I was 9 years old when this happened. I live in a little town 10 minutes north of Wichita Falls and I remember we (my 3 sisters) had asked my Mom if we could go to Kmart. (They had wonderful sub sandwiches). My Mom had said she didn't like the way the clouds looked so told us no. Thank goodness because if we had gone, we would have been smack dab in the middle of it. Kmart was on Southwest Parkway which was in the direct path of the tornado. Later on that evening, my Grandparents and Aunt (who is 2 yrs older than I am) came to our house. They had been in JC Penney's (Dillards is shown in the video - JC Penney was on the opposite side of the mall) when the tornado was approaching. Back then the mall had some areas where you could gather, sit and visit. I remember hearing my Gpa tell the story of how he put my Gma and Aunt under the bench and he laid on top. He looked up to the ceiling and said it looked like the Mall was "breathing". My Aunt had PTSD for quite a few years afterwards. Every time it would rain and thunder, she would get hysterical and cry and cry. I've never seen fear in someone's face and eyes like I seen that day. It was so sad to hear all the stories about the young ones who were killed. A lot of them did what they were supposed to do and still lost their lives. I remember my parents taking us to Wichita about a month later and seeing the devastation was unreal.
I’m sorry I’m getting to this comment late, but thank you so much for sharing this. I imagine this is such a vivid memory for you, the way you’ve described it in such mesmerizing detail. Your mom, like a lot of other people in the Plains have this sixth sense for storms I feel- and she was so smart for listening to it. I can’t begin to imagine the kind of trauma your grandparents, aunt, and family went through, this tornado was horrifying. Thinking of you all this evening, and thank you for sharing ❤️
I was 12 when it hit. We lived in Southern WF not far from the mall and MSU, our house was damaged and many homes were leveled. There are too many memories. One was our cat rode out the storm outside. He survived miraculously to have many more years.
I am a survivor of the Wichita Falls tornado. I was two years old. My grandfather packed me, my grandmother, and my mom up in the car and tried to flee the tornado. We lived in faith village. As he pulled out of the drive way we made it to the end of the street and were picked up and thrown several blocks before coming to a stop. My grandfather was killed but the rest of us survived with minor injuries. My grandfather's name was J.B. Swindle.
That lady that lost her legs is badass. She survived that tornado while outside, and assuming that interview wasn't super long after it, she was already using her prosthetic legs. Most people wouldn't survive a hit like that from the inside of a building, let alone outside. DAAAAANG
I remember this day so vividly, like it was yesterday. April 10, 1979. 6:04 pm. It was a nice, warm day. We were on Spring break from school. I asked my dad if I could ride my bike to a friend’s house, he said no, I needed to stick close by him and to help him untangle some fishing lines in the trunk of his beat up fishing car. So we did that for a bit, while talking. I noticed he kept looking up at the sky, but I was 14....what did I know? I did pick up that he was acting unusual though. All of a sudden he slammed the trunk down hard on his precious fishing poles and told me to go in the house and get my mother and little brother. This is where I’m glad that I did not pick up that slug to play with. Both my mom and little brother was in the house. We had just finished supper. My mom was folding laundry and my little brother was hanging out. I told him that Daddy wanted them outside NOW. I didn’t know what for, I was just the messenger. My mom corrals my brother and they run outside, my mom still carrying a sock from the laundry. While I was inside getting my mom and brother, my dad had walked across the street to get the older couple to come with us, they said no, they would be fine. Daddy tells us all to get in the car......his beat up fishing car. My mom’s brand new, fresh off the car dealership the month before car was blocked in by his old car, so we took that. Daddy decided that we were going to outrun the tornado. In his experience, he knew the path that tornadoes normally travel, so he knew that we would take a direct hit. We are driving out of the subdivision and come to the first main light to get on a main artery out of town. People are stopping at red lights!!! Daddy was cussing his colorful language at them. My mom is hysterical, crying and my little brother is just plain scared. My parents knew we could die any moment. Daddy was asking me what I saw out the back window. I remember telling him that I see a refrigerator turning and black clouds churning. That made him cuss and yell more and my mom more hysterical. It was gaining on us and they both knew it. It was a mile wide at the base, so it was huge. Finally, we broke free from all the traffic and Daddy was an electrician, so he took us to one of his sub-stations on the outskirts of town. We all watched it pass and eventually move off for 46 miles. They had phones inside the sub-station, so Daddy tried to call his office, but the phones were down, naturally. The only thing we could do is drive as far in as we could, before the rubble started. Once that started, we had to walk back into town. That was a pretty good long walk. We finally made it to what we thought was our subdivision street. We searched for a while and my mom spotted a piece of the wallpaper to our kitchen, so we knew we were in the right place. Our house was demolished. We lost 95% of our stuff. You will never believe what did survive, my Parakeet , Peevy. Once we walked to our house, my Daddy told us to stand back while he walked through our rubble. He walks out carrying Peevy in his cage!!!!! He was alive and still in his cage!!! Daddy said “If this damn bird could talk.....!” when he walked out with Peevy. Our across the street neighbor was decapitated with a board, trying to leave at the last minute. They decided to outrun the tornado and it gained on them. They were on their walkway and he threw his body over his wife’s. She lived. So our parents protected us from that all night. My father pulled some lumber from the pile that was our house and built a fire on the curb for us throughout the night, so we could protect our 5% of stuff that we still had, from looters. Red Cross came shortly after. We made it through and we all know that we wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for my father’s quick thinking. And I really wanted to play with that slug, I’m so glad that I didn’t.
