The Amazing Story of Codell, Kansas

For many years starting in the 1920’s the residents of Codell, Kansas stayed close to their storm cellars and caves when May 20th rolled around. It was a habit that was very understandable.

It seemed that Mother Nature was out to get the small town. You see, the area in and around Codell had been struck by tornadoes on May 20th, for three straight years in 1916, 1917 and 1918.

In 1916, an F2 tornado passed just south and east of the town. Mainly farms were damaged along the F2 twister’s 15 mile path and no one was injured.

In 1917, a huge F3 tornado passed two miles west of Codell. According to The Tornado Project, the multiple vortex was “an immense cone, with a diameter of two miles.”

The 1918 tornado was a different story. The F4 tornado struck some of the same farms that had been hit by the 1917 storm, including a ranch on the Saline River where 5 people died in a home that had been damaged in 1917. The tornado then fell with fury on the town of Codell where many buildings were damaged. Amazingly, no one was killed in Codell by the F4, probably due to the town’s track record on that date, although nine people died along the tornado’s sixty mile path.
Interestingly, to this date, no other tornado has visited the town of Codell.

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