It's a Twister! It's a Twister!
As coincidence would have it, The Wizard of Oz was on the boob tube in our home last night. Actually, there's no coincidence in that last statement. The coincidence is that twenty years ago today, my high school was hit by a tornado, and that TBS is coincidentally playing The Wizard of Oz to unwittingly celebrate the anniversary.A tornado hit the town of Topeka in 1966 and demolished much of downtown. The city installed citywide tornado alarms that are still tested every Monday at noon (unless there's a chance of tornado, in which case they cancel the test so no one gets confused).
By 1988, Topekans had gotten pretty relaxed again. Yes, we had our regular tornado drills at school, but mostly it was a chance to smoke or take advantage of a longer open lunch period.
On that day, between fifth and sixth hour, the sky was yellowish-green, a key indicator of tornado weather. I was walking with my scene partner, and we weren't remotely prepared to do our scene in class. I said, "Hey, maybe a tornado will hit, and we won't have to do it!"
About ten minutes into class, the power went out, the winds picked up severely, and a queen-sized mattress flew by the window, which isn't something you see every day. Then it was calm again, but the power stayed out.
A hall monitor came in, "That was a tornado; take your positions." We did. In this particular building, it meant lining up against the lockers.
No alarm ever went off (they were supposed to be on generator but weren't). We heard rumors of another tornado on the way, so we were all told to make our way to the library basement. When we got there, we were turned away: no room. So we went to the cafeteria basement: no room. By this point, the sun was out, and the danger clearly over. So I went to my car.
This particular tornado was a bouncer, and although it had skipped over my classroom, it demolished the front parking lot where, as fate would have it, all the teachers and poorer kids parked. Good times. There was minimal damage to the school - a few shattered windows and a couple of temporary trailer classrooms roofs were ripped off - and no injuries, miraculously.
Dude. That shit was 20 years ago. I'm fucking old.
posted by Dan G @ 9:54 AM
7 Comments
7 Comments:
I missed all of the excitement that day. I was home sick with the flu. Didn't your car sit in the parking lot with a powerline on it for days or something like that?
Here is a link about the 20th anniversary: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/top/?n=nov88tor
I was home sick, too. Didn't have the TV or radio on, so didn't know anything about it. A friend from Kansas City called, frantically asking if I was okay, and I said, "I'm fine. Just home with a cold."
To add to the coincidences, I just yesterday found that very friend on Facebook. I'll have to tell her. Thanks for reminding me.
Yeah, a kind fireman told me I couldn't touch my car because of the power line. So I left it. After a few days, I heard our license plate being read on the radio asking for the owner of an orange Chevette to get the car out of there so that the cleanup could commence. My dad was like, "They can wait."
dan, i had also had a chevy in high school. to my knowledge it never had any powerlines on it tho..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuybregts/3026841267/in/photostream/
They sent us to the gym. The one with the glass ceiling. (For those without tornadoes, glass implodes during a storm.) My car was the size of a postage stamp by the time we found it and Mark Megibow had to give me a ride home. Memories. Like the corners of my mind.
Didn't Matt Polly make a killing off Topeka West Twister tees?
I can't remember the kid's name, but it wasn't Matt. It was that kid whose dad owned a t-shirt silk-screening company. Convenient.
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