Healing After 40 Years-Xenia Tornado Tragedy
April 3rd and 4th will always be marked for some good things in many people's lives but on these days in 1974,they brought moments of fear and terror for many states during the super outbreak. I have very few memories of those days.
I only recall how rainy it was waiting to board the buses that day. For the people of Xenia the F5 Tornado forever remains in the memory for those who lived through it. Even though two times over, they have gone through tornadoes, the nightmare of 1974 still leaves a tremendous scar.
Living in Ohio, you can't go through the springtime without keeping an " eye to the sky". Ohio has so many obstacles that block a view of an approaching storm. Living and growing up on a farm, I remember looking to the west-northwest, over the barn and trees, when a severe thunderstorm was coming. Still to this day whenever we are out to my parents in the spring and summer and a storm approaches, we always look over the barn for its appearance.
In those early years when a bad storm threatened, my grandfather would gather us up armed with his N.O.A.A. weather radio and head to the basement of the old farmhouse. Dad, mom, grandpa and grandma would keep watch out the small basement windows as we kids sat and waited. I remember three funnel clouds passing over head, once close to the new little ranch house we just moved into, across from my grandparents. Even though the house had a craw base , Dad always insisted we head to the hall or the bathroom which is in the middle of the home.
My young adult live was dotted with close calls, once when my brother was struck by lightning and yet another when my sister and I went out after a storm had gone through to do shores. It was already dark and in the clouds, we would look up and see the lighting rolling above them like a flashlight underneath a dark colored blanket. My family always takes weather seriously. Lightning is the number one killer in weather.
In 1993, my late husband and I became weather spotters for N.O.A.A. in Castalia , Ohio. He and his family had actually gone through a F3 Tornado in May of 1973.
I guess I had a fascination with weather. I listen to my weather radio daily, a habit I picked up from my grandpa. I study weather maps sometimes and take test to sharpen my knowledge. All and all The Super Tornado Outbreak Of 1974 has always captured my attention about the loss of life and how we have progressed in tornado safety.
Tornado survivor stories that effected those I knew such as the Radnor, Ohio tornado ,Willard, Ohio tornado and the Cardington, Ohio tornado, the survivor stories from Xenia were so amazing that it was a wonder anyone actually made it. I didn't know anybody myself who went through the F5 twister but reading the book "Tornado"
gave me a glimpse into the mass of destruction, the horrific loss of victims , it seems "terror" just doesn't fit its impact. One of six F5's that day, Xenia,Ohio had 35 people killed.
Its very heart-wrenching to know that two young families were taken in an instant.
I think about all the people that died that day within thirteen states. I wonder what those precious people would have been and would have been saved with the knowledge we have today. Send your thoughts as forty years have passed with those families who miss their loved ones. It is in their name we honor for going forward with our lives to prevent future heartache from happening in the future. Never take the weather for granted , respect nature and understand what you can do to protect yourself and ones you love because it can happen anytime and anywhere
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I only recall how rainy it was waiting to board the buses that day. For the people of Xenia the F5 Tornado forever remains in the memory for those who lived through it. Even though two times over, they have gone through tornadoes, the nightmare of 1974 still leaves a tremendous scar.
Living in Ohio, you can't go through the springtime without keeping an " eye to the sky". Ohio has so many obstacles that block a view of an approaching storm. Living and growing up on a farm, I remember looking to the west-northwest, over the barn and trees, when a severe thunderstorm was coming. Still to this day whenever we are out to my parents in the spring and summer and a storm approaches, we always look over the barn for its appearance.
In those early years when a bad storm threatened, my grandfather would gather us up armed with his N.O.A.A. weather radio and head to the basement of the old farmhouse. Dad, mom, grandpa and grandma would keep watch out the small basement windows as we kids sat and waited. I remember three funnel clouds passing over head, once close to the new little ranch house we just moved into, across from my grandparents. Even though the house had a craw base , Dad always insisted we head to the hall or the bathroom which is in the middle of the home.
My young adult live was dotted with close calls, once when my brother was struck by lightning and yet another when my sister and I went out after a storm had gone through to do shores. It was already dark and in the clouds, we would look up and see the lighting rolling above them like a flashlight underneath a dark colored blanket. My family always takes weather seriously. Lightning is the number one killer in weather.
In 1993, my late husband and I became weather spotters for N.O.A.A. in Castalia , Ohio. He and his family had actually gone through a F3 Tornado in May of 1973.
I guess I had a fascination with weather. I listen to my weather radio daily, a habit I picked up from my grandpa. I study weather maps sometimes and take test to sharpen my knowledge. All and all The Super Tornado Outbreak Of 1974 has always captured my attention about the loss of life and how we have progressed in tornado safety.
Tornado survivor stories that effected those I knew such as the Radnor, Ohio tornado ,Willard, Ohio tornado and the Cardington, Ohio tornado, the survivor stories from Xenia were so amazing that it was a wonder anyone actually made it. I didn't know anybody myself who went through the F5 twister but reading the book "Tornado"
I think about all the people that died that day within thirteen states. I wonder what those precious people would have been and would have been saved with the knowledge we have today. Send your thoughts as forty years have passed with those families who miss their loved ones. It is in their name we honor for going forward with our lives to prevent future heartache from happening in the future. Never take the weather for granted , respect nature and understand what you can do to protect yourself and ones you love because it can happen anytime and anywhere
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