1997 Jarrell tornado, and others

[VABuckeye 2472]

My family had recently moved to Ohio when the Xenia tornado hit   I believe it’s still the single worst day of tornados in US history  

 

On April 3, 1974 an F-5 tornado tore through the heart of Xenia, killing 33 people and injuring more than 1,300 others. It bulldozed a path more than a half-mile wide, destroying or damaging more than 1,400 buildings, including 1,200 homes, dozens of businesses, 10 churches, and several schools. By the time it lifted into the sky near Cedarville, it left behind more than $100 million of damage in Greene County.

The Xenia tornado was part of a super outbreak, when 148 twisters swept across several states, killing 335 people in a 16-hour period on April 3-4, 1974. It still ranks as one of the largest natural disasters in American history, with Xenia the hardest hit community.

[phdhorn 6224]

14 minutes ago, VABuckeye said:

My family had recently moved to Ohio when the Xenia tornado hit   I believe it’s still the single worst day of tornados in US history  

Eclipsed by the April 27, 2011 outbreak - system produced over 360 tornadoes, 216 in a 24 hour period - Xenia system "only" had 148.  However the Xenia outbreak had more long-track higher Fujita ones.

Edited December 26, 2018 by phdhorn

[SimonBolivar 10958]

Oh look right when I read this thread they issue a Tornado Watch. Thanks assholes.

[Brisketexan 105170]

1 minute ago, phdhorn said:

Eclipsed by the April 27, 2011 outbreak - system produced over 360 tornadoes, 216 in a 24 hour period - Xenia system "only" had 148.  However the Xenia outbreak had more long-track higher Fujita ones.

Fuck that Fujita dude, man.

[yoshi 137]

35 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

  Hide contents

That one def gives me nightmares.  IIRC, the kids that died in the school actually drowned.  They had taken shelter in a basement or lower level of the building.  Water began pouring in and they were trapped.

^^Spoilered because very sad.

Yes, you are correct on that.

[Knoxtnhorn 6064]

That 2011 system was also pretty scary in my neck of the woods.  Once out of Alabama, the storms kept spawning tornadoes all the way up into Virginia.  A couple of confirmed tornadoes hit south of us (Knoxville).  What I remember about that night is that we had 6 different tornado warnings from about 8PM until 2 or 3 in the morning.  Even growing up in N TX, I had never experienced anything like that.  Granted, nothing touched down within 50 square miles; however, I still vividly remember how different the sky/storm/clouds looked than pretty much any other severe storm I had experienced.  Being at night, I couldn't see the color of the sky; however, it "felt" very weird and it appeared as if all hell was breaking out above me.

The house we lived in had a basement.  Problem was, you had to go out the front door and around to the back of the house to get there.  On one of the six occasions, I was pretty sure a tornado was dropping down.  Pretty scary when you're carrying your 4 year-old back and forth.

[clapclapclap 9000]

I think Futureman was trying to warn us.

Edited December 26, 2018 by clapclapclap
Enhanced risk. Like my package. Wait, wut?

[SimonBolivar 10958]

4 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

I think Futureman was trying to warn us.

Damn I didn't see it was Futureman

[phdhorn 6224]

Austin/TravCo isn't in it  - at least yet.  Most of the energy will be between DFW and Waco, some of it dropping down to our northern counties.  However, 1) doesn't mean the watch won't be extended, and 2) or that we won't get hail, strong winds, heavy rain during the squall push-through about 11 tonight.

[UTCzech III 2907]

1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

My family had recently moved to Ohio when the Xenia tornado hit   I believe it’s still the single worst day of tornados in US history  

 

On April 3, 1974 an F-5 tornado tore through the heart of Xenia, killing 33 people and injuring more than 1,300 others. It bulldozed a path more than a half-mile wide, destroying or damaging more than 1,400 buildings, including 1,200 homes, dozens of businesses, 10 churches, and several schools. By the time it lifted into the sky near Cedarville, it left behind more than $100 million of damage in Greene County.

The Xenia tornado was part of a super outbreak, when 148 twisters swept across several states, killing 335 people in a 16-hour period on April 3-4, 1974. It still ranks as one of the largest natural disasters in American history, with Xenia the hardest hit community.

