Storm Anniversary

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/preparedness/tornado_small/whatis.php

The above picture and link shows the Hesston, Kansas tornado. It happened on March 13, 1990, twenty-five years ago today. On part of its path through central Kansas, it hit Hesston and caused major damage.

I was 27 years old at that time. Up to that point, I had been through schooling, including two colleges, had spent a couple of years back home with my folks, then spent a year living on my own and working back in one of those college towns, then was back home AGAIN with my folks, just living with them and working. At this time, Mom was suffering health problems, and our local doctor diagnosed diabetes, the insulin-dependent type. So to help things, he highly recommended that she, as well as Dad and I, take a week's-worth of classes at a hospital in the big city east of us a couple or so hours. So we made the arrangements, and did this, and I will say it was totally worth it and helpful.

But for the classes during those week days, she had to stay at the hospital, so they could monitor her sugar levels and insulin and such, while we all learned about dealing with diabetes. Dad and I stayed with my aunt and uncle, and drove back and forth to the hospital each day. We went in the morning, had classes, ate lunch there, had a few afternoon classes, then let out for the day around 3:30 or 4:00, if I remember right. Then Dad and I would go back to the house, basically clear on the other side of this big city.

So, we had classes on Monday. Then we had classes on Tuesday. After classes were done that day, Dad and I came out of the hospital, and there were some big thunderheads over west. Even though storm season is considered to start on March 1 here on the Great Plains, March 13 is pretty early in the season. So Dad and I drove (I did the City driving, actually) back to my aunt and uncle's, and settled in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Before long, though, weather warnings started to come across the TV. The local stations were right on top of everything, and eventually the big storm, now to our northwest, turned tornadic. I remember looking out the north living room windows, and there were small, puffy clouds close together, zooming fast to the north towards the storm. This was the storm that eventually hit Hesston.

Later, my cousin and her fiance came over, and things got wild weather-wise for us that evening. After the initial storms had gone through, another line of storms came crashing through towards sunset and after dark. At one point, we were in a tornado warning, so we all got ready to go to the basement. I remember my cousin and I were running around the house, debating whether to open some windows (an old-wive's tale to keep your house from exploding in a tornado), but we finally just left them closed. So down the stairs we went, aunt, uncle, cousin, her fiance, Dad and me. Plus one more, that I'll get to in a second.

They had a little TV down there, which we were watching for the weather report, from one of the local stations, which happened to be only two blocks away. They were reporting suspicious circulation just to the west of the station. Which would also be west of us! Then suddenly .... they went off the air and the screen turned to "snow." We thought that was it, a tornado had hit. I remember the ugly, dark sky when I looked out the basement window once. Kind of brown and murky. We decided to pray. Now, the "bug man" happened to be there, he was back in the crawl space I think, checking things out behind a basement wall. He heard us say we were going to pray, and said, "Hey, I'm a Christian, too, let me in on this thing!" So we all, including the visiting bug man, stood in a circle in that basement and prayed for safety from the threatening storms outside. And they did pass by.

I think this was after we came up from the basement, but it could've been right before, that the wind blew horribly and there was lots of rain and LOTS AND LOTS of tiny hail. My cousin opened the west patio door, which beyond that was a large covered deck, and the wind was so strong it was blowing hail through that whole deck area, through the door, and clear across the living room. She got hollered at to shut that door!

Deck looking south, house on left.

Deck looking north, house on right. On the right edge of the photo, you can barely see the edge of the patio door, where the hail blew in, clear across the living room.

The next morning, there were piles of that tiny hail under all the gutter spouts around the house, and of course scattered everywhere.

Dad and I went to classes the next day. Mom and all the hospital folks had come through fine, but she had her own story to tell. It seemed that when the tornado threat was on the city, the nurse came in the room and calmly and nonchalantly closed the curtains over the big plate glass window on the east side of her room. When Mom asked her about it, the nurse elaborated a little on their storm procedures, and said that they were trained to have all the patients out in the hallway for safety in two minutes. But thankfully, it wasn't necessary to go that far. But they were prepared.

There was one man taking the diabetes classes that drove from the Hesston area, if I remember right. He may have been from there. He had helped with cleanup that night before, and undoubtedly more when he went back.

There have been more tornadoes through the years since in various places, and this one that hit Hesston, Kansas has been one of the notable ones.