwest National Bank Building except for its vault.

Next came hundreds of homes which were chewed up and spat out by this huge wind machine; Ben Milam Elementary School was all but destroyed as well. Luckily, school was long over for the day when this happened.

The tornado managed to just avoid Midwestern State University, remaining on its south side, but then went on to cause extreme damage to more residential areas.

Anumber of people tried the escape from the tornado by getting in cars and driving away. The tornado blew many of those vehicles off the road, killing many of the drivers. There were a total 42 tornado fatalities in Wichita Falls, of which 25 were vehicle related.

The National Weather Service narrative sums up the damage:

“Total property damage in Wichita Falls was estimated at $400,000,000 (in 1979 dollars). Over 3,000 homes were destroyed and another 1,000 were damaged, and over 1,000 apartment units/ condominiums were destroyed and another 130 damaged. In addition, approximately 140 mobile homes were destroyed, two schools were demolished and 11 others sustained serious damage. Over 100 commercial businesses, some of them large manufacturing concerns, were destroyed. It is estimated that 5,000 families, containing 20,000 residents,