I just watched a show on that last week, on the Smithsonian Channel, called Lost Tapes, a series, they are really good, lots of local tv and radio reports you don't normally see.  The one about the 74 Super Outbreak was insane, surprised more people didn't die back then.

https://www.smithsonianchannel.com/videos/the-1974-double-twister-that-hit-alabama/64668

[Whatever 700]

Pretty good storm coming right at us in Las Colinas right now.  Severe T-Storm Warning for Northern Ellis & Johnson Counties.  Pretty sure they'll extend it to include my office at George Bush & Macarthur.  Looks like nighttime outside my window right now.

[Brisketexan 105170]

20 minutes ago, Whatever said:

Pretty good storm coming right at us in Las Colinas right now.  Severe T-Storm Warning for Northern Ellis & Johnson Counties.  Pretty sure they'll extend it to include my office at George Bush & Macarthur.  Looks like nighttime outside my window right now.

Hope the drywall at the new McDonald's there makes it out okay.

[Whatever 700]

3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Hope the drywall at the new McDonald's there makes it out okay.

It'll be fine...I woke my ass up at 6am to work on it.

[Continental Op 3934]

I think Futureman was trying to warn us.

He told Bob to thoroughly clean the pool and told God to smite us with tornadoes.

[Mappable 37]

i used to know the KXAN cameraman who shot the closeups of the tornado in Jarrell at 3:00. 

https://www.kxan.com/weather/tornadoes-on-the-ground-remembering-a-deadly-day-as-it-happened_20180227105825277/994813553

somewhere around the house i have a video of the green boiling clouds in the sky that i filmed in my driveway in Oak Hill the day of the Jarrell tornado.  i've only seen a the sky look that way a few times in my life.  

 

[CleverNickname 1321]

I vividly remember that day. I saw one of the non-Jarrel storms from the court I was shooting hoops at 620 & El Salido.

The initial death count was something like 33, later revised down to 27. The would find half a body one place and the other half another, and inadvertently double count. That's where that classic "every mutilated bifurcated corpse has a silver lining"central texas saying comes from.

[Deej 76856]

15 hours ago, Mappable said:

i've only seen a the sky look that way a few times in my life.  

 

The sky was angry that day, my friends...like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

[Jiggy-Z 3433]

My newly formed concrete company was working on an apartment complex right across from the Albertson's .  There was shit all over the place and there were no port-o-potties to be found, anywhere.

Back in the spring of 1982, we were getting ready to perform in a UIL concert band competition in Taylor.  We had just gotten warmed up and were ready for our first downbeat when school administrators rushed in with news of a Tornado warning.  They ushered us out of the auditorium and sat us under the lockers in a huge hallway next to the auditorium.  I felt like a sitting suck but I guess it was the safest place on such short notice.  Although I do not remember seeing the administrators hanging out there, hmmm.  Storm passed crisis averted.

[Guest]

Newly formed concrete company, eh?

[HornsOverIthaca 2335]

I see what he did there.

[threesheets 1673]

This one leveled half my hometown in 1994, including 3/4 of the town square.

 

[Pam Cummings 9646]

Pretty decent video from the Jarrell tornado at the end of this vid

 

[futureman 22507]

there was some bad weather in alabama today.  

https://mobile.twitter.com/NWSBirmingham/status/1102415856779317250

https://mobile.twitter.com/AP/status/1102416867694567424

says lee county.  22 confirmed dead, expected to rise. 

[RPM 26327]

Just saw that. @Bama Chick needs to check in.

[mulletpelini 5214]

Sucks. This season might be bad. Already had more tornadoes in that first round than Alabama averages in the month of March.

[williemackgarza 1826]

Dang. Sad to hear

[retsevlys 408]

13 hours ago, RPM said:

Just saw that. @Bama Chick needs to check in.

If I remember correctly, Bama Chick lives in North Alabama, but I may be mistaken though.  I live in Auburn.  The tornado passed about 10 miles southeast of me.  So far 23 fatalities and still a lot of people missing.

[retsevlys 408]

It was an EF-4.  170mph winds.  Path was 24 miles long.  It was the deadliest tornado in the US since 2013.

