Great footage! This tornado lifted just a few miles West of our house near Bonner Springs. Hard to explain the feeling knowing that thing was headed directly at you.
This past about 1 1/2 miles to my south in SE Lawrence. I don't think I've heard anything more powerful in my life. At the time I was trying to anchor myself to some plumbing hoping it would miss. Got lucky, this is a populated neighborhood in which only some of the houses have basements. Why basements and/or storm shelters aren't mandatory here I don't know.
I will never forget this day. I remember being at my home in Leavenworth when the tornado sirens suddenly went off. I went inside to grab my stuff, but once I came outside, I could hear the roar of the tornado. It was headed straight for my town. Eventually, it shifted course and headed east, but I also have respect for all of the families who were impacted by the tornado.
I used to live in Lawrence and when this tornado touched down I was out of town the house I was living in for a while was in the direct damage path but similarly to you it shifted and missed although some of my friends were not as lucky some just had minor roof damage while one had their house absolutely destroyed luckily that house was being renovated at the time so no one was there
This was terrifying... my parents lived less than a mile south of Linwood when this happened. I was on the West Coast at the time -- I saw alerts and heard news of a tornado touchdown south of Lawrence. In that moment, I didn't know how bad it was yet nor its exact location, but based on its touchdown point and its forecasted trajectory, I knew my folks could have been directly in its path. I remember frantically calling them and the rest of my family to help warn everyone. My mom finally called me back and told me they were outside cutting asparagus in their garden. They had been watching the storm clouds develop for a while -- the eerie look of the sky definitely unnerved them. Worriedly, I told them what was going on and she was shocked because they had no idea. Right around then, a family friend who lived in Linwood drove up. She told them to get into their basement immediately and asked to join (she couldn't beat the storm home). They all went to the basement about 10 minutes before the tornado hit west Linwood. Of course, from my parents' vantage point, they couldn't see the approaching monstrosity -- their property was surrounded by tall trees. They couldn't hear any sirens due to the direction of the wind. Thank God the tornado didn't actually hit them. I'm also incredibly grateful that there were no fatalities. The areas hit still haven't fully recovered, but they're healing. It could've been so much worse. If it weren't for the amazing local news teams and storm spotters, I don't think everyone would've been as lucky.
Thank you for sharing! Myself and many others truly appreciate individual stories because they humanize these tragic events. I'm glad your parents (and everyone else) was ok! I could just imagine them in their garden having no idea...such a creepy, eerie image but all too common during these storms.
I remember that day. I was trying to leave Lawrence before it hit and didn’t make it out before the sirens sounded and was told to take cover. That was my first experience with a tornado.
May 28th. It came right across my property. It was the 28th I'll never fully get over that day. Seeing what we had worked so hard for just eaten up. Everything so ugly then was lush and green again in spring of 2020. Now with winter here and the greenery gone away, you can see the scarred landscape once more. Gigantic trees still lay across our fences, too large to cut away with normal chainsaws. My shed is still 7 feet up on the root ball of one of those trees, that although is now horizontal to the ground lives on. A tree so big we now have a reading/coffee area on the trunk. A bridge from our deck to get there. Maybe I will eventually get used to the changes, but it will never be my paradise again.
Thank you this is actually one of the better vids of this. I remember that was the scariest tornado ever, i was never in danger i live in leavenworth about 9 miles from it but it was on a direct path to my twin brother's apartment in kansas city, ks and i kept freakin out tellin him get in his basement and tried to stay on the phone with him but it basically did the passover and began cycling again passing over all of kansas city and not touching down till it was over the other side of the city. You could hear that thing from where i was too, scariest fucking sound like very fast and intense thunder that never stopped for one second.
I had just moved into DeSoto from Michigan two weeks before this happened and didn't have house insurance yet (imagine my surprise seeing you drive on Penner and hearing the DeSoto siren!), and I still think it's absolutely wild that it missed DeSoto completely. That was a really great welcome to Kansas.
I spent half of my childhood in Linwood. Several life long friends lost their homes. So many are still trying to rebuild. The devastation that tornado caused is shocking. Our little town will recover but no one really knows how many years that will take.
I know how you feel! I was there for it too, my family and I were outside and my brother goes "guys, look up" and right up above us was the main inflow band. It was crazy to see that close in person. Although the actual tornado was about 2.5 miles from our house.
Dang! It’s been almost 3 years since this happened! I remember coming home from work and basically being either right next to it before it went back up right below the Legends Outlet. My brother and his friends were storm chasing it and I was playing a game until I thought I heard the nearby freight train until realizing it no way a freight train can last that long with a rumbling noise.
while I lived in Lawrence at the time I was visiting family I walked into the living room and saw on the news what was happening never before had I ever felt so terrified for other people, because I knew many of them were in its path it did shift tho lucky for me not so much for others and my heart goes out to all who were affected
By the time this reached Kansas City, it jumped across KCK near Legends (a bit north of). My wife and I are about 7 miles south of that, in Shawnee, and knowing we were safe it was haunting to still hear the jet engine roar over our TV from that far away.
I had spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Bonner Springs the night before this tornado. I had asked the person who checked me in if they got any tornados around there and the person told me that the way the weather outside was (hot and humid) is what causes them. I watched the local news that night before going to bed and the weather report said that there was a good possibility for tornados the next day. I left around 10am that morning and told the girl at the counter to be careful as they were calling for tornados and she replied that she had not known that. I drove through Lawrence on my way down to Dodge City and as I was sitting down to dinner that night, I saw that there had been a large tornado that went past Lawrence and came near Bonner Springs. I could not believe that I had just been talking about tornados with the staff and had just missed one by a few hours.
