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platypus · 05-30-2003, 05:33 AM

I was in hurricane David in Ft. Lauderdale in 1979. Not too big of deal as it had pretty much already spent itself on the Carribean. It was only a category 2 when it got to us. Got to experience boarding up the windows, the reversal of the wind as the eye passed, and the flooded streets with fish and aligators in them. More of an adventure really.

But the thing that scared the bejesus out of me was what has come to be known as the Xenia Ohio Tornado. At the time, I was living in Mason, a little town just NE of Cincinatti. On the afternoon of April 3, 1974 a storm of literally biblical proportions roared into the Ohio river valley. A record 148 separate tornados, including a record number of F4 and F5 tornados, ripped a path from Cincinatti, NE toward Columbus. Xenia faired the worst and was almost completely destroyed. But before the tornados converged there, they took their toll on Mason.

At 4 in the afternoon, I was standing outside my school with my mother and about 2 dozen other kids and their mothers. We were waiting to be let in to sign up for Little League. It was somewhat dark, a little stormy looking. Felt like it was going to rain. One of the women pointed up in the sky and said, "Look at all those birds." Circling high above us was what indeed looked like a huge 'Hitchcockian' flock of birds. It was, in fact, shingles from an already flattened neighborhood on the southern side of town.

At that moment, the tornado literally sat down on our heads. Everyone screamed and ran for the doors of the school. The door I ran to was locked. As I ran back towards the front door, a huge tree cracked in half in front of me and went sailing down the street. A piece of gutter about 15 feet long ripped from the roof and landed a few feet away. The blowing dust and sand stung my face and eyes making it hard to see. I made it to the door, which was being held open by the one father in attendance. Except for him, I was the last in, and as he entered behind me, the door was blown shut and broke his arm.

We hunkered down in the basement of the school, and it wasn't long before the tornado passed and we emerged to what looked like a war zone. I remember my mother driving slowly home, and me having to get out every couple hundred feet to move some piece of wreckage out of the road. When we got home, we got to hear my father's story.

My dad worked in Cincinatti and was on his way home early, I think because he knew the storm was coming and that my 9-year-old sister was home alone watching my 4-year-old brother. He raced up I-71, trying to beat a different tornado that had formed and was also heading toward Mason. He exited the highway, came over a rise that looked right down on our development, and watched as the tornado hit. It took part of the roof off our neighbor's house across the street, leaped over our house, pulled the awning off the house behind us, and continued its carnage up through town. He drove the last couple of blocks home, rushed inside, and found that my bright little sister had hidden in the basement with my brother and the dog and was safe.

In the weeks and months after the storm, we would often see some of the most bizarre sights. I saw a cow carcass stuck up in a tree. I remember an entire red barn roof also perched on top of huge tree. We were lucky. My family came through the storm just fine, with very minor damage to our property. Wish I could say the same for everyone else. Over 300 people died that day. I will never forget it.

05-30-2003, 05:33 AM	#9 (permalink)
platypus Essen meine kurze Hosen Location: NY Burbs	I was in hurricane David in Ft. Lauderdale in 1979. Not too big of deal as it had pretty much already spent itself on the Carribean. It was only a category 2 when it got to us. Got to experience boarding up the windows, the reversal of the wind as the eye passed, and the flooded streets with fish and aligators in them. More of an adventure really. But the thing that scared the bejesus out of me was what has come to be known as the Xenia Ohio Tornado. At the time, I was living in Mason, a little town just NE of Cincinatti. On the afternoon of April 3, 1974 a storm of literally biblical proportions roared into the Ohio river valley. A record 148 separate tornados, including a record number of F4 and F5 tornados, ripped a path from Cincinatti, NE toward Columbus. Xenia faired the worst and was almost completely destroyed. But before the tornados converged there, they took their toll on Mason. At 4 in the afternoon, I was standing outside my school with my mother and about 2 dozen other kids and their mothers. We were waiting to be let in to sign up for Little League. It was somewhat dark, a little stormy looking. Felt like it was going to rain. One of the women pointed up in the sky and said, "Look at all those birds." Circling high above us was what indeed looked like a huge 'Hitchcockian' flock of birds. It was, in fact, shingles from an already flattened neighborhood on the southern side of town. At that moment, the tornado literally sat down on our heads. Everyone screamed and ran for the doors of the school. The door I ran to was locked. As I ran back towards the front door, a huge tree cracked in half in front of me and went sailing down the street. A piece of gutter about 15 feet long ripped from the roof and landed a few feet away. The blowing dust and sand stung my face and eyes making it hard to see. I made it to the door, which was being held open by the one father in attendance. Except for him, I was the last in, and as he entered behind me, the door was blown shut and broke his arm. We hunkered down in the basement of the school, and it wasn't long before the tornado passed and we emerged to what looked like a war zone. I remember my mother driving slowly home, and me having to get out every couple hundred feet to move some piece of wreckage out of the road. When we got home, we got to hear my father's story. My dad worked in Cincinatti and was on his way home early, I think because he knew the storm was coming and that my 9-year-old sister was home alone watching my 4-year-old brother. He raced up I-71, trying to beat a different tornado that had formed and was also heading toward Mason. He exited the highway, came over a rise that looked right down on our development, and watched as the tornado hit. It took part of the roof off our neighbor's house across the street, leaped over our house, pulled the awning off the house behind us, and continued its carnage up through town. He drove the last couple of blocks home, rushed inside, and found that my bright little sister had hidden in the basement with my brother and the dog and was safe. In the weeks and months after the storm, we would often see some of the most bizarre sights. I saw a cow carcass stuck up in a tree. I remember an entire red barn roof also perched on top of huge tree. We were lucky. My family came through the storm just fine, with very minor damage to our property. Wish I could say the same for everyone else. Over 300 people died that day. I will never forget it. __________________ Out the 10Base-T, through the router, down the T1, over the leased line, off the bridge, past the firewall...nothing but Net.