Edited March 4, 2019 by retsevlys

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

My grandmother is one hundred and mother flippin two years old and this thing went right by her house.  If that is what took her out, it would be shit.

[RPM 26327]

1 hour ago, retsevlys said:

If I remember correctly, Bama Chick lives in North Alabama, but I may be mistaken though.  I live in Auburn.  The tornado passed about 10 miles southeast of me.  So far 23 fatalities and still a lot of people missing.

Glad to hear you're OK. I wasn't sure who all we had in Bama.

[retsevlys 408]

I think @RDCanecutter and @Bamachine.  I think they also live in the northern part of the state.

Edited March 4, 2019 by retsevlys
no clue how to tag

[NorthLoop 14218]

1 hour ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

My grandmother is one hundred and mother flippin two years old and this thing went right by her house.  If that is what took her out, it would be shit.

I mean if I make it to 102 it might be kinda cool to go out like that. 

[jimmyjazz 46000]

That one missed an old HS friend's house by about 2 blocks.

 

Oh, you want pics?  Well, OK.  I mean, she was always kinda nerdy and a ditz, but looks pretty good for 53:

[High Plains Drifter 11050]

I spent summers on my grandparents' farm in N. Texas as a kid. I remember running to the storm cellar a couple of times. Ended up being false alarms most of the time, but once we came out and trees had been uprooted. Neighbors house a quarter mile up the road was destroyed. Nobody hurt I don't think because everybody was in their cellars. Lot of livestock killed or missing. This was around 1970 or so.

Somebody mentioned sounding like a train. That is exactly what I remember. Scary shit sitting in the dark and wet stifling heat while a train goes by. 

[Zepol87 9188]

Yep that is the part that was always crazy to me when I was younger. They say it sounds like a train but I never understood the sound till I heard it close. Scary shit. 

[Knoxtnhorn 6064]

The one that hit behind my house in 2011 sounded more like a high-pitched scream.  Granted it was only a 0 or 1 on the Fujita scale so that may have been a factor.

I was amazed by how much damage such a "minor" tornado could make.  I can't imagine what a 3, 4, or 5 would have done to the area.

[Beau Vine 54301]

On 12/26/2018 at 10:07 PM, CleverNickname said:

I vividly remember that day. I saw one of the non-Jarrel storms from the court I was shooting hoops at 620 & El Salido.

The initial death count was something like 33, later revised down to 27. The would find half a body one place and the other half another, and inadvertently double count. That's where that classic "every mutilated bifurcated corpse has a silver lining"central texas saying comes from.

Ah yes, one of my favorite central texas sayings.  I use it in conversation at least once a week.

[RPM 26327]

I had one juuuust miss my house. It did send my wellhouse (that took 3 grown men to move into place) flying a quarter mile and downed a couple trees. I was sitting in my living room watching the ceiling moving up and down. I grabbed a bottle of Maker's Mark, sat in my recliner and waited for the show to start. Fortunately, it didn't.

[Armybrat 40855]

Had one go thru our back yard in St. Louis about 1955, uprooting some trees. Yep, sounded like a train while we hunkered down in the cellar.

[RMac5 1551]

We were camping/fishing at Inks Lake in 1973 when the tornado hit Burnet, that’s the closest I have been to a tornado that did any damage. Had plenty close by that never got on the ground. Hate them fuckers and rattle snakes!

[Al_4_ISU 12473]

There was a tornado that came real close to my mom's house in 2011.  It hit a farm a few miles to the east, where a 90 year old guy was still living on his own.  He was sleeping in his rocking chair, and the tornado picked his up off the foundation, and then dropped it right back on top of the foundation.

His kids got out there a few minutes later, and he was still sleeping.  He slept through the entire ordeal.  

Tough old fucker lived another 3-4 years.  Even after he went to the nursing home, you'd still see him out driving around town in a 2 door S10, going 10 MPH down the wide state highway that goes through town.

That's the house.  No idea how the glass didn't break.  This was only an F2.

[Lazarus Bocanegra 306]

drone footage of the tornado 

http://gfycat.com/plaintivevastcanine

[Armybrat 40855]

Scary.