One of the most impactful vivid stories, I've ever read. You are truly a real storyteller and excellent writer. Thank you for sharing this, and many blessings🙏🎶💚
Thank you for this film. I was a 27 year old married man who lived through this storm. I went to get my wife’s grandmother and bring her to our home. I will never forget when I brought her out of her apartment seeing the black wall in front of us and cars, even semi- trucks hundreds of feet in the sky whirling and disappearing agin into the blackness of this wall so big that no sides or edges of it could be seen. It was the most horrible roaring sound I had ever heard. We made to our home and the 3 of us strayed under a mattress in the middle of the homes interior hall. I peeked out from the edge of the mattress to see a bit of one of the kitchen windows in the front of the house. We had a large multiple trunk trees in front or that window and in less than a second those large trees wrapped around each other alike you would ring out a mop. It just as quickly disappeared as they were ripped out of the ground as one mass. We were some of the lucky ones. Our home was damaged but not destroyed. Afterwards I drove only a little way as the debris filled the roadways. I walked the rest of the down past where my wife’s grandmother had lived to the next street where her brother lived. I could not find his house because it was all so destroyed it was not possible to even know where one house was or the next began as it was only flattened rubble. When I finally recognized some of there belongings I found one of there cars in what had been their garages. I began to scram their names and try to look under blown down walls. I saw movement under a wall that had been their living room. The wall was laying over the broken back of a couch and a metal coffee table. The movement was their dog which i gathered up and took top our house. The dog lived for only one more day.
I was 6 years old. I will never forget how black the sky was. A lot of people tried to get away in their cars. That's where a lot of the deaths came from.
Was home with my Mom in Wichita Falls when this happened. She first tried to outrun the storm but quickly realized that was a bad idea and we went inside a grocery store basically right behind that bank vault in the video and hid in a meat locker while it passed. Probably about the best shelter place to hope for in our situation as we made it though fine and it's hard to believe we would have been in the home that was completely destroyed. He never really talked about it, but I can't imagine what my Dad was going through rushing home from work 30 miles out of town and seeing the devastation and wondering if he had a family left. We were lucky enough to have family in a part of town that wasn't hit to stay with and afterwards lived for a year in a FEMA trailers while my Dad and Granddad rebuilt our home.
I moved to the US and the Texas Panhandle in 1980 and went to school with a girl who had moved from Wichita Falls after the tornado. She was still deeply traumatised, and me, having arrived from a place where there had been no recorded tornadoes truly could not understand the magnitude of the storm or what she had seen and endured until much, much later in life thanks to channels like yours. What she described, her reason for not wanting to stay in Witchita Falls really hits home today.
I was born in Wichita Falls in 1981 and I always remembered seeing concrete slabs in Faith Village and wondering as a kid why there was a slab, but no house. My dad was 20 years old when the tornado came through and told me when it crossed Midwestern parkway, he was close enough to see cars being thrown around like toys.
I was12 years old. We were (luckily) out of school on spring break. Tornadoes seemed to spawn bizarre things like a 2x4 lumber through a steel tire rim. The walls that had gravel embedded in them. The next day the sky was so orange. The "City That Faith Built" was a rallying cry. Neighbor helped neighbor and it's the reason I love living here even today.