Oh my god reliving that nightmare I live in ks city no I remember that evening i heard sirens and looked out the window and saw it right on top of us I took shelter thankfully was not hit but a lot of my city was
This is crazy, I knew exactly where you guys where the whole time. I remember this area like the back of my hand. I moved away a few years ago, so this was shocking news hearing of a tornado this big near my home town.
i rememeber being on my basement, while i were hearing like 7 trains happening outside, after that sound i saw the tornado that almost destroy my house, i saw a car getting lifted and threw like idk, 100 or probably 300 meters. the damage to my house were not that bad cuz the tornado missed it when it just go to a park that just were almost gone, my house did have an roof gone, some walls collapsed and the floor were broken, i saw only ONE tree threw in a car with an sign of highway saying "STOP".
Now imagine leading four tour vans around inside that, looking for a tornado, on a day rated as being tornadic, with the storm already flagged as tornadic over ten minutes earlier.
Thank you. Been doing this a long time and try not to let my adrenaline over power my message. It's critical to keep your cool when making very fast and critical life or death choices when chasing.
I’m from Overbrook where it touched down but was in Texas when this happened years later I worked at the greenhouse that was demolished. Massive Multi million dollar greenhouse was basically completely leveled. There was one guy working at the time who had to run the length of the greenhouse and grasp a tractor to not get taken up
I had my dogs and my husband in the shelter in Wellsville. My good friend lived in Lawrence. I was calling her with no answer. Scared the living daylights out of me. Listening to NOAA weather radio, watching radar, etc. Scared me to death. She was okay but two blocks down was not.
@@goof4i Same here. I look at a video of a tornado during the day I think, "Whoa, that's fascinating.. I hope nobody got hurt." I look at a video of a tornado at night I'm scared as sh-
hate the fact Kansas now do this stupid crap with the siren going off and on which in my view is bad. It needs to continue to wail until an all-clear is given. A lot of people here in the past for example the May 11th tornado, they kept thinking the danger had passed due to them going off then coming back on 4 min later. That window of false security is going to get someone killed
I remember that day, my daughter and I were at the cemetary, and we turned on the radio in the car. The next day the headlines in the paper showed a mile wide tornado.
I remember this tornado and yes I do live in Lawrence Kansas but the funny thing that cracked me up is the fact that after I realized when I was recording all of this on my Canon g7x the sirens keep going on and off and I didn't even notice
I work on campus in the Burge Union on the KU campus and I went to work for shelter. I just got to my job and pulled my car into the loading dock . About 4 minutes later you could see the tornado pass to the south of Lawrence about a mile south of the super Walmart.
I'm still dealing with so much damage from this tornado. Everyone says there is help to recover. That's BS. Still no heat and structure damage to my home.
I was not there at the time but I passed through through the damage a about week after cleanup started and houses were leveled and power lines and trees were everywhere and you could see exactly where it went. Scary stuff.
A family friend had their home hit in south lawrence. We almost got hit. We could feel the tornado coming. It was scary. I went the next day to help clean up the family friends yeard. It was devastating. They were also out of town at the time.
I was in Olathe at the time working at my grocery store. We were prepping the back room so we could shelter customers in our coolers and freezers but luckily it didn't come to that as the tornado went northeast as opposed to east. Miraculous that it happened to travel between major population centers.
I REMEMBER THIS DAY I WAS GOING TO THE BONNER SPRINGS YMCA TO DO SOME WEIGHT LIFTING AND I REMEMBER NOT BEING THERE VERY LONG WHEN THE YMCA STAFF MEMBER SIGNAL ME TO COME UP FRONT AND SAID THAT THE BONNER SPRINGS CITY HALL SAID THAT THE TIBLOW WAS ON ITS WAY TO PICK ME UP BECAUSE THE WEATHER WAS GETTING VERY BAD AND VERY DANGEROUS.
Very reminiscent (viewing wise) of the El Reno footage that I have seen. Every time I think I’ve seen them all, another one shows up on my RU-vid feed. Fascinating tornado!
Well I don't remember this but my cousin lives in Lawrence but they never talked about this. I don't know if it didn't hit them. I live in Olathe and remember looking out the wind like 3 years ago when the sirans went off and seeing a big blob in the clouds far off. I also remember when I was visiting my cousins recently there were always trees down and this highway and other roads that haven't grown back for 2 years. My mom always said tornados never hit Olathe they always hit Lawrence. I hope everone is safe and has recovered from it. At 6:11 OMG THAT WAS WERE I DROVE PAST AND SAY THE TREES DAMAGED ON THE LEFT!
Thats the most dangerous part of it. Most people would have no idea that winds nearly 200mph a mile wide is in there and will drive right into it. This happens way more than you would think. ALWAYS heed warnings and never trust just your untrained sight.
when it was happening it was my first day on my fishing trip in Minnesota with my uncle and his friend when i heard from my uncle when it was happening i was shocked and scared to death BC my family was involved in it my grandpa lost one of his trees and my sister said they saw a cat that was running and then got stuck in the fence then hit a log then died
Wrong. TONS of proof of a rain wrapped tornado, radar confirmation of tornadic debris, visual confirmations, and NWS damage survey confirmation. Hard to imagine one so big but it is in fact a massive tornado.
