Retroactively rated F5 on the modern Fujita scale, it caused total destruction along its path through the Willis Heights neighborhood.
Although missing the business district, the tornado moved through the residential areas of north Tupelo, destroying many homes, and killing whole families.
As the tornado exited the city's east side, the large concrete Battle of Tupelo monument was toppled to the ground and destroyed.
[20] After producing the Tupelo tornado, the storm system moved through Alabama overnight and reached Gainesville, Georgia, at around 8:30 a.m local standard time.
[21] President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke from a train platform in Gainesville on April 9, after the devastating tornado struck the town a few days earlier.