Lubbock tornado film "TWISTER!" (16mm)

[Music] the lubbock texas airport in early may temperature is now 78 some indications of severe weather conditions developing to the south and west of the city or lubbock a strong possibility of thundershowers later in the evening downtown in the emergency operations center at city hall the civil defense director bill payne is just leaving the office well that doesn't look too bad does it linda good night not mr pam good evening city hall one moment please going home bill nope showing this film doctrines cloud i'll be at the embers see you later the sky still bright worrisome some cumulus building up so far lubbock's been lucky for years tornadoes have been hitting all around but never the city itself [Music] but texans have learned to take their weather seriously and tonight payne is talking to the monterey optimists club in south lubbock explaining the city's new emergency operations plan for dealing with various kinds of disaster and showing a national weather service film called tornado right now [Music] but before the film's really rolling there's a message from city hall bill this is lou the weather bureau just called and they're going to issue a severe thunderstorm warning just as soon as they can get it on tape okay lou uh call the operating departments i'll be right in coming back the skies turn black and already kfyo the local emergency broadcast station is beginning its weather watch during the past 10 minutes indicate golf ball to baseball size hail in the vicinity of mckinsey state park with the hail increasing at this time in the emergency operating center you'll see pain speaking bill we're all out here red bean supper if things get rough let us know okay hershey yeah i'll call you i need you on the other side of town the lubbock firemen are throwing their annual bash a red bean and cornbread supper for their friends the host fire chief herschel sharp and among the guests bill blackwell the city manager jt alley chief of police leading citizens the press radio men bob nash and max mott looks like the weather bureau may have to issue a tornado warning extra mile oh don't sweat it max you get less chance of being hit by a tornado than being trampled by a dinosaur district [Applause] near you i'm receiving very very heavy rains and very heavy hail for bill payne a time for waiting and listening as police reports begin to flow in okay i'm still going east the rain is still heavy and i'm getting golf ball sized hell 89 clear if you've got a unit out around the traffic circle south of town it can give us a report on that uh large hail 104 28 level i'm sitting over here on fourth street and from here it looks like one big heavy dark cloud centered to around 23rd and every once in a while you can see something like it snakes down and goes back up again we have a hook about seven miles south the airport operator would you contact bill payne please and tell him the weather bureau is issuing a tornado warning for lubbock county radar indicates a possible tornado seven miles south of the airport mr blackwell uh things are not looking too good i like you uh herschel and bob shannon okay bill i'll round up the troops and be right there at the red bean supper the singing plainsmen have taken over the entertainment [Music] just like the girl that married [Music] in 10 minutes they're back at the eoc the city manager safety director bob shannon all the city's key department heads 800 operators the radio room and switchboards are fully mapped according to plan the emergency center is ready for action chief are your units covered you're pretty well covered throughout the state three levels [Music] [Music] yes need some help in the dispatching office power is out across the street from city hall the radio stations also lost power but as part of the emergency broadcast system the station has an old emergency generator obtained as surplus property from the defense civil preparedness agency the switch is thrown the station is back on the air civilian on your radio dial of texas on the weather watch the tornado warning remains in effect for lubbock western crosby floyd and southern hale counties until 10 p.m tonight and now more music okay [Music] we got a new hook down here moving toward us public dps lubbock weather mural this is johnson at the weather bureau office would you advise the police department in ottawa to sound the warning sirens for a possible tornado the weather bureau is issuing a tornado warning for the city they'll watch the base in the dark is we've had one reportable funnel raining real heavy 289. winds about 60 miles an hour rain is blowing from southwest okay the clouds southeast just dropped two hooks a minute ago and then they went right back up in the flip a possible tornado was indicated by radar at 8 57 and a funnel cloud has been observed in the same area a massive storm has just struck downtown lubbock all persons take cover come out here on erskine road at this time headed back in ford's town it's raining it's hard i can't hardly see anything i'm just waiting to stop it kfyo hello this is my wife carolyn dallas can you give me something brief for my 10 o'clock all right now you'll have to hold on all citizens do not attempt to come into the downtown lubbock area because hot wires are down okay i'm on this hill looking back toward town you've got a father cloud hanging right over the city limits look like it's touching the [Music] [Music] i ground hear it coming you better find yourself a spot don't worry i'm going to get right under the table here you don't have any contact with your station bill [Music] tornado [Music] the tornado smashed directly into city hall and the police station just upstairs for seven seconds the lights go up then the emergency generator kicks in we're heading downtown don't come in the city that's in here [Music] tornado let's hunt a hole the tornado roars on north through the city toward country club and the airport then lifts just over the weather bureau leaving lubbock behind it in