Day of the killer tornadoes (1978)

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 has now been changed to tornado warning at 9:30 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 - in Illinois - more in Indiana another sighted 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 it's coming the only warning our last second shout and in 30 seconds 31 people died in Louisville off River and alarm sounds in the newsroom at whas the local emergency broadcast station yeah we got a tornado warning give me the emergency action Curt 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 gestation airborne traffic reporter is already keeping watch 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 that's I don't actually physically see any tornado activity at the moment but it does look highly suspicious down there in the southwest fire department we have a tornado reported on the ground and the Brandenburg vicinity and it's headed toward Louisville we think this iron should be activated at the present time okay hit the yellow alert [Music] our department yes is tornado warning during to listen for further instructions well it's spectacular sight the whole clouds very black the low clouds let's see at the moment they're just about over moment until now and it is swirling around and looks like smoke underneath it there is no real tight tornado has such it's still turning an alarm against there's one now okay John Burke is on the point this time John I understand that you've got the tornado sighted here come the winds up good gracious like so uh hi is the wind speed at this time there's 50 right there bye guys the whole thing is on here the huge funnel touches down at the State Fairgrounds south of the city then heads direct for downtown [Music] whas-tv head cameraman Bert Roman 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 begins smashing the suburbs [Music] 90 miles northeast at the Cincinnati Airport Hamilton County radio edit ready never fails Indiana says he's been taking up numerous reports the funnel is dipping up and down attention all cars and departments and all County broadcast makarov Cincinnati Hamilton County civil defense the national warning system alerts fliora 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 okay I'm going to sound the sirens [Applause] what do we do to get the dam CERN's turned on this is not a test this is another first time in 17 years the civil defense sirens are sounding Infernus a wck why the local emergency broadcast station the National Weather Service says it has sighted a tornado near the Greater Cincinnati Airport here is the National Weather Service with the latest 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 attention all cars a pharmacist station on emergency traffic only here with emergency go ahead really big a huge funnel Rip's across the Ohio River passes just west of Cincinnati roars on through Hamilton County one dream I won four wheeler touchdown 58 west work extensive damage equals 30 meters around exploded frickin flying signal is go ahead Hutchinson the road has been wiped out level of wires polled powered Imus and everything you can get over everything we gots roll in 96 up there we got a bet 40 or 50 people entered inside of town board up the bed that you don't mean we're not on the hospital network yeah you might as well do it so this is a channel control I want it five hospitals on a net for just a moment to start checking their capacities out to be ready for these over I also have the same problem Elmo Elmo is requesting all possible assistance can be rendered they have advised the fair city is now a disaster Lincoln Heights are you clear on thinning air fire and lie Squad companies to avoid the sanatory it the last time ok four or five 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 Stewart the Xenia city manager and his wife today is a special day their 20th wedding anniversary now it is in Italian song but just play beer and see what's going on there okay I'll see you 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 Greene counties until 5:00 p.m. this evening radar report indicates a possible tornado sighted 25 miles northeast of Cincinnati he's moving to the northeast and approximately 50 miles an hour Roger let's try the 25 miles focusing at like Patterson Air Force Base the commanding general Kirby Jarvis is checking the storm on the radar scope now and it's moving up to the buildable area at this time well I'm concerned about an aircraft inbound from Shamu can we circumnavigate getting them to wright-patterson whatever in the newsroom at Station whio weatherman Gill Whitney is watching his radar to do something about it [Music] for whether set [Music] here's a weather bulletin from whio insta weather radar station mr. weather radar now shows a Tony are developing a 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 southeastern Montgomery County and a central Green County at Central Police Station 10 miles south of Dayton you know there's been a funnel cloud sighted in the south part of the Township start right here sirens and your loudspeakers attention all cars departments agencies Montgomery County a funnel cloud has been spotted washing township of Geary County at Miami Valley disaster services in Dayton the director dick Burroughs picks up the message Police Department misses like this is Burroughs do you have a funnel citing the ground storm is severe a massive storm track indicated 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 Freight just pulling into Xenia junction slowing down before it hits the downtown crossings we got one now and it's going down it's on the ground on the ground where the tornado hits Arrowhead flat 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 8 millimeter camera and films it's coming at City Hall here on hey Ronnie I could see a tornado trying to get the kids and get to the basement we thought you run away the engineer sees it coming to begin sounding