I hope you don't mind a little diversion regarding my memories of toronados in Warren and Monticello. The 1949 tornado that hit Warren was devastating. As I recall, approximately 130 people were killed. Even though I was only about 5 years old, I remember my father, Herbert Lane, talking about the extent of the destruction he witnessed after touring the damaged areas. He was either still with the U.S. Public Health Service at the time or had just begun to serve as the local public health officer for the state, I'm not sure which. Nevertheless, he was called in to help with disease prevention and restoration of services. On one of his several trips to Warren during the few days after the storm, I traveled with him to see the damage. Even though I was very young, the vivid images of devastation are still clear in my mind. Obliterated houses, felled trees, a real mess. The storm touched down (I learned years later) in the southwestern part of town and then followed a path across the business district to the northeast...a classic tornado route. Apparently some sort of tornado alley exists in that spot, because another similar destructive toronado devastated Warren again in the 1960's, killing about 7 or 8 people. My father was again called in to help. I remember several tornados that touched down Monticello in the 50's and 60's, including one particularly bad one that occurred in the late 1950's about 7:00 on a Tuesday evening. Our home was on south Gabbert Street, and we stood in the backyard watching the dark green cloud approach. My parents were certain a tornado was approaching...of course there was no early warning weather report in those days. But you didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that one bad storm was approaching on that evening. Despite the oncoming storm, my Dad drove me to the scheduled scout meeting. Troop 67 (our Scoutmaster was Henry Lee Ross) was meeting in the basement of the "new" Presbyterian Church when it hit. The lightening and wind noise was so loud we could hardly hear each other talk. The "roar of a train" noise everyone always describes hearing during a tornado seemed to hover around forever, with flash lightening like I have never seen since. The wind was incredible. Our meeting was in the basement of the church, so we felt relatively safe. I think it took an hour or so for parents to get to the church after the storm to pick up their sons. We didn't know for sure how bad things were until we emerged and found trees blocking north main and completly covering the church yard. Also, most power lines were down. Monticello was fortunate due to its location, since the hills around the town apparently kept the toronado from dropping down on most homes, limiting the destruction. Therefore, the most damage was done to church steeples, including the new steeple of the First Baptist Church, which was completely blown off and was lying partially across Main. Clean-up took weeks to complete. I love Arkansas, but I certainly do not miss the uncertain weather and the constant prospects of bad storms and toronados. I read about the recent storms, and am amazed that tornados of this magnitude can strike in mid-winter. Shades of El Nino or gobal warming, no doubt. Anyway, I hope Drew County escaped harm. My best to all of you. >From ARDREW-L-request@rootsweb.com Fri Jan 22 12:34:07 1999 >Received: from [207.113.245.30] by hotmail.com (1.1) with SMTP id MHotMailB8722BBD202C6D101707ACF71F51E0E4F0; Fri Jan 22 12:34:07 1999 >Received: (from slist@localhost) > by bl-30.rootsweb.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA15342; > Fri, 22 Jan 1999 12:32:43 -0800 (PST) >Resent-Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 12:32:43 -0800 (PST) >X-Sender: tsaritsa@popd.best.ix.netcom.com >Message-Id: <v04003a07b2ce906027e9@[205.226.204.243]> >Mime-Version: 1.0 >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 12:36:09 -0800 >Old-To: ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com, ARBRADLE-L@rootsweb.com >From: Melissa Jones <tsaritsa@ix.netcom.com> >Subject: [ARDREW-L] Is everyone OK?? >Resent-Message-ID: <"qqxoPC.A.WvD.pBOq2"@bl-30.rootsweb.com> >To: ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com >Resent-From: ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com >X-Mailing-List: <ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/2439 >X-Loop: ARDREW-L@rootsweb.com >Precedence: list >Resent-Sender: ARDREW-L-request@rootsweb.com > >Hello, everyone, > >Yes, this is going to be an off-topic post/thread, so those of you who >aren't living in Arkansas at the moment, please be patient and delete if >you are not interested. > >Jann let me know last night that the tornadoes across the state were >horrible. I just got off the phone with my mom after making sure my family >(in De Queen and Arkadelphia) were OK. > >Since we on the list are all family, I want to know if everyone here is all >right as well!! Please let us know if your area of the state was damaged. > >And this is genealogy-related, if you think about it. Think about the 1949 >tornado in Warren that Jann has posted about. Yesterday's event (30+ >tornadoes in one night?!) will be one for the history books, and our >grandkids and great-grandkids will wonder what we were doing/thinking when >the storms hit. > >So, with an eye to the future, what will you tell them when they ask? > >Hoping everyone is safe, > >Melissa > > ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com