On December 18, 1957, a violent tornado struck Sunfield, Illinois, completely wiping out the community. The extreme damage in Sunfield caused the National Weather Service to assign a rating of F5 on the Fujita scale.
Tornado summary
The east-northeastward moving tornado struck Sunfield at the junction of U.S. Route 51 and Illinois Route 154, also called the Sunfield Y or Wye on account of the branching shape of the intersection. The United States Weather Bureau documented "very heavy destruction", albeit in a small area, and referred to the Sunfield Y as having been "wiped out". Tornado expert Thomas P. Grazulis stated that the “entire community literally vanished” Several people survived the tornado by taking cover in buildings, including some which were destroyed. A man who remained outside was killed, later found in a drainage ditch by the road. In total, the tornado killed one person, injured six others, and caused between $250,000 to $500,000 (1957 USD) in damage.
The United States Weather Bureau documented that the tornado reached a maximum width of and traveled . They also documented that the tornado caused between $50,000 to $500,000 (1957 USD) in damage. After the creation of the Fujita scale in 1971, the National Weather Service assigned a rating of F5 to the tornado. In the 2010s, the National Centers for Environmental Information published information about the tornado, which included a path length of and a damage total of $250,000 (1957 USD).