| Grenada, Mississippi tornado | |
| Formed: | May 7, 1846 |
| Footer: | yes |
The Grenada, Mississippi tornado of May 7, 1846, killed 21 people, injured 60, and destroyed 60 or 70 buildings in the southern half of Grenada, Yalobusha County, Mississippi in the United States.[1] [2] Other accounts had it that 112 buildings were destroyed, including 17 homes. Property damage was estimated at $65,000[3] to . According to the Mississippi Democrat of Carrollton, Mississippi, "When the tornado passed through Grenada it must have been at least from one extreme to the other; but about the centre and each way therefrom, the principal damage was done."
According to the New Orleans Picayune, "On the outside of a letter to a friend, is written the words, 'Grenada is in ruins, and many of her inhabitants are destroyed; names cannot be given, or numbers set down."[4] The tornado struck at about 2:30 p.m. Both schools in the town were in session at the time the hurricane struck, and both were destroyed. The teacher of the girls' school was killed, her body was found across the river in a tree. The force of the tornado "shattered" the logs of the cabin that housed the girls' school. The teacher of the boys' school survived but was seriously injured. The newly built Baptist church was leveled.
According to a scrapbooked clipping of a news article entitled "The Great Hurricane," written by Aaron Davis, the tornado approached the town from the west. The same tornado later continued northward into Maury County, Tennessee, where there were no casualties but three farms were damaged.[5]