Tornadoes Striking Downtown Areas

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. This article is a list of tornadoes that have impacted the central business district (downtown) of a large city. It is a common, and definitely false, myth that tornadoes do not strike downtown areas. The odds are much lower due to the small areas covered, but paths can go anywhere, including over downtown areas. St. Louis, Missouri has taken a direct hit four times in less than a century and Windsor, Ontario, Canada was also struck four times in 70 years. Many of the tornadoes listed were extremely destructive or caused numerous casualties, and the occurrence of a catastrophic event somewhere is inevitable. It should also be noted that this list is not exhaustive (listing every single tornado that has struck a downtown area or central business district of any city), as it may never be known if a tornado struck a downtown area, or if it was just a microburst (powerful downward gust of wind, which cause much of their damage from straight-line winds), particularly for older events or from areas with limited information.