Photo by NWS – http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=april31974, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31906367
Hey Otterites!
April 3, 1974. For a Midwestern GenXer, a day likely burned into memory. The 1974 Super Outbreak saw F3, F4 and F5 tornadoes strike 13 states. Cities and towns like Brandenburg, KY, Louisville, KY and Xenia, OH were devastated.
Course for ol’ Martin, the Louisville storm was the one that is part of my psyche. Still remember running home from school in the rain, then hearing the sirens and hiding in our hallway.
WHAS AM 840 radio was the hero of the city that day, reporting continuously, with their traffic helicopter following the storm across Interstate 65. Power was out all over town, but as long as you had batteries, you had WHAS on your radio. They continued the coverage until the next day.
Crescent Hill, Northfield, Audubon were among the neighborhoods the tornado hit. Some 900 homes were destroyed and 3 people killed.
1974 of course wasn’t the last tornado outbreak the state has seen. Frightening and devastating, these types of storms make most of us feel helpless when they hit. Hide in the basement seems cold comfort.
Glad today’s technology helps predict and warn of these storms. I still keep plenty of batteries and radios around just in case, but cell phones and Internet service helps keep us informed. The sophisticated radar systems in use by today’s weather services and television stations can track storms down nearly to the block of the street.
Next time you hear the sirens Otterites, grab a flashlight and a radio, get to the basement and hunker down.
