This Tornado Tore Through the Downtown of A Midwest City
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I spent three days photographing damage for Howard Wolpe… The statue of St Augustine was set upright next to the pedestal, but the head was gone… it was later found in the woods in Galesburg… By the time it hit downtown, it had split into three tornadoes…
I wasn’t alive at the time but my grandfather was at Stewart & Clark – now Stewart & Co furniture. and survived under his desk. Im unsure exactly if it hit the building or not because its a more distant relative that owns it now and my grandfather is no longer alive
I was at the Sec of State's office on Stockbridge when the sirens went off. I traveled east on Lake St. all while the tornado was tearing up Kazoo. I really was driving paralell to the thing down Lake St. past the fair grounds up to Sprinkle Rd. My wife worked at Bowers Mfg just past Sprinkle. It was at this point the tornado lifted. I went over to Bowers to check if wife was ok and saw the roof of the building had been lifted and then sat back down. I went inside and everybody was walking around in a daze. Richard's Plumbing next door was missing the front of their building. I drove up to Riverside cemetery where there's a good view of downtown Kazoo and saw the ISB building was missing all its windows. There's a video on YT taken from The Sound Room just as the tornado was about to hit downtown. It was quite a day and I'll never forget it. The tornado that hit Portage on May 7 just missed my apt by about a half mile.
I was in 5th grade in Coldwater. My teacher came in the next morning telling us how she was in K-Zoo when it came through the night before. She was racing home east on I-94 to beat it and she said she could see it in her rear view mirror jumping all over behind her on the highway.
Why do I really want to hear that guy sing "what a wonderful world"
Thanks again for some great insight to your part of the world.
I ‘twas just a wee boy when the tornado hit Kalamazoo.
I was a 8th grade student @ St Augustine on that day. I don't remember getting sent home early that day. i don't think we were, in fact I was supposed to meet my girlfriend on the top floor of the parking ramp you were on but she couldn't make it for some reason. Probably saved our lives since cars where blown off that ramp. I watched tornado from our backyard on Woodward. Yes I was outside watching it as it traveled down West Main. Great video!
I’m always intrigued by the research you do. It’s impressive. I’ve been moving this week to a different house so it was nice just to relax tonight and catch up with you guys. May the wind be at your back but not too strong of wind
So this is nothing about the kne from last night? Noted
I was born, raised, and still live in Kalamazoo. This tornado happened 2.5 years before I was born. The man who died in Bronson Park was apparently a friend of my dad. I still have an original copy of the paper from the day after. I’ve been transfixed by tornadoes since I was 10. Seeing the old videos of the Kalamazoo tornado from 1980, and shoot, living through the warnings and seeing the videos from Portage on May 7 this year, it’s just an amazing, awe-inspiring thing.
I lived in the Kalamazoo area in 1980. Worked night shift at the Sheraton Hotel on the southeast side. Lived north of Vicksburg, where we only got a little rain from that storm. But yea, the green sky you mentioned was a very real thing. I somehow managed to get past the police security lines the following morning, and the near silence in what's usually a bustling downtown was overwhelming. The only sounds were an alarm going off somewhere, and the occasional sound of someone chinking glass out of a broken window.
One thing that was quite strange was the path the storm took through the West Main neighborhood. It hit almost every church in the neighborhood, zigzaging through the neighborhood.
A couple small corrections: the laundromat is on the top of West Main Hill. It was rebuilt and was still there when I moved away in 04. The ladies that died at Gilmore's were on the skywalk to the parking lot. If it would have hit even 5 minutes earlier, that skywalk would have had hundreds of people on it.
The guy that died on the east side was filling a gasoline tanker at a fuel depot near the intersection of Sprinkle Road and the I-94 Business Loop. He got picked up and tossed off the top of his tank. The storm continued east along Michigan Avenue, doing some damage in Galesburg and fairly significant damage in Augusta before dissipating near Ft. Custer Industrial Park in Battle Creek.
One of the more interesting stories is how the initial warning came about. There was a technician working on a radio station's transmitter on the ridge along Ravine Road west of town and he saw the tornado coming. He pulled the plug on the feed from the radio station, plugged in a microphone and broadcast a warning. A deputy heard it on his AM radio while patrolling and called the dispatcher on his 2-way. She set off the sirens, and that probably saved a bunch of lives.
