If you're over 40 or so, you don't have to be reminded of the significance of this date in local and national history. The afternoon of April 3, 1974 saw what was the biggest outbreak of tornadoes in recorded history. The tornadoes were not just numerous (148 of them), but many were also incredibly long-lasting and/or incredibly huge. Locally, massive damage occurred in places like Xenia and Saylor Park in Ohio; Louisville, and Brandenburg in Kentucky.

 

The storms cut across twelve states and effected countless thousands of people. I never saw any of the tornadoes, and was not directly harmed by them; however, like most people who lived through that day, I was deeply effected and lost some sense of security for many years afterward. Below is part of a story I wrote about my experience (as an 8-year-old) that day. It probably comes close to what most people in the region went through.

 

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On an unusually muggy Wednesday afternoon in April, my buddy Jeff and I were occupying our customary positions at the top of the driveway. Jeff lay on the sizzling concrete slope, staring at the oddly bulbous clouds looming overhead, while I did my usual thing on two wheels.

 

As the afternoon wore on, all of nature seemed to know what we could not. The sky turned a puke green and an unsettling stillness hung in the air – no breeze, no birds, and no dogs barking in the distance. It was like being stuck in a stifling elevator with the entire Tri-State Area.

 

The ominous silence was broken at once by the sickening drone of tornado sirens and barking of dogs. At first distant, their chorus was quickly joined by a wailing, baritone siren, so close that it nearly hurt the ears. Jeff and I rushed inside to find my parents huddled at the kitchen table. My father deftly manipulated the long antenna of a cereal box-sized, Magnavox "portable" radio. My mother was tearing through drawers like a bandit in search of flashlights, matches, and kerosene.

 

“Where is that kerosene bottle? Where did you put the matches?" She yelled.

 

"We need to head for the basement,” my father ordered, trying to sound calm, cool and not scared to death. “Jeff, you need to go on home...now!”

 

My mother continued rooting through the closets for crucial supplies as my father took me out and down our steep side yard. Once in the basement, we found my brother, and three boys from down the street. We had the only basement in town with a ten-foot ceiling and they’d been shooting baskets. The boys were told to call home – they were going to have to stay put.

 

The radio voices frantically reported sighting after sighting of mammoth tornadoes. They were everywhere, and devastation was already reported just across the river. As we peaked out the large, paneled-glass window that was our only view on the world, the clouds were swirling and the trees began to sway. My mother descended the basement steps with arms full of various illumination equipment and supplies.

 

She stopped.

 

Suddenly we all realized that my fourteen-year-old brother was nowhere to be found. A frantic search of the house disclosed that, not only was he gone, but so was his mini-bike. This discovery meant he was out dirt-biking in the nearby woods. Cell phones didn’t exist; so if you wanted the kids, you went out front and screamed your head off.

 

So my father went out front and screamed his head off...to no avail. On the radio, a tornado is spotted in our county.

 

There’s no way to warn my brother!

 

The lights blink...they blink again...then darkness. The seven of us huddle around a kerosene lamp and take turns feigning courage.

 

We escaped the April 3rd tornado outbreak without so much as a broken window. But on that single day, 315 people were killed, and more than 5,000 were injured across the Midwest.

 

Oh, and my brother was just fine – oblivious to it all; however, although it’s been thirty-five years now, I believe he is (technically) still grounded.

I'll never forget. It's my sister's birthday today.

I'll never forget. It's my sister's birthday today.

Wow! Were you all near any of them down there?

Wow! Were you all near any of them down there?

 

 

Yep. Being the genius children we were, with the parents-of-the-year parents, we all stood on the front porch and watched them in the distance. :lol:

OK, where did I go wrong with my math? Who were the 7? I counted you, and your parents, your brother's 3 friends? Who was the 7th person?

OK, where did I go wrong with my math? Who were the 7? I counted you, and your parents, your brother's 3 friends? Who was the 7th person?

My brother was there too. I have two older brothers. One was with us, and the other was down in the woods on his mini-bike. Sorry about that; it made a little more sense before I removed all the names from the story.

Yep. Being the genius children we were, with the parents-of-the-year parents, we all stood on the front porch and watched them in the distance. :lol:

Cool! Dangerous...but still cool.

 

The people down the street from us could see the ones that hit Sayler Park, from their third floor window. I didn't see my first tornado until last fall, down in Panama City.

I was living in Missouri at the time. Our town took a direct hit. I remember the sirens going off and the teachers putting all the students out in the hallway. We were told to put our heads down between our legs, and stay down. Everything got dark and quiet then we heard a tremendous roaring sound. I could hear the glass being blown out of all the classrooms. My little sister was across town in a brand new elementary school, (the roof was blown off of it!) Luckily, the only injuries were some cuts from broken glass and one of the teachers with a heart problem had to go to the hospital.

 

After mom came and got us, we stayed in the basement of a friends house for several days. Our house was shifted off of its' foundation and the trailer park across the street was practically wiped out. The National Guard came out and helped protect the town from looters. Noone could enter the town without showing proof of residency. I have never been as terrified as I was that day, or even the next few days, as we lived in that basement.

That day nearly scarred me for life. I was nearly 8 years old and it was the first time I had seen my parents nervous or scared. The local police were driving all over town broadcasting the warnings etc.. over loudspeakers. I remember sleeping downstairs that evening, and my mother becoming angry with my father for going on upstairs to bed. Very scary day for a youngster.

I was just a young-un of not quite 4 years old, but I recall huddling in the bathroom at my grandmother's house in Madison, Indiana when it happened. Madison's hilltop was hit pretty hard. Shawe HS, where my dad and all his siblings attended, had its roof ripped off, and several newly-constructed subdivisions on top of the hill were leveled.

I was a sophomore in high school in Murray,Ky on this date. I remember it well. My wife and I were talking about it this morning. She was living in Richmond. She said Madison County was hit hard.

I was 7 and I don't remember anything about this event. I never knew it happened until many years later, probably the 10th anniversary, when I saw something on the national news about it. It must have been horrible. I've never seen a tornado, but stories like this scare me so bad I don't think I could live in the midwest.

 

We don't get tornadoes in EKY.

 

We had a whopper of a flood on April 4, 1977 though.

At the time I was working for a contractor at the Dow-Corning plant in Carrollton Ky . We stood outside our fab shop and watched a storm roar up the Indiana side of the river . Now because everyone that worked for us either lived in Louisville or the Cincinnati area we decided to leave work early and get home as fast as possible . We drove up I-71 instead of US 42 because of the existence of the overpasses in case we needed to get shelter .

I got home ok and went to my fiancees' ( wife's ) house to make sure she was ok and then went to my parents house to check on them after asking her to get in her basement . I later learned that she had fallen asleep on her bed and slept through most of the exctiement . Sheesh !!

I was about 10 and it was a scary time being in the basement....

My dad was in Frankfort at a business meeting. He said all the power went out in their building and he and another man carried a 9 months pregnant woman down several flights of stairs to the basement.

 

I was an 18 month old at home with my mom alone in our double-wide trailer. My mom was absolutely terrified and thought she and I were both going to die. I think a tornado touched down in the Livingston area of Rockcastle County, about 15 miles away. Anyway, when my parents built our new house a few years later, my mom insisted on a fully underground cinder block storm shelter off our basement. Thank God it has never had to be used. She says she will never forget the terror of that night.