May 25, 1955 a severe tornado destroyed the town of Udall, Kansas. The small town a bit east of Wichita was destroyed, only the grain elevator and water tower were not severely damaged. Of the 700+ residents 10 percent were killed and 33 percent injured. It was the most disastrous tornado to hit Kansas to date. At the time, I lived some 40 or so miles southwest of there. People rushed to give blood and supplies along with shelter to the survivors. A collection was taken up at the aircraft plant where I worked in Wichita. We were all conscious of the danger of those twisters since we lived in the heart of Tornado Alley. Friday, May 27, two days later, there were again storm warnings for the area. Not as sophisticated as the forecasting is today but we were alerted nevertheless. In the afternoon the sky took on a certain “brassy” look that was a familiar omen to people of the area. Then a dark bank of clouds began to grow in the northwest. By evening there was the flashes of light and distant thunder in the southwest and we knew that tornadoes normally travel from southwest to northeast. |I took my pregnant wife and the other three kids to my parents house because they had, in the back yard, a root cellar where home canned jars lined the shelves in the below ground brick structure with the sloping wooden door for access. Dad claimed there probably wasn't much to worry about. What none of knew was that a tornado had just hit Anthony, some 20 miles southwest of us. I went out in the back yard just as the power went out. While Dad lit the old kerosene lamp, I watched the sky. Lots of red lightning in the southwest, another bad omen. There was a huge cottonwood tree just across the alley in a neighbour’s yard and I was standing under it when suddenly everything got still. An eerie feeling came over me. Then the branches at the top of the tree started breaking off. I ran in the house yelling for everyone to get in the “fraid hole” and in what seemed an eternity but was really a few seconds we were ensconced underground. I was too excited to know if there was roaring or not, but there must have been. There was a rope attached to the underside of the door and Dad had ahold of it The door tried to lift and he yelled for me to help hold it shut when we hear a voice yelling, “Open the door, Henry!” It was the next door neighbour carrying his new baby and accompanied by his wife and son. He and Dad had been having a tug of war with the cellar door. After a while things calmed down and we came back to the surface to discover no visible damage. It wasn't until daylight that we learned how close we had come to disaster. The top of the tree under which I'd been standing was quite a bit lower and the TV antenna atop the thirty foot tower along side the house had a 90 degree bend in its mast. By the grace of God, the twister had not touched all the way down. I have seen several tornadoes in action and have seen the aftermath of many more. I never want to be closer to one than I was that night in 1955.
I'm a bit younger than you, but I was there when that happened in Udall. We had a root cellar in our back yard, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, and I spent many nights there. The neighbors came with their dogs. We crowded in, walking on board on cinder blocks. The cellar leaked in heavy rains and pale toads splashed in the water and the dogs pounced after them. It was chaotic and nerve wracking. The police cars raced up and down the road in front of our house, sirens blaring. There were no tornado warning sirens back then. There was an empty field across the street from our house. I watched as a tornado funnel came down out of the clouds in that field. We headed for the cellar, old transistor radio and a flashlight. Mom grabbed her purse. I woke up the next morning in my bed. I thought I had a dream about sleeping in the cellar. Mom told me it wasn't a dream, we had spent the night in the cellar. The tornado knocked bricks off the neighbor's chimney and damaged trees, but we were spared once again. Tornado alley ---- we had 43 tornado warnings in 4 days earlier this spring. Forecasting and warnings are more sophisticated, but nothing people can do can change the path or destruction of the awesome force of weather!
South central Kansas was a fine place to learn about tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. A few of us old timers also remember the Dust Bowl years. I've lived in a lot of other areas, but never have I seen the type of thunderstorms that are frequent there. I have mental pictures of the tornadoes I've seen and the dramatic results of them. I have a vivid memory of a farmhouse that was picked up, rotated and redeposited on the foundation at a slight twist. Also a barnyard full of naked chickens and a cottonwood tree with white feathers pasted on it. I've wondered for years how that could have happened.
I like how you pointed out the tell tale signs. It's also when the leaves if the trees turn such a yellow green that it looks like they turned inside out. They also tend to match the color if the sky, because often it will turn an eerie yellow/green. At least it does down here. They are not common in New Orleans, butwhile growing up in Alabama I learned the Alabama state map through all the tornado warning broadcasts! It was in the 80's that some record was broken, butI don't remember what it was. The tornadoes started just before I headed to the busstop for school and didn't stop till about five or six in the evening. Just one after the other. They should've just let the sirens run permanently for the day. But I do have sympathy for those living in the Midwest.
We had a tornado tear through our town in NC not long ago - my family and I were hunkered down in the small bathroom in the center of the house. It got so quiet, I thought it had passed, but just then the power went out. I looked out the door and could see through my kitchen window that the sky was such a bruised purple color. Turned out the tornado was passing just a couple blocks from us. Did alot of damage, but thank God no one in our town was hurt or killed. Up the road in Raleigh a tree fell on a mobile home killing three very young children. I'm from California - I had never been through a tornado in my life until then. I hope to never be in one again!
wow....tornadoes scare me and having witnessed what happened to the nearby city of Joplin, Mo - it scares me even more....
