Campus Alert Archive
UMD

Two Sisters Killed When an F3 Tornado Crossed Campus

MDtornadoemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

An F3 tornado tore through the University of Maryland in College Park late on the afternoon of September 24, 2001, killing two students — sisters Colleen and Erin Marlatt — whose car was lifted and thrown. The outbreak killed two and injured 57 across the region. The campus had no instantaneous text-alert system in 2001; warning came from NWS alerts, sirens, and word of mouth.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
2
Injured
0
Institution
University of Maryland, College Park
Public R1 · MD
~33,000 students
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSiren
Approximate reconstruction201 chars
A tornado warning was issued and sirens sounded as a damaging tornado moved into the College Park area near the University of Maryland; people were urged to seek shelter away from windows and vehicles.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

In 2001 the University of Maryland had no SMS or campus text-alert system; warning relied on NWS tornado warnings, area sirens, broadcast media, and word of mouth.
The two victims were in a vehicle when the tornado struck — among the most dangerous places to be in a tornado — which the eventual warning did not reach in time to protect them.
Reconstructed wording; the warning context and the vehicle deaths are documented in University of Maryland atmospheric-science accounts and the regional outbreak record.
FOLLOW-UPpress-release
Approximate reconstruction231 chars
The University of Maryland confirmed that two students, sisters Colleen and Erin Marlatt, were killed when their vehicle was caught in the tornado that struck College Park, and that the storm caused widespread damage to the campus.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The university confirmed the deaths and damage through press statements and campus communications rather than any real-time alert.
Both sisters were University of Maryland students; their deaths became the defining loss of the September 24, 2001 outbreak in the Baltimore–Washington area.
Reconstructed wording; the identities and circumstances are corroborated across university and news sources.
Context

Background

On the afternoon of September 24, 2001, an F3 tornado — part of a regional outbreak that killed two and injured 57 — cut directly across the University of Maryland's College Park campus. The two people killed were University of Maryland students Colleen Patricia Marlatt, 23, and her sister Erin Patricia Marlatt, 20, whose car was lifted by the tornado, hurled over a building, and slammed to the ground. The storm caused extensive damage to campus buildings, vehicles, and trees. In 2001, the university had no SMS or app-based mass-notification system — those would not become standard on U.S. campuses until after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting prompted Clery emergency-notification rules. Warning that day depended on National Weather Service tornado warnings, community sirens, broadcast media, and word of mouth, none of which reached two students in a moving car in time.
Analysis

Key Findings

Two University of Maryland students, sisters Colleen and Erin Marlatt, were killed when their car was thrown by the tornado
The 2001 storm predates campus SMS/app alert systems; warning relied on NWS warnings, sirens, and word of mouth
The victims were in a vehicle, statistically one of the most dangerous places during a tornado, and the warning did not reach them in time
The event foreshadowed the post-2007 push for instantaneous campus emergency notification under the Clery Act
Outcome
The two fatalities were University of Maryland students Colleen Patricia Marlatt, 23, and Erin Patricia Marlatt, 20, whose car was picked up by the tornado and slammed down. The storm caused extensive damage to campus buildings, vehicles, and trees.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Tornado Hit College Park on September 24, 2001 — University of Maryland
    www2.atmos.umd.edu
  2. News
    10 Years Later: Remembering the College Park Tornado — CNS Maryland
    cnsmaryland.org
  3. Source
    Tornado outbreak of September 24, 2001 — Wikipedia
    en.wikipedia.org
Tags
tornadosevere-weathermarylandpre-clery-notificationhistoric2000scampus-direct-hit
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion