May 15th is an anniversary of note for my family. I've likely bored some of you before with my tornado stories, but here's a link including a picture of the one that rolled up my street that day. If you dig into the Charles City photos there, our house was about halfway between McKinley school and the corner of 8th and Hildreth.
We all survived huddled down in the basement, but the family house lost its roof, was twisted on its foundation about a foot, and the only thing left of the garage was a lawn mower (soon looted) sitting on the empty concrete slab.
A memorable day, even for a six-year-old.
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4 comments:
You win. The Har Mar tornado went down my street in Minneapolis in 1981, but it was 'only' an F3.
My parents and I were playing cribbage in the living room, and the radio and TV were off, so we didn't know what was coming. At one point, my Mom looked out and said, "Wow. Look at it blow." We got up and stared in awe out of the living room window. After a few seconds, my step-father realized the gravity of the situation and suggested we go downstairs.
We were halfway down the stairs when the picture window we'd been standing in front of exploded.
Other than that there was no significant damage to the house. From this vantage point, the saddest part of it all is the loss of the trees that used to line Portland Avenue. In the summer they made a beautiful canopy over the street. For blocks and blocks all the large trees were knocked down, and Portland still seems a bit naked to my eye.
http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/tornado19810614.htm
I remember the sound and smell of chainsaws and sawdust all that spring and summer, and lots of regret all around from the loss of trees. Dutch Elm was also active in the region those years before and after the tornado, and the net effect was pretty profound. It took about 30 years before I started to notice the tree canopies touching over the neighborhood streets on family visits.
Great story. I never heard it before.
We've had our own tree disaster where in the last few years all the trees in our backyard and .. er, foreyard have been cut down by us or disease. We are watering as much as is prudent.
My midwest childhood tornado experience comes from the 1980 storm in Kalamazoo, MI. We lived far enough away from the main path of the funnel cloud that my memories aren't of imminent death. Rather the thing that sticks in my mind is the ominous, eerie green tinge of the sky and the seemingly endless wail of police, fire and ambulance sirens after the storm passed.
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