Between April 23–30, 1961, a tornado outbreak sequence[nb 1] struck the Midwest, Ohio, and Mississippi Valleys, and the Eastern United States.
[5] A series of at least two or three disturbances moved over the US over the timespan of nine days, starting with a strong weather system that came out of the Rocky Mountains on April 22.
These storms produced multiple reports of wind and hail damage, power outages, funnel clouds, and a tornado.
The storms congealed into a squall line that produced additional severe weather and tornadoes along with flash flooding through Missouri into West Virginia overnight into April 25.
Passing north of Symerton and south of Wilton Center, the tornado continued to damage numerous homes and farmsteads as it moved through open country, before plowing into Peotone.
The tornado then weakened and may have briefly lifted as it passed halfway between Beecher and Polk before abruptly turning southeastward as it entered Indiana on a non-continuous damage path.
It first touched down in Shelby County, Indiana northwest of Shelbyville along I-74 and immediately became violent, tossing a loaded truck 25 feet (7.6 m).
In Fayette County, the tornado moved through mostly rural areas before passing through the three-town trio of Harrisburg, Huber and Waterloo.
By this point, the skipping nature of the tornado became more evident as it remained on the ground for 1⁄2–5 miles (0.80–8.05 km) at a time with a width no larger than 75 yards (69 m).
It first struck the town of West Florence, heavily damaging or partially destroying multiple farmhouses and barns.
As the tornado entered the west side of Eaton, another farmhouse was obliterated and swept away, although a ring of trees around the home were incredibly left undamaged.
The tornado then weakened, but remained strong as it entered Eaton, damaging a grove of trees as well as the roof of an office buildings and stores.
The tornado then weakened further as it continued through the central part of Eaton, causing only light to minor damage to treetops and roofs and breaking windows before finally dissipating on the east side of town.
Heavy rainfall also caused flash flooding and numerous accidents in Southeastern Kansas on April 30, injuring one.
Overnight during April 24-25, multiple lightning strikes across Southern Michigan triggered several fires that seriously damaged homes, destroyed a barn, and caused power outages in both Ann Arbor and Flint.
An all-day blizzard also occurred in Western and Southern North Dakota on April 23, with snow totals reaching as high as 10 inches (25 cm).
[5] High winds on the back side of the first system on April 23 caused heavy damage to crops in Southeastern Wyoming, Northwestern Nebraska, and Northeastern Colorado.