My dad worked for a company called Diebold and had to travel out to try and get people out of the time-locked vault at Southwest Savings and Loan on Southwest Parkway. The vault was the only thing left standing.
18 years old and running from it in a 64 chevy. Going east on Midwestern pkway watching destruction behind me from Sikes Center for several miles. Wichita Falls then became known as the city that Faith built. Still live here. Thanks...
I was a little older and we ran from it in a Honda Accord, not a '64 Chevy. We found shelter in a church right across from WFHS that offered access to their basement. About 2 miles away from the actual funnel at that point but you could (somewhat) see and most definitely hear what it was doing. We drove to the Faith Village area afterward and there was nothing even remotely recognizable. Block after block after block of what looked like bombed out WW2 Germany.
@@geoffoakland I was....sitting in biology class at Wichita Falls High School. My Dad was commander of the local Civil Air Patrol; we were in the air immediately in his Cessna 310 and I remember him giving aerial reports to the people on the ground. Not nearly as wide and long lasting as the one in 1979, it was still a legitimate F5. I also rode out the one in 1959 that nearly took out our house.
They ever rebuild the Jr high school that was flattened there? I think it was named McNeil. They were supposed to have the Easter Great Passion play that evening, but the weather caused the event to be canceled
I was 14 years old and we were having a family get together when this happened and all 13 of us huddled in the bath room with the smaller kids in the bath tub and that was the only room left standing. We rebuilt and my parents still live there today but with a storm cellar.
The Terrible Tuesday documentary was the scariest tornado documentary I've seen so far. The only problem with it is they kept showing the Wichita Falls tornado even during what was supposed to be the Vernon tornado. I'm fascinated by tornadoes so I love your channel. Your cat ear headphones are awesome.
I was in Wichita Falls for a couple of months for training at Sheppard AFB. The story of Terrible Tuesday is still used for the weather safety briefs when you first arrive, and if I'm being honest, it was a bit hair raising when Sikes Center was mentioned as being one of the most devastated areas. I've visited that mall and would have never known given how well it was rebuilt/renovated in 43 years... Thanks for the docu-video.
How deep, dark, and ominous at 13:47 and 17:18. PTSD is normal after these experiences. Thank you, Carly for your support of mental health issues after tornado trauma.
My mom didn’t cry about the damage to the home until the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma and East Oklahoma City. She didn’t realize she was keeping her grief bottled up.
Thank you for covering this! The Witchita Falls tornado 🌪️ put the extreme fear of tornado activity in my soul. I was very little but we drove through Witchita Falls to attend a funeral of a family member who died in it. Actually had a heart attack because of it. I remember my Grandmother telling me to cover my eyes so that I didnt see the destruction but of course I did. It was etched into my child mind for life. I have dealt with 2 tornado situations in my life but nothing terrible. One just took our chimney off during a Hurricane. My fear was so strong that even my own kids made fun of me. I had to start watching tons of tornoado videos to help me face my fear. I then became a tornado enthusiast and if I was younger I would definitely be a chaser. But this entire life arch with tornadoes began with a young girl seeing the traumatic destruction and fanily death in this Witchita Falls event.
I went through school and grew up in Wichita Falls. I had been gone for about 15 years when this hit. Had friends that survived Sikes Center. My house and High school were hit. Lots of memories there for me, when I was in High School I did search and rescue for the 1964 tornado. Bless those who lost their lives in 1979.
21:43 The man was blown into his garage, but it was soon destroyed. The camper shell seen in one photo then landed on top of him! It shielded him from debris and saved his life.
I had no idea that there was a video for my city! Cool! My grandma was out in this when it came to town. My aunt's trailer house was thrown by it. Only her dog was in it. He survived, but every time it rained and there was thunder, he'd shake uncontrollably. Even many many years later.
My family was very affected by this day. I wasn't born yet, but my mother and sister's were at home when it came through McNeil Jr. High. My mother and sister's ran to the middle bathroom with one of their twin mattresses over them. After the tornado tore through the Jr. High at 6:10 pm, it increased in intensity to one of the strongest points of that storm cell. It smashed into the university park subdivision, and my parents' house was destroyed. My mother was pulled up into the tornado, and my sisters were ripped out of her arms...both of them suffered fatal injuries, and they were only 5 and 11 years old. They were the two youngest victims of that day. My mother was slammed into their yard but survived. She had bruises and shrapnel, and her leg was dislocated.