a frantic warning yes we're doing it perform 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 at wright-patterson field herkie activate the disaster preparedness sooner 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 zinnias rescue squads are rallying and a nearby beatin 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 I can handle any more patients a new contact yes sir will do most 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 similar pants in the Red Cross they just hang up the in got of course is a railroad okay we've got one Main Street blowout I'm Carl Horton I'm right back colonel good to see you here with a convoy heavy equipment about a hundred and twenty men what do you want I want to get on right now is down West Main Street bombing at four railroad cars across the street I'd like to get that open up since you got dick but unless that's a short way you want us to go okay nearly half of Xenia lies in ruins but darkness hides the damage Airmen from wright-patterson bring 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 established around the entire city now 26 points is that right chief that's right or anything I've had just a few that they're minor so far great and rescue workers are moving through the night searching for injured and bodies [Music] [Applause] [Music] at nightfall a new wave of tornadoes starts sweeping the south in Alabama they sliced through Guin Jasper Lafayette heading north toward huntsville hook echo indicating tornado activity has now located over in northern lawrence county tornadoes on the ground at Lange 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 Philip Evan fly it on a map mr. Wiseman left the warning out again person's inner courts and mobile homes elsewhere harborage to evacuate a tornado is visible here at the airport projected path next few minutes we'll put it in the harvest Tony meridian Ville hazel green areas of the county [Music] the first comes at harvest a small crossroads community west of the city [Music] The Searchers 5/3 Linton's 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 second twister cut through the harvest area right on the heels of the first and the Avenger begin pouring into Huntsville Hospital Agnew ambulance service has 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 l+ and o-negative all right hey mijo 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 seven old one 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 Highway Patrol at 1050 an enormous new funnel what's its course directly as well let's get out of here Museum is the first thing mr. Wiseman with tornado keeps coming through the heart of town directly toward Huntsville hospital get this patient inside get everybody away from windows [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Brandenburg it looked like this in the morning we are a tornado this that would be the understatement of the year oh my goodness it just popped in the crack it's like a hundred thousand tons a bomb dropping window blowing everywhere in the world Tsar strong you couldn't tell what all was going on and then I heard a rolling noise and and I saw what I thought to be smoke and stuff coming up over the hill but it was a black cloud or wind 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 level the trailer village Louisville xenia miles of sheer destruction and stunned survivors still in shock it was just a big war and I don't know it was just terrible he sounded like a big train or so when we were right underneath the front of it I've never seen anything like it and I don't want to again you come and you see your home and two seconds later it's ours owners just a nightmare just a nightmare the town is torn in a million pieces I was in the Battle of saint-lo and the Battle of the Bulge in World War two and I never saw anything like this this just happened so should and it's working the way found parts of the bodies here with found parts of all the bodies so what we've got the wagon hood 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 to make 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 die as the building goes up in flames this is what tornado winds can do [Music] and this this is written 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 it's not other things well chicken feathers in the skillet chicken feathers in the bowl that was in a refrigerator with a lid on it where'd the chicken come from from a 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 600 million dollars homes businesses stores thousands of unsafe buildings to be searched shuttered mark off-limits and disaster for the people who owned them sale here's your dollar have everything you say oh yeah yeah it stood up we were in it when the tornado went through do you want it some take it philosophically others can't what can you do we lost everything that we've had but most refuse to give up you have any idea yet what you're going to do you know sir I don't they don't know what you do yet try to get our things a few things they can get and store them someday and rise to start again but starting over won't be easy help will be needed the presidents declared ten 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 it'll all work out I guess it just could 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 here there's always so much talk about people they don't care about each other no way there's no way these people over here to bust their backs money anything you want if I took all the offers that people gave me I'd be a millionaire April 3rd 1974 the day of the killer tornadoes they killed three hundred and seven 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 3 Huntsville none at all was it just luck coincidence or 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 Hey look at me see that guy anything wrong what will happen to me that happened to other people surely that hit us my lessons there's a tornado warning out [Music] [Music] [Applause]