When the cloud approached remote Moscow suburbs, it formed three tornado funnels, destroying suburban settlements and Lefortovo district within the city itself.
Witnesses mistook this light for an explosion at some oil tanks that, indeed, were close to the path of tornado, but were spared from destruction.
However, the rating for the tornado was upgraded from F3 to F4 as listed in ESWD Total damage is estimated at 3,000 single-family homes (Razuvaev), while the loss of life was not properly counted (Gilyarovsky reported seeing only one dead).
The disaster occurred in the middle of the Russo-Japanese War, and clearing the rubble and counting the bodies was not a top priority; police reports and formal damage assessments were not published due to war-time censorship.
Many of the victims are presumed to be squatters in suburban parks and the Annenhof Forest, which was cleared of fallen trees years after the incident.