I'm sure your Mom had many more injuries you couldn't see... PTSD and survivors guilt. Most people that survive something like this have a difficult time accepting that They are still alive and the people that died are not. It's a sad thing to see.😥
I live in Wichita Falls, have my whole life. I was born in 1980 and have heard so many stories about this. I like your video and how you laid it all out and explained it and the footage. Thank you!
From what I’ve heard from my parents, the tornado itself didn’t even look like a tornado, but a giant black cloud. Before it even hit, the weather was beautiful and my dad remembers sitting outside on his front porch with my grandpa when the trees across the street just immediately flipped over because of the wind caused by it. To this day, hearing their stories on where they were and what they were doing when it happened really interests me.
I was nine yrs old sitting in a closet with my Mom, Dad, Sister and two dogs listening to my house being ripped apart, Afterwards we went and stayed with family friends and I remember sitting with the only light being a kerosene lantern since all the electricity was out and listening to the one AM station still on the air with the sound of helicopters overhead
Thank you for your analysis of The Red River Outbreak. Being from Wichita Falls and watching lots of tornado footage, this set of storms often get overlooked in regards to how bad the destruction was. I was 7 at the time and watched the tornado hit the city from my next door neighbor’s swing set. I remember how it was eerily quiet at our house 5 miles from where the storm was raging. The damage was unimaginable, seeing footage does not come close to watch you see in person. Debris from this storm fell on Tulsa, OK which is hundreds of miles away.
Your play-by-plays of these historic tornados are really interesting. I also love the fact that you pay respect to the victims. Your channel is going to blow up.
I stayed overnight in Wichita Falls in a Hampton Inn that is now next to Sikes Center Mall in 2012. You can still see the scars from the tornado damage. The bricks used in the repair were a lighter shade of red so you could see the damage the tornado had wrought. There were still debarked trees and cleared slabs from former homes.
Another factor why people took the warning seriously is that 16 years earlier, a devastating f5 went through the northern part of the city including Sheppard AFB.
Great content! I'm from Brazil, we have the second most tornado activity area after the US. Four years ago, the town next to where I live was hit by an F2 and was partially destroyed, very scary. I hope you talk about the Plainfield (IL) tornado in a next video, I do a lot of research on this event and I'm still impressed by the force of nature. Hugs from Brazil (and sorry for some English mistake)
I was on Spring Break from college classes in Kansas and one of my classmates was shopping in the Sykes Center Mall when the tornado hit the mall. She had a horrific story when she returned unharmed 2 weeks later to class. I was later stationed at Sheppard AFB in 1980 and saw the damage and scoured cement sidewalks that was never repaired - definitely F5 damage.
It was spring break for the schools when the tornado hit. We were in Houston visiting family when we heard about the tornado on the 10 o'clock news. We rushed back the next morning. My mom got stopped for speeding by a Texas state trooper on the way back from Houston. He looked at her address on her license and told her to be careful and let us go. Once we hit Southwest Pkwy heading towards the Memorial Stadium (we lived 1/2 mile North of the stadium) we couldn't recognize the intersecting streets starting at Kemp Blvd. Almost everything was unrecognizable. We were fortunate to only have roof damage. The house we had moved from was in Faith Village and it was flattened except for the bathroom. The two guys living there survived the tornado in that bathroom.
I was living in San Angelo when this happened. Back then, hiding under overpasses was recommended before anyone figured out what a terrible idea it is. A friend of mine left his mobile home that day to hide under an overpass because he had no place else to go. He saw someone die, then tried to go home but his home was gone. He lost everything. I don't think he ever got over it. I traveled through Wichita Falls a short time later and was shocked by the damage path. It was scary to see even with cleanup under way.
My father was stationed at Sheppard AFB. He was in Turkey when it hit. My mother, my 4 year old brother and I, who was 7 at the time, saw the funnel from our front door on the base. It missed us, but I remember that my teacher broke her arm during the storm and all the funny signs that were put up. My favorite was "Free Toilet, must supply house." The toilet was the only thing that was left of the home.
I came across your channel while searching for information about the EF3 tornado I lived through in 2001 that damaged my childhood home. After watching a few of your documentaries I am hooked on your channel. They are really well researched and very informative. Keep up the great work!