I appreciate your channel. Miss Michigan a whole bunch.
I was a kid living in nearby Paw Paw when this happened.
0:27 That man sounds just like Louis Armstrong,,lol
I was in the federal building doing a report for government class remember it well
I enjoy your stories very much – you two are really good 🙂
In July of 1980, the "Green Storm" hit southeastern Michigan. It was a derecho. As Kalamazoo was rebuilding, we faced another significant weather event in Michigan.
My Cousin's wife is from Port Huron. They had a tornado go down the street her family lived on. It picked up her Uncle's car and set it down on top of a bridge iron works. I don't know how they got it down from there. She claims there is a picture that exists showing the car on top of the bridge.I would love to see that picture
❤
I remember when this tornado went through. It was right at the height of the IHL hockey playoffs, (which the K-Wings won!) and I know other communities in the area sent supplies to Kalamazoo.
I remember it well. Living in St. Joe. Was in Kazoo week before and week after. Night and day total devastation. Amazing amount of trees & debris on all roads. Could hardly drive through the area. It just followed along M43 from West to East. Tore up farmhouses and barns along the way.
You two are wonderful story tellers!! Thanks for sharing 😊
What about the 1953 Flint tornado? I was 6. My dad took us from Detroit to see the damage. 116 dead. Would like to see you talk about it.
I remember this tornado very well, I was able to pee into that tornado and mark over a mile of land in seconds. Yes my parents were proud of me & no male crossed my boundries.
I attended Howell High School whose current building was under construction from 1978-1981 and the architect was based in Kalamazoo. Supposedly the tornado damaged the architect's office and destroyed the original plans and records halfway through construction and they had to recreate them from the bid plans that were floating around in order to finish it. The auditorium was delayed almost 2 years. It was a huge setback for the architect who never really fully recovered, work was already drying up due to a recession. Coincidentally, the new $26M building (which was said to be the most expensive high school built in the state at that time) was built so well that they didn't even make us go downstairs or leave the classroom during tornadoes, I guess it could survive a twister. Not a lot of windows. Really nice building though, I was lucky to go there. In 2001 I was nearly caught up in a twister in Hartland while driving. Last year a big one hit near Williamston and you can see the damage from I-96 near miles 119-117 where it followed the freeway. 150-year-old trees were sucked clean out of the ground and sent hundreds of yards away. Any tree that didn't get sucked up completely had all of its leaves stripped bare. Took out several houses but left ones right next door completely fine. It's incredible to see.
One more tale to add to Kalamazoo's Checker-ed past. It's been quite a Marathon through the city's history.
Another great video Poppin and Chuck.
I was a student photojournalist for the Michigan State University daily newspaper, and travelled to Kalamazoo the next morning to document the devastation.
My wife (who I wouldn’t meet until 1994) was working at downtown Bronson Hospital and watched the tornado approach from the west.
Coincidentally, I moved to Kalamazoo 10 years later, and still call it home.
A terrible tragedy for the city, especially those who lost their lives.
I was downtown Kazoo a 1/2 hour before it hit. Thankfully, I was in Parchment when it hit but was caught in a hail storm that was rapidly traveling toward the vortex and took refuge in a neighbors garage.
The Kalamazoo tornado in 1980 was filmed as it came toward downtown by Ted Ruble, an employee of a store called The Sound Room on the corner of W. Main and Westnedge with a newfangled device called a camcorder that he took off the shelf. His footage of the tornado approaching is considered the very first amateur weather footage of its kind. He wandered around downtown and filmed the aftermath minutes after the funnel had passed. Its fascinating to watch. Especially as a local. Here's a link for anyone who wants to watch it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYRGQa7mRus
Red Cross volunteer here. We're here for you 24-7-365. Tornados are not to be taken lightly. I was shocked to see the recent damage in Wellington Florida. My late parents had a home near there. A trash compactor landed on top of a home. Scary stuff.
Hi Poppin&Chuck another great video 😊
"They were in a bit of a daze, I think". Talk about an understatement! More like completely gobsmacked, undoubtedly suffering from severe shock. Remember, this was long before devastating catastrophes became the norm as they are today.
You should check out the history of the 1953 Flint tornado.