shambles police station has been here our communications is failing unable to read any inner receiving do it any lines left on the incoming we can't call out well hold on you have and keep trying all right mr blackford hotline and dps still working major looks like we've been hit pretty hard here in the downtown area well central fire station's been hit the police station in city hall can you start some of your people in our direction quickly state police cruisers from the department of public safety move in circle their wagons at city hall begin relaying emergency messages and max mart and bob nash of the radio station have cannibalized equipment from one of their mobile units our stringing cable down the stairs give me a cue i'll take it anytime anytime anytime okay you're on this is the lubbock operational area emergency broadcast system with me is bill payne the civil defense director for the city of lovin hey dallas keep this line open don't get off this line you're the only outside contact okay i'll stay on hold now have you had any reports of injuries uh not not yet we just had to hit downtown we can't get anything in i'm afraid to look out the damn window wait a minute all right we have extensive damage i just looked across the street the city hall is completely broken all the glasses out of it it's standing but all the glasses out of it people are pouring into the eoc the mayor of lubbock and members of the city council they go into emergency session in bill payne's office structured to have the city manager do this the operational aspect of city i'd recommend that well then we go ahead and let him run this show just like he does today right we're going to need a lot of help could you go ahead and put austin in contact with the governor's office and get the national guard ready to activate quickly the news is relayed to the capitol at austin the state department of defense and disaster relief has been hit by a tornado then on to washington d.c jay warby got cordoned communications are out but each man knows what he has to do it's all laid out in the emergency plan our problem right now is gonna be to work out all these motels along amarillo highway we're going to make these motels one by one and go through the whole thing if we have to we'll drain those swimming pools okay we've got six four-man teams gonna do some rescue searching rescue so we'll take this one [Music] [Applause] is [Music] apartments emergency rooms at all the lubbock hospitals are being swamped with tornado [Applause] victims others are coming into city hall and just down the hallway from the eoc helen payne bill's wife has set up a first aid station is there anything you need not right now we're doing pretty good do you know what area was hit hardest i know about one area it's supposed to be the 2900 block of third street third street that's my street okay can you confirm anything in 206 sherman there you go the man from the salvation army said that our apartment was damaged yes i know there's nothing can do about it now i'll see you later the lubbock red cross office has been asked to please contact the odessa red cross on priority how's the generator feel well i'm afraid we're running low on gas okay let's get an oklahoma credit card all right in neighboring oklahoma they probably return the compliment by calling it a texas credit card but either way it means chopping off a length of garden hose and using it to siphon gas from the nearest available car to keep the emergency generator running as you know mayor granberry just a little while ago declared a state of emergency for the city of lubbock things are rough here in the downtown area and in other areas struck by the tornado we don't know at this hour just what the extent of damages and the number of injured and dead are we have received some reports of dead in the north part of the city our search and rescue teams are out at this time composed primarily of fire and police personnel there are many other problems it faces at this point we continue to to search out the areas that have been struck by the tornado and will continue to report to you by means of radio through the hours of the night the darkness still hides many things no one knows what they'll find at dawn lubbock the morning after [Music] the tornadoes cut a swath more than eight miles long nearly a mile and a half wide right through the heart of town it's been impartial nothing's been spared the downtown business district the industrial areas country club and the mexican-american section death and destruction everywhere people still pinching themselves surprised that they're still alive what did it sound like last night when the storm started well it went gross goose stop the wall and gush within that little storm cellar and that's just the way it sounded and the hail seemed like that big on that cellar door who was with you my husband have you ever seen anything like this before a party like this that thing there once blew it over here i missed it about that much this town that got me and the lights across the street ran up went out twice before we ran and you got under the bed the kids did i couldn't get under there it just sounded like a big whooshing boy than the hell and the top of the ceiling and everything started piling in on top of us what was it like after it was all over and the survivors started peeking their heads out i don't know i was so scared i didn't know what to do he had to carry me to the fallout shelter i don't know exactly what instant it struck but uh we were at the cellar door and the rest of the family had proceeded me down into the cellar and i wasn't going in that hole at the time but uh at about that time something happened what it was i don't know where this noise or something hit me or well just what it was but something just made me say let me in there too and then i went and we pulled the door too and no more and got it fastened and everything broke loose we hear debris hitting the cellar door and the cellar door would or we were trying to decide whether to push on a cellar door or pull because it was going one way one minute one way the other way you try to come in on us and then try to go out [Music] do not go into the downtown business district do not go into the downtown business district police and national guard have cordoned off the area there is still danger from hot wires and falling glass good morning sir good morning i'm taking some coleman lanterns and stuff down here to texas testing lab yes sir you don't have to have to get permit to get in here today they are reporting that the great plains building is twisted and uh it should be secured some bricks are cracking off over at this time there are a lot of rumors floating around town about the great plains building about to fall and i think that we might contact some local engineers get them to make visual inspection give us support to right director of public works and we're talking about this a few minutes ago and so we'll go ahead and get a team in there this afternoon in the emergency operating center a thousand pressing problems setting up a temporary more [Music] clearance of emergency routes food clothing shelter for the thousands who are suddenly homeless wadalumpy center in lubbock is now in desperate need of 300 sheets and pillowcases also some diapers some children's underwear and blankets for the party calling about john and janna gopherth they are at possum kingdom and safe this is from the eoc lover coliseum is eating sandwiches for 750 to 1500 people now they'll be feeding from 5 15 p.m until help of every kind is needed and it's coming from every direction linemen from all the surrounding cities and states are coming in to restore power and communications the texas national guard is there in force so is fourth army with helicopters and heavy equipment and men from reese air force base just outside the city the president's declared lubbock a major disaster area and at the airport a white house planes arriving bringing texas congressional leaders and federal executives to coordinate a massive assistance program [Music] the city has lost eight thousand homes suffered nearly 150 million dollars worth of business and industrial damage city hall the police and central fire stations have been smashed the city warehouse flattened two main power stations are out and so are the main pumping stations for the water system [Music] [Applause] they are needed very urgently they need your assistance too much water here too little everywhere else there's hardly a drop left to drink bill dykman of the brewing company has just reported he's shipping 2500 cases of distilled water by courts these will be at the red cross distribution center at broadway and avenue x gifts of food and clothing are pouring in from everywhere to help the disaster victims day after day the work goes on people picking up the pieces and no time to even catch a breath for ten long days and nights the emergency center will be in continual operation [Music] people working around the clock eating sleeping at their posts many not going home at all until the crisis is over ten days but now the book is closed checking out now wendy all right mr payne good afternoon city hall one moment please you going home bill i guess what's left of it it's happened a thousand times in these last ten days but now you have a pile of rubble that uh you once lovingly and finally called a home what do you do now well really that's just junk we've got our kids we're lucky though we really are lucky or just a grim joke well actually in one way lubbock was lucky because we were prepared for disaster as very few cities are just the year before the defense civil preparedness agency had pickplupbooked for a pilot project a testing ground and disaster experts from the federal and state governments came in worked long and hard with the city officials and authorities to produce a model emergency readiness plan this plan covering every conceivable kind of disaster and telling us exactly just what we had to do second we had a working emergency operating center to do it in when the trouble came the top executives stayed together worked together made the key decisions finally they kept the people informed with warning before the twister struck and full information after these were the things that carried us through and lucky for lubbock we had them because well i'm bob nash and i learned that even in this day and age you can get trampled by a dinosaur this is what can happen to a town in the space of about one minute it could have been yours and it can't happen yet because nearly 700 tornadoes strike this country in an average year and no state in the union is safe i'm johnny davis director of the defense civil preparedness agency in washington dc and it's our job to help your local community with emergency planning and construction of emergency operating centers but it's your job to know what to do to save your life if a twister ever hits whenever conditions are threatening the national weather service will put your area on tornado watch which means keep listening to radio or tv for further developments and be ready to move at a moment's notice tornado warning means a funnel has actually been sighted take shelter immediately if you're at home the basement is the safest place under a sturdy table or workbench or in an inner closet or bathroom keep away from windows and flying glass and don't stay in a mobile home or parked car they're too easily overturned if you're in school your teachers will take you to an inner hallway on the lowest floor keep out of gyms and auditoriums with widespan roofs that could come crashing down in office buildings the same rules hold go to an interior hallway on the lowest floor or to your designated shelter if you're caught in the open and see a tornado funnel coming move away at right angle to its path and if there's no time left for escape lie flat in the nearest ditch a ravine it's your life that's at stake so remember these rules whenever you hear their tornado warning [Music] you