I was a kid living in N. Texas and remember hearing about this in the news for days. I went to the skating rink that summer and saw someone wearing an “I survived the Witchita Falls tornado” t-shirt. It was a big deal.
I came across this video today. My grandmother lived in a town west of Wichita Falls at the time of the tornado. She told us how emergency vehicles were going through her town on their way to help the people after the tornado. She used to go shopping, and doctor appointments Wichita Falls, so it hit close to home for her. I have lived in Texas for over sixty years, and spring storms always cause anxiety for me because of the threat of tornadoes. I know someone who lived in Wichita Falls, and he still says it is a day he will never forget
That day I saw my mother be picked up by the wind about 4 feet off the ground and set her back down. She was holding my baby bother. The sky was so green and you could see the wind twisting trees all around our house. That was so very scary. God is good he didn’t take my mom that and brother that day. My uncle was in a closet in the city of Lawton and in a closet and it threw an entire window into his closet shattering his hip. He and my Aunt lost everything.
I was 7 when this happened, and my family had moved away from Wichita Falls, just 3 months earlier. I freaked out when I saw it on the national news, and I begged my mom to call to make sure my friend was ok. Since then, my family has moved back to the area. It has gotten a lot better here, and we get great notice if something might happen. Side note, the museum in Lawton has a simulator setup that allows you to hear and feel what it would have been like, if you were in a basement, when that F4 tornado hit Wichita Falls.
I was there on the oposite side of town underneath the overpass , the Tornado was so big it looked like a big cloud on the ground! We had Grapefruit size hail where we were ! The entire sky w a s R o tating ! I realize how we are for sure we would have been killed ! It was a life changing !! God Bless everyone and Thank You for this video !!
I was 12 years old when it hit. I lived in city view area my dad had recorded several funnels in our area . We could see a blackness that was so large. What scared me was all of a sudden it became so dead quite no birds no animals no sound . Some of my family lived at 31st street. It was a hard thing to see so much damage after it was over
@@lorrainegreen3320 I'm also obsessed and fall asleep to these videos every night they're incredibly relaxing, but for some reason tonight (it's 5:37am) can't seem to fall asleep :/
Wow! Reporting was great. I was 3 yrs old when this happened. I don't remember much growing up but I remember my dad grabbing me and my mom, who was 5 months pregnant with my brother. I remember seeing the damage and pics my parents took of the damage. Trains turned in their side and buildings demolished. Thank you for the video. Great job!
Holy cow, I cannot fathom how scary that must have been, and what a story that must be! It’s so different for me to tell a story compared to what you lived through, I hope all was okay after the storm for you
I was 11 at the time and in 5th grade. When a tornado watch got issued for our area (south-central Missouri) the next day, Wednesday April 11, my grandpa came up to my school and took me out of class for the rest of the day. 2 hours later, at about the time school would be letting out, an F3 tornado passed several miles to our west. Thankfully, there were no fatalities with that storm, but boy was there quite a bit of damage.
My High School Algebra Teacher, Mr Cherry was a survivor of this. Only thing that made it out with him in once piece was his stereo. Which he had in his classroom. :)
It's amazing that more people weren't killed in this tornado, given how many were in cars trying to drive away from it and how many others were simply caught unaware.
Same here were born and raised and my wife was 1yr old. Sad fact later in life we moved to Moore OK, and lost our home in the bridge creek tornado but thankfully we all survived.
I was 12 and I remember driving into WF with my parents right after it hit to look for my sister who worked at Sykes Senter. I had never seen so much destruction until I went to Iraq in '91.
I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was summer break I just turned 18, and am getting ready to graduate from S.H. Rider High. Class of 1979. We were leaving Sikes Center Mall after shopping and the weather started changing. Living in Texas you were use to Tornado watches and warnings. So it just seemed like another day. We were listening to the radio as we got across town and heard the sirens. My mom pulled into a school and we sheltered in the gym with hundreds of friends. Until we got the all clear. We lived close to SAFB and that side of the city wasn't touched. My high schools gymnasium was damaged and we had to have our graduation ceremony at the University Midwestern. We drove around the city to try and help anyone we saw that needed help. Because that's what neighbors did back in those days. 😮 I will never forget that day.😢❤🙏🏽
When I was a kid in elementary school back in the early 2000’s, we had a book in the library called “Disaster! Tornadoes” by Dennis Brindell Fradin. The book talked quite a bit about some famous tornadoes (Tri-State, Great Natchez, Flint, the 1974 Super Outbreak, etc..), but one whole segment was on Terrible Tuesday, focusing hard on Vernon and Wichita Falls. That book was the first exposure I had to all of those events, and I think is what really got me into meteorology at a young age. I credit the multiple (couple dozen) times I checked the book out as to why I’m a storm spotter now, over 20 years since I first read it.
