Just wanted to say thanks. Grew up in GI in the 90s. It was nice to get to see the view from Tornado Hill again. Saw where i wiped out epically when sledding!
This is so cool and so weird for me. My dad was a minister, and we moved to Grand Island like three weeks or a month after the tornadoes? Ministers have to do this thing called "candidating" where he or she goes to a church and preaches a message and the people decide if they want that minister as their pastor. We had everything almost packed to drive from Crystal City, Missouri to Grand Island...had the car almost ready. The head deacon called, and said, "Turn on the news." The tornadoes had just about shredded Grand Island. Three people, including that head deacon, had lost their homes, and the parsonage had lost the garage and two hundred year old trees. The National Guard had closed off Grand Island, and nobody was allowed in or out. We didn't get to candidate there for a month. I remember driving into town metal pieces of silos wrapped around telephone poles, and debris for miles outside Grand Island on the approach to town...maybe 20 miles? But we lived there for years. I love watching this video! One of the things I miss the most about Nebraska is the wind and the sound when the prairie grasses whoosh togather. Farmers are the toughest and best people on the planet! And the sound of a train still makes me happy and makes me think of cold prairie nights under a pile of quilts, and an iced window pane, and a train whistle all the way on the edge of town. And the corn that goes on for miles and miles....all the way to the horizen. My first job was detasseling corn! My friends and I have grown kids and grandkids now, and I live in Ohio, but every once in a while somebody says, "Do you remember the tornadoes in Grand Island that night?" Its something you never forget. It comes up every year on the anniversary, or when we take vacations to visit each other.
Incredible story, thanks for sharing. Can’t imagine what the devastation must have been like witnessing. You’re a great author, can hear the wind on the prairie grass now.
I grew up in Grand Island. I remember that late afternoon and evening like it was yesterday. I was 12 at the time. I had just pitched a little league game and my birthday was 3 days later. Out of nowhere, the winds started blowing to 40 knots for about 15 minutes. Then it was eerily still. 20 minutes later the tornado sirens blasted our ears. We lived in a split-level home so my neighbor came over to get my mom and brother and I because my father was out of town on business. Four families were in our neighbor's basement that night listening to the radio. I remember sometime around 9 pm the adults were upstairs and saying they could see a funnel. Then they all came downstairs shortly after. The broadcaster was speaking of the downtown twister that was headed south (towards us), giving names of streets and buildings. Sometime later, the radio went out as well. It was quiet and at about 10:20 pm that the lights flickered and then went out.. Five minutes later the freight train arrived. It sounded like the house above us was getting ripped apart. Five more minutes it was gone. Two adults went to check out the damage. They came back down about 15 minutes later. and everyone was asking about their own home. The home we were at had some window and roof damage. Our home across the street was gone. The next few days were insane. The amount of insulation on everything and in the air makes me itch today. It was horrible. I lived 3 blocks from the center of the tornado's path (South Locust Street), and about 1/2 of our city block was gone. The 1000-yard tornado was a F4. I saw hay stuck in telephone poles and RV's up in trees. It looked like WW2. Total devestation. Clean-up was rough. We lost everything. I thought I'd still have my clothes but they had insulation in them. The Red Cross fed us sandwiches and soda for weeks. I now live in California and I don't miss worrying about Tornadoes one bit. My heart goes out to all the people who lost their homes.
My mom and her family grew up in Grand island and lived through this event. The things she tells me about it is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking, in fact I found out about this in my own before my mom ever said anything about it. I had to ask her about it to get her to talk about it, she was 8 years old
My grandparents lives in Wood River. It's 30 miles from wood river to Grand island. I do remember very well. I'm from California. My mother side parents are from Nebraska. I never forget
it’s pretty cool all the damage is all under the hill The only reason I know that because I live in Nebraska Omaha and my grandma lives in Grand Island ne
My parents' house was destroyed by an F3 that BARELY missed hitting the Nebraska Veterans Home directly. It grazed the western edge. Theres only one photo of the toenados and its during a lightning flash. The closest one is the one that hit my parents. There were seven that hit. It was a freak thunderstorm that's still studied to this day. I was born a little under a year later.
Sorry to hear about your parents’ house, hard to believe that’s 40 years ago now, but still remembered by many in the community, and a historic night studied to this day.
Hey didnt think youd comment here this is caleb lol. I think it must be hard and tramuatic for them to talk about this event. Id love to hear stories though
Yeah, it was uncle joe, i think we always to you that he helped with the cleanup, even now finding information like pictures and vhs tapes are hard because of the fact it happened at night.
@@SylveonSlays oh man itd be cool if you shared some with me. I know alot of atuff surrounding this is lsot media and its honestly sad. I can't imagine what a horryfing day it was
So, I gotta mention this. Both the book and the movie actually sparked my fascination with tornadoes. However, I've had two extremely close calls with tornadoes. One on May 31st, 1998 a day before my second birthday and one on May 7th 2016. The one that happened a day before my birthday actually did damage to a TV station in the town across from where I was living at the time. Its very rare to have Tornadoes in Upstate NY, but they do happen there's actually video on here of the tornado that hit Binghamton, NY. Take a look...
I can remember what happened yesterday we were doing class and about to leave the alarm went off and we had to go to the main building a lot of kids were crying and two tornadoes past Grand Island
Farmer's daughter is great, right next door Waves Pizza (which you shot in front of after :D ) has some of the best Pizza I have ever had. If you are ever back through, you should try their 'Lover's Point' Pizza. Various sausage toppings. It is fabulous. And it is a local business as well.
I'm from Nebraska the one thing u gotta know is the weather changes quickly. One night I was at my grandparents when I was a kid it just started hailing so bad. We didn't even know it was coming. I'm from Columbus u should visit there go eat at Picket Fence downtown it has chicken fried steak. I'm not a huge fan but my sister said it was good. I have experienced a tornado in north Platte 1 hour from Grand Island when my sister had a softball tournament I was 6 when this happened I was so scared.
Sounds like a plan, never been to Columbus NE! Yes severe weather can appear quick across the prairies, this spring/summer has been rather mild in the midwest.
It has been actually pretty nice this week it is in the 70s in the morning and like the 80s during the afternoon.Lawn Chairs on the square is on Thursday at 6:00pm central time at Frankfort square its in the middle of downtown. It features dance studios in the area u can visit if u want.
@@GetmeouttahereErik no rattlesnakes in this corner of the world...much more west towards wyoming and colorado...Garter snakes are the popular snakes around.
I used to live there in 1995 kids went sledding on that hill. We actually moved out that way to chase tornadoes and we seen quite a few actually. Too bad it's also the meth capital of the world hey that's where I lost my wife also she got caught up in the drugs so we had just separated and divorced.
You know. I’ve been all over Nebraska. Especially the southeastern part from Kearney to Omaha down to superior, rulo and falls city. I hate that state… lives there for 10 years and I can personally tell you that’s where people move when they want their dreams to die or they’ve become millionaires who either hate the mountains or want to be centrally located in the United States. Unfortunately, 97% of the people in that region have those mentalities to match. Sure there’s good people there. Sure it’s easy livin if you want to die early. The bigger cities do have good food. But once you hit the smaller towns….. good luck buddy. I literally had 1500 cows in my backyard but the local grocery store imported meat product from Texas and Oklahoma. I had to drive an hour and a half to get decent groceries of any kind. Needless to say, the people there are backwards. Stuck in a twisted mix of the 1800’s and today, everyone has a fucking staring problem, and grown men gossip like little girls… Side note: I laid the sod across the street from you near the tennis courts as well as a few dozen businesses along that stretch of hwy 30.
