(photo from the Indiana State Library Archives of  the McCaw subdivision in Princeton IN, where 45 people perished in the community in 1925)

As residents in several southern Indiana counties continue cleaning up from last weekend’s tornadoes, today, March 18, marks the 100-year anniversary of one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history—the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925.

For thousands across southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana, the aftermath of that storm was devastating. Nearly 700 people lost their lives, with thousands more injured or left homeless. Entire towns were destroyed in a matter of hours, and recovery took months.

The storm began around 1:00 p.m. March 18th, 1925 near Ellington, Missouri, killing one person before tearing northeast tcausing extensive damage. In Bollinger County, Missourie, 32 schoolchildren were injured, and by the time the tornado crossed into Illinois, it had already claimed 11 lives.

Southern Illinois saw the worst destruction. Gorham was leveled, and in the next 40 minutes, 541 people were killed as the tornado tore through Murphysboro, De Soto, and West Frankfort. The town of Parrish was nearly wiped off the map, and the death toll in Franklin, Hamilton, and White Counties climbed to 65.

In Indiana, the tornado destroyed the town of Griffin in Posey County and tore through rural areas of Gibson County near Owensville before hitting Princeton, where half the town was left in ruins. The storm finally dissipated northeast of Princeton, sparing Petersburg. In total, at least 71 Hoosiers lost their lives, and damages totaled $16.5 million—most of it in Murphysboro.

The exact path and length of the tornado have been debated for decades. A reanalysis in the early 2000s suggested the storm may have traveled 219 miles continuously, with possible gaps at the beginning and end. Regardless, the Tri-State Tornado remains one of the most devastating storms in U.S. history.