I have to say you have an absolutely contagious smile! Your videos are next level, I could listen to you talk about tornados for a lifetime so you definitely gotta keep up the great work!!
I'm from Birmingham Alabama and we had one of the biggest tornado outbreaks since 1974 on April 27, 2011. Several tornadoes ripped through Birmingham in the VERY early hours of the morning. I think that a lot of people slept through it. It was really messed up. By the time the sun came up outside of the destruction of all was pretty visible ,trees were down everywhere. I was forced to take off from work because I couldn't get to the job and the roads were blocked off. I remember that weather felt really nice though but I could tell that the conditions were ripe for another batch of tornadoes. And later that evening we got one . A BIG one. It started out in Tuscaloosa, I believe and by the time it reached Birmingham it had grown to about a mile wide to possibly a mile and half wide, and I remember thinking, "that thing's wider than it is tall!" It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but it was over 11 years ago. Good job with this video btw!
I just turned six when the tornado hit Lawton. Passed almost a mile ahead of us. I remember all the debris being thrown around, and eventually left behind. The clearest memory is RVs flying, and a Furr's roof being blown off.
I was inside my mothers belly when that happened, in Wichita Falls. I was born on December that year, 79. My parents told me that story when I was around 8 years old and I've been fascinated with that kind of disasters ever since. Them both and my older brother, who was 3 years old, got inside a closet with all the pillows there were in the room and the mattress and just waited for it to go away. The worst, they told me, the worst was AFTER it was over. Besides realizing that half of our hose was gone, the car also and nothing looked as before, it was the silence... That was the WORST. Stepping out of all the destruction into the street and watching everybody lost, looking at what just happened, the silence they said to me. Everyone coming to their senses and trying to understand what just happened but all in silence...
It was 7 days before my 9th birthday. I lived across town in the City View area so we heard the sirens going off , ran outside and didn’t see anything. I would have been petrified if I had seen it. My mother’s aunt lived in Faith Village, and her house was demolished. I was terrified of storms after this disaster.
My niece was an ER nurse at General Hospital working on patients from the Vernon storm. They did know anything about the Wichita Falls tornado until injured people they knew began to be brought into the ER.
Wow!! I remember this one! I was 8 yrs old when this monster tore through our town. My immediate family was fortunate that our home wasn’t hit, but my uncle, aunt and 2 cousins were in the neighborhood that was virtually flattened. They were spared, but so many were not. I remember being huddled in our neighbors storm shelter, terrified of this monstrosity. Our town looked like a war zone for so long…I remember the smell of destruction afterwards, vividly to this day. This Wichita Falls tornado is what caused me major anxiety with storms, until just a few years ago. Thank you for this video and remembering those who were lost
Great info! I remember this living in LA. A picture of the W.F. Twister was actually on the front page of the LA Times the day after it hit. Blessings to the people who endured this monster.
We lived in Duncanville, TX at the time which is a southwest suburb of Dallas. I remember this well because Harold Taft, meteorologist at KXAS Channel 5, warned the residents in that area at least a day earlier that there was a good chance of severe weather. He received a lot of letters afterwards thanking him for saving many people's lives.
We moved to Wichita Falls in 2019. Many friends and workmates shared their stories of terrible Tuesday. Our home has a shelter. Our home, built in 64, survived the twister.
I was there. I was 19. I'll answer your question. The reason so many people were out is not because they weren't taking it serious, it's because it was right at rush hour.
That's right ... we got in the car to outrun it and got to the intersection of Taft and the SW Parkway and it was unbelievable how many people were driving due west straight toward the tornado and some people were at the stop light, waiting for it to turn green like nothing was happening.
I was about to turn 7 years old when it hit. It miss our house, but I remember standing in the front yard watching it pass by before the rain hit. My grandparents had just gotten home