DAY OF THE KILLER TORNADOES

it was a most unusual day from the West a cold front riding in high on the jet stream from the Gulf of Mexico a low mass of moist warm unstable air getting northward and when they collided it became the day of the killer tornadoes from early morning The Weather Service warnings were out from the Gulf to the Canadian border this area has now been changed to tornado warning at nine thirty in the morning the first tornado touches down in an open field in Indiana by early afternoon as the turbulence grows the watches and warnings are coming thick and fast tornadoes are hitting Tennessee Georgia Ohio to an Illinois two more in Indiana another sited near hardinsburg Kentucky heading toward Brandenburg a sleepy little River town 25 miles southwest of Louisville at the radio station just west of town announcer bill byrne receives a telephone call telling of its coming the only warning our last second shout and in 30 seconds 31 people in louisville off river and alarm sounds in the newsroom at whas the local emergency broadcast station Jeff we got a tornado warning give me the emergency action Kirk a tornado warning has been issued for part of Kentuckiana whas now transmits a tone to activate special receivers the severe thunderstorm warning has been changed to a tornado warning for Metro Louisville Jefferson County including Meade in the sky above dick Gilbert the station's airborne traffic reporter is already keeping watch what can you see at this point well we do have a pretty a while to the record weather picture on our hands here be prepared for it as you're driving here I don't actually physically see tornado activity at the moment but it does was highly suspicious down there in the southwest fire department this is Dave Ruiz at the weather station we have a tornado reported on the ground in the Brandenburg vicinity and it's hit port Louisville and we think this iron should be activated at the present time okay hit the yellow alert our department yes is turning a warning during two young list for further instructions well it's a spectacular sight the whole clouds very black low clouds let's see at the moment they're just about over moment filled out it is swarming around like smoke underneath there is no real height tornado has sucky it's still turning an alarm against there's one now okay John Burke is on the phone at this time John I understand that you've got the tornado cited here come the winds up those good gracious sakes alive oh hi is the wind speed at this time there's 50 right there my guess is the whole thing on here the huge funnel touches down at the state fairgrounds south of the city then heads direct for downtown whas TV and cameraman Dirk broman grabs his camera and runs for the roof the storm roars through just east of the central business district of Louisville then swings northeast and begin smashing the suburbs 90 miles northeast at the cincinnati airport mother hamilton county radio screw hitter alert ready never fails indiana says he's he's just been picking up numerous reports the funnels dipping up and down attention all cars and departments and all-county broadcast macro Cincinnati Hamilton County civil defense the National warning system alerts Leora macaron the county civil defense director civil defense the weather service what is the location of the tornado a 13 miles southwest of Greater Cincinnati Airport holding Portland our keys ok I'm going to sound a siren what's the matter with the sirens are they stuck what do we have to do to get the damn sirens turned off this is not a test this isn't for the first time in 17 years the civil defense sirens are sounding in earnest a WC KY the local emergency broadcast station the National Weather Service says it has cited a tornado near the Greater Cincinnati Airport here is the national weather service with the latest report rate is a fall cloud he looks to be about 200 feet off no now it is touching the ground what is it doing now tornadoes that just off went to the city now going to go up the west side of the city and through the northwest side of the city quickly the Emergency operating center is manned by civil defense and members of the Hamilton County disaster council representing police fire sheriff's office rescue the Red Cross the Greater Cincinnati hospital association and the Academy of Medicine stretched all cars a pharmacist station emergency traffic only here with emergency go ahead really big a huge funnel rips across the ohio river passes just west of Cincinnati roars on through Hamilton County one green eye one for wii with touchdown 58 our West work extensive damage people screaming wiped out our time personally you can get over everything we gots rolling not answered up there we got about 40 to 50 people injured from side of town board up something that you only to hospital network yeah you might as well do it services general control or advise Ospital zara net for just a moment to start setting their capacities out be ready for any casualties over area after area life is ready they also have the same problem L wit with Highness you can do oya civil defense civil defense Hamilton County area leave Elmwood is requesting all possible assistance that can be rendered we have advised the fair city is now a disaster Lincoln Heights are you clear on sending your fire and why squad company is the only all right patek fighting pirates on the Seas worry its last time okay 45 to understand fire units on the scene the storm front keeps marching north toward dayton and the smaller city of Xenia a dozen miles to the east or Bob steward the Xenia city manager and his wife today is a special day their 20th wedding anniversary yeah why don't you stop down around five and i'll buy you drink it looks kind of nasty out do you really think we ought to go off and leave the kids well it is italian song but just play by ear and see what's going on there okay i'll see Jim did you take care of this place in the National Weather Service office at dayton airport hey could you broadcast this in a hurry tornado warning is in effect for Montgomery and green counties until