An homage to the 1975 Omaha Tornado.
On August 28, 1990 I went for a run in Joliet, Illinois. I’d blown into town only that week and was renting a duplex on a slab. Had run about 3 miles when the temp dropped 15 degrees in one minute, the skies turning aquamarine. I did a 180 and made haste back to the digs. Pelted by hail, winds and fear blowing me to unmeasured and unrecorded personal bests. Now a hard driving rain with less than a mile to go. I make it inside the saltine box structure, grab my two cats, and retreat to the only interior room of the house, a closet containing the water heater. AM radio statically announcing the twister had just passed over Plainfield HS, was tracking HWY 30, right outside my front door. Locomotive sounds immediately replaced by the sirens that would wail non-stop for the next 24 hours. F5 tornado, 29 killed, 353 injured.
Early August, 1980 I was renting a house on Galveston Bay. Beautiful rolling lawn down to the dock. Fishing and crabbing and swimming commanding much of my free time. Right next door to the popular hotspot, The Turtle Club. My brother Jim and I, young and transplanted from the cornfields of Central Illinois. Should I stay or should I go now? We decided to stay. Whitecaps breaking up against our sliding glass doors. Two trees crashed down onto the covered parking, pancaking Jim’s pick up. Another down on the roof, the limbs and debris just feet above our heads. The sailboat that decided to anchor and ride it out, its mast light bobbing wildly, now eerily absent completely, to be found later a mile inland, its deceased captain still lashed in. Then the eye and the only noise the downed power lines sparking and popping like a Chinese New Year. And the other side, just as angry as the first. The ride continued into the early morning hours. The next day, surreal. Hurricane Allen, category 5 with max winds at 190 mph. Killed 7 people in Texas and 17 in neighboring Louisiana.
Of note Hurricane Allen brought an end to the historic 1980 Texas Heat, which killed 107 Texans with an average June temperature reading of 96.3 degrees before two straight weeks of 100 plus including 3 at 104 degrees. July’s average was an eye popping 99.4.
I’ve seen the Worst of Our Good Mother, and the Best.
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