Which text structure does the author use? explain how you know. use text evidence to support your answer. By the time it reached Biehle, the tornado had been on the ground for more than an hour, which was highly unusual. Of the more than 1,200 tornadoes that strike the U. S. every year, most blow over a few trees and mailboxes and then dissipate. A typical tornado stays on the ground for about 10 minutes before losing strength.

What made the Tri-State Tornado so unique and horrifying was that it did not lose strength. Quite the opposite, it grew larger and stronger as it consumed everything in its path.

After passing through Biehle, the storm continued east, feasting on forests and farms and claiming another eight lives.

Back in Parrish, Adrian kept his eyes glued on the clock. School let out at 3:15 p. m., but he and four other boys were being dismissed early for the marbles tournament.

Meanwhile, the tornado crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. The twister was now about three-quarters of a mile wide. Its swirling winds carried tons of wreckage—shards of glass, slabs of wood, dirt and mud scoured up from the ground. It also carried thousands of objects ripped from homes, like pots and beds and quilts and toys. All of this was spinning around in the tornado at 300 miles per hour.

Just inside the Illinois border, the tornado smashed into the town of Gorham. It took one minute for every building to be annihilated. Twenty-seven people were killed.

Six minutes later, the tornado hit Murphysboro, a thriving city of 12,000 people. It had taken 100 years for Murphysboro to grow from a scrappy railroad town into one of the most prosperous cities in southern Illinois. It took less than two minutes for the heart of the city to be destroyed, for 237 people to lose their lives.

The tornado wasn’t finished.

Within minutes, it struck its next victims: the farming towns of Bush and De Soto. Both were almost entirely demolished. At 2:38 p. m., the tornado plowed through West Frankfort, killing 127 people.

At this point, the tornado had been on the ground for 100 minutes. Behind it was a trail of death and ruin more than 100 miles long. And now, it had taken aim at Parrish.