five p.m. this evening radar report indicates a possible tornado cited 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati he moving to the northeast and approximately 50 miles an hour Roger let's try the 25 miles over at wright-patterson Air Force Base the commanding general early Jarvis is checking the storm on the radar scope now and it's moving up to the bill Bulgaria at this time well I'm concerned about an aircraft's inbound from chanute can we circumnavigate getting the garage powder should with a verdict in the newsroom at station WHIO weatherman Gil Whitney is watching his radar I think it is good better do something about studio here's a weather bulletin from wh iOS insta weather radar station mr. weather radar now shows a Tony or developing in northeastern Warren County let's take a look at it and 50 miles the tornado is indicated by that strong echo to the southeast corner of the center of the screen that familiar 6 hook now developing off the bottom of that tornado that thunderstorm rather the tract apparently is taking it from northeastern Warren County in a southeast and Montgomery County and a central green curry at Central Police Station 10 miles south of dayton units there's been a funnel cloud cited in the south part of the township start running your sirens and your loudspeakers attention all cars departments agencies montgomery county a funnel cloud has been spot in Washington Montgomery County at Miami Valley disaster services in Dayton the director dick burrows picks up the message Federal Police Department mrs. lang this is burrows do you have a funnel cited holy long is it touching the ground down now what you just came right in there honey this storm is severe massive storm the track allocated by the hook in our radar screen is now moving into the city of Xenia persons in the city of Xenia and along a track just south of it arrowhead Xenia central state should take cover immediately not many in xenia hear his warning one who doesn't is the engineer on a fast rate just pulling into Xenia Junction slowing down before it hits the downtown crossings we got one now that's going down it's on the ground on the ground the tornado hits Arrowhead plot a subdivision just south of Xenia then goes ripping and roaring toward the heart of the city Bruce Boyd a young high school student grabs his eighth and films it's coming at City Hall killer hey Bonnie I could see if tornado kind of get the kids and get to a basement we thought you run away the engineer sees it coming to begin sounding a frantic warning yes we're doing in fairborn the Xenia has just been hit by the tornado and the place is torn to pieces they're asking for fire equipment police equipment and amateurs and light Patterson field murky activate the disaster preparedness center in minutes an emergency medical convoy is assembling outside the base hospital and a heavy construction battalion is also being dispatched to xenia attention Fox 21 attention Fox 21 xenia's rescue squads are rallying and nearby beaten the crack volunteer rescue group known as box 21 is also responding to the alarm in xenia dick I've got to get ahold of a hospital and find out whether they can handle any more patients a new contact yes sir will do both City Hall and County Courthouse are wrecked and there is no emergency operating center equipped to deal with this kind of crisis Bob Stewart and his staff find an undamaged office in the greene county jail and go to work by flashlight see if you can get with the Red Cross people about what kind of sources water and food they're going to have okay I'll get in touch with civil defense in the Red Cross biggest hang-up in God forces a railroad okay we've got one main strangle are out means you'll often orchestra I'm Carl Horton i right pad Colonels good to see you here with a convoy heavy equipment about a hundred and twenty men what do you want the biggest thing I wanna get on right now is down west main street bob i got 4 railroad cars across the street and like to get that open up soon hammerfall you got the equipment listen shorts where you want us to go okay clearly half of Xenia lies in ruins but darkness hides the damage airmen from wright-patterson bringing in an emergency generator run lights into the county commissioners office to serve as a makeshift operating center all night long Bob Stewart and his staff will be improvising desperately trying to bring the situation under control food we have perimeter control stablished around the entire city now 26 points is that right chief the points including entry for anything I've had just a few but they're minor so far greater and rescue workers are moving through the night searching for injured and bodies at nightfall a new wave of tornadoes starts sweeping the south in Alabama they sliced through gouin Jasper Lafayette heading north toward Huntsville latest bulletin el hook echo indicating tornado activity has now located over northern lawrence county tornado has on the ground at laing town are 26 miles west of the city of huntsville taking everything along as it goes in huntsville civil defense director harris mitchell already has the Emergency operating center on alert give it to film heaven tie it on a map mr. Wiseman let's put the warden out again persons and trailer courts and mobile homes elsewhere are urged to evacuate and get to a place of safety anyone in there you better take cover there's a tornado coming a tornado is visible here at the airport projected path next few minutes we'll put it in the harvest Tony meridianville hazel green areas of the county Scooby we get a sponge the first touchdown comes at harvest a small crossroads community west of the city the searchers 53 lifting a mother and her two small children their bodies blown and tumbled a quarter mile through the muddy fields a grieving father still alive but with a broken back pig vamos born at north and all the big one a second twister has cut through the harvest area right on the heels of the 1st and the injured begin pouring into huntsville hospital agnew ambulance services just asked are there ambulances and surrounding communities to come and give assistance all available ambulances and huntsville are now dispatched to the tornado scenes they need your help soon blood supplies begin to run low and we're running out of 0 positive and O Negative all right ne-yo negative you need Huntsville Hospital is running dangerously low on their supply of blood the Red Cross is opening their blood center they asked that blood donors report to the 701 Andrew Jackson way immediately we need some help up here we've had four different tornadoes to hit us and there's another one on the way can you send us up some blood by how we patrol at ten-fifty an enormous new funnel what's its course directly ass let's get out of here come straight in toward the park right now sighting of strategist ice music space museum is the first signing mr. Wiseman or tornado keeps coming through the heart of town directly toward Huntsville Hospital get this patient inside get everybody away from the windows we roll over just cashed is with mom gonna try not he's so far no sirree power easterly path toward heart way city shopping center don't agree on all the line still on the ground for civil defense and I speeding up in Norfolk we can about five titles or turn here it took the roof off this grocery store for the powers down debris old highway we've had one slight injury out here brandenburg it looked like this in the morning we are at donator yes that would be the understatement of the year oh my goodness it is popped in cracked it's like a hundred thousand tons of bombs dropping win the blow and everywhere in the world so strong you could tell what all was going on and then I heard of rolling noise and and I saw what I thought to be smoking stuff coming up over the hill but it was a black cloud or we in dirt and everything coming up over the hill and my little grandson asked me what it was and I told him I thought it sound like a train but I knew it wasn't and it just hit and that's it huntsville the last big twister has ripped through Redstone Arsenal leveled a trailer village Louisville xenia miles of sheer destruction and stunned survivors still in shock it was just a big roar and I I don't know it was just terrible he sounded like a big train well so when we were right underneath the front of it I've never seen anything like it I don't want to offend you come and you see your home and two seconds later at sars owners just a nightmare just a nightmare the town is torn in a million pieces I was in the Battle of saint-lo in the Battle of the Bulge in World War two and I never saw anything like this this just happened so sudden it's worry the way of found parts of the bodies here with fam parts of all the bodies so with we've got the wagon hunt for some more a million pieces and problems to match bodies still being pulled from the wreckage gas mains burning water lines broken the train wrecks still blocking some of the rescue routes it matters worse snow and cold National Guardsmen patrolling the streets use burning oil drums to warm their hands one explodes and two of the guardsmen sleeping in an unheated store died as the building goes up in flames this is what tornado winds can do and this this is resin could you tell us what you found when you got home a mess one big super colossal mess can I describe some of it for us saw the things well chicken feathers and skillet chicken feathers in the bowl that we've in a refrigerator with a lid on it where's the chicken come from from a photo chicken farm just below us down here they had quite a number of chickens and we got quite a number of feathers in less than 24 hours they counted 147 tornadoes and the damage is enormous all in all more than six hundred million dollars homes businesses stores thousands of unsafe buildings to be searched shuttered mark off limits and disaster for the people who owned them yeah helmet they'll hear is your daughter have everything you say oh yeah yeah it stood up we were in it when the tornado went through do you want it can have it must add some take it philosophically others can't what can you do we've lost everything that we've had but most refuse to give up you have any idea yet what you're going to do you no sir I don't they don't know what you do yet try to get our things a few thinks they can get and store them somewhere and like to start again but starting over won't be easy help will be needed the president's declared 10 states to be major disaster areas eligible for federal assistance in all its many forms one stock disaster centers are set up to handle home farm and small business loans food stamps shelter trailers and other temporary housing a score of other programs and help is coming from every direction Red Cross Salvation Army all the military services Corps of Engineers the National Guard to clean up and restore essential services rescue squads from hundreds of miles away Volunteers of every kind what a mess what a mess well if you'll all work out I guess it's just too bad there's an awful loss here my these people I feel so sorry for him but I want to say one thing the neighbors and the people have been outstanding really outstanding well I'd say I've restored my faith in mankind with everybody there's always so much talk about people they don't care about each other no way there's no way these people over heard Buster backs money anything you want if I took all the offers that people gave Ned be a millionaire april third 1974 the day of the killer tornadoes they killed 307 people in 11 states and eight more in canada in brandenburg with no sirens no weather wire 31 dead in xenia 33 in louisville cincinnati huntsville the story was different they had warning planning Emergency operating centers and Hamilton County around cincinnati lost only four lives Louisville three Huntsville none at all was it just luck coincidence well quite possibly it was but warning can save lives and that was another day when civil defense paid off and the people who lived through it will never forget look and see that Carney what happened to me that have been people surely hit us I just got next time somebody listens to them they're too warning on