How Many People Have Died From Tornadoes? (Infographic)

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Infographic: A chart of tornado deaths since 1875.
A chart of tornado deaths since 1875. (Image credit: Karl Tate, Livescience.com Infographics Artist)

2011 marked a huge spike in tornado activity in the United States. 1,704 confirmed tornadoes killed 553 people. This includes 158 deaths from the category EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., on May 22. The Joplin tornado is the deadliest since modern record-keeping began in 1950.

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Karl Tate
Karl Tate
Karl has been Purch's infographics specialist across all editorial properties since 2010.  Before joining Purch, Karl spent 11 years at the New York headquarters of The Associated Press, creating news graphics for use around the world in newspapers and on the web.  He has a degree in graphic design from Louisiana State University.