Tornado Stories

[petercreek]

I remember the 1968 tornado that hit my neighborhood in Jonesboro. Wiped it off the map. Killed 38 people. We were under my mothers bed holding on to the metal boxsprings. I knew it was bad when she turned to me and my brother and said "Momma loves you boys". It was over in a matter of seconds. Next day looked like a bomb had been dropped. National Guard came through checking each house for survivors. I will always remember seeing a bottle of shampoo on a bathtub and the rest of the house was gone down to the foundation. If you've been through one or survived one you will never forget that sound. I was 8 years old.

[RCC]

Earlier that same evening we were bank fishing and couldn't keep the big catfish beat off. I guess the critters knew something was up. Never been in one. Have seen a couple on the ground and the aftermath. I don't want any part of them things.

[DRPEPPER]

We didn't have too many while I was growing up in Houston. But, the first one I remember drove twigs the size of a pencil into the block wall of a Walgreens. The store itself was not tore up. It just had thousands of twigs stuck in it.
DP

[NIMROD]

Seen one in Little Rock in the late 1990's. Was working and saw semi trailers tossed around. Roof torn up on the plant where I worked. I saw it coming and ran through the shop and hid in the vault.

[olduckhunter]

i'd always heard one sounded like a freight train. the one that clipped the north edge of the farm here a few years ago sounded nothing like that. it was just a big roar. nothing like a train. and i remember long ago when one hit bald knob and judgsonia and killed several people. we drove down there and all that was left of a bank in one of the towns was the big vault and soldiers were guarding the vault. i was maybe 8 or 9 then.

[TAV2]

Got caught out in two at the same time during the outbreaks in Jan 99. Was a senior at ASU and had been home duck hunting that w/end. The buddy that had went with me worked for a chemical company in Jonesboro that had a field rented somewhere SW of town. We decided to hunt there that Sunday afternoon knowing nothing about the weather other than it was awful warm and muggy for late January. Anyway, we park my truck and walked a good ways out to the pit. Killed a greenhead and then the rain started, few minutes later it started hailing. The hail started getting really big and hurt like crazy. We decided to make a run for the truck, but had to lay in a ditch b/c the hail was beating us to a pulp. Raise up from the ditch and see one of those skinny, twisty white tornados bout 1/2 mile to the west. You could see the debris being kicked up at the bottom of it. We start running to the truck again and another one comes down to the south about the same distance. At this point I'm pretty well freaking out and my buddy had the sense to say let's get in this big culvert that the truck was parked over, otherwise I'd prolly still be running lol. We crawled right into the middle of that sucker and I held on to him for dear life. It got really loud and there was a strange pressure/suction type feeling. The trash that was in the ditch outside the culvert went straight up into the air. As quick as that, it was over. Crawled out of there to find my truck had been spun around and dead ducks and geese were everywhere. Sun was out within a minute or so. I couldn't get right for several hours after that. What's crazy is that same day, our duck blind on our family land four counties to the south was wiped out by a twister there.

[JigginPoleJoe]

Got caught out in two at the same time during the outbreaks in Jan 99. Was a senior at ASU and had been home duck hunting that w/end. The buddy that had went with me worked for a chemical company in Jonesboro that had a field rented somewhere SW of town. We decided to hunt there that Sunday afternoon knowing nothing about the weather other than it was awful warm and muggy for late January. Anyway, we park my truck and walked a good ways out to the pit. Killed a greenhead and then the rain started, few minutes later it started hailing. The hail started getting really big and hurt like crazy. We decided to make a run for the truck, but had to lay in a ditch b/c the hail was beating us to a pulp. Raise up from the ditch and see one of those skinny, twisty white tornados bout 1/2 mile to the west. You could see the debris being kicked up at the bottom of it. We start running to the truck again and another one comes down to the south about the same distance. At this point I'm pretty well freaking out and my buddy had the sense to say let's get in this big culvert that the truck was parked over, otherwise I'd prolly still be running lol. We crawled right into the middle of that sucker and I held on to him for dear life. It got really loud and there was a strange pressure/suction type feeling. The trash that was in the ditch outside the culvert went straight up into the air. As quick as that, it was over. Crawled out of there to find my truck had been spun around and dead ducks and geese were everywhere. Sun was out within a minute or so. I couldn't get right for several hours after that. What's crazy is that same day, our duck blind on our family land four counties to the south was wiped out by a twister there.

Did you pick up the ducks?

[TAV2]

Negative. I sat in the truck waiting for some guys to come pull us out. When the thing spun the truck around it put the back tires in some ruts (2WD). When those guys got me out they checked around for bands and found a banded goose. I couldn't have cared less about a duck at that point lol.

[ski trip]

Thank God for that culvert, or you guys were probably goners!!!

[petercreek]

TAV2 wasn't that the last weekend of that season? We were at Bayou Deview hunting when that sucker came up. Your right there, were ducks and snow geese everywhere. Just like you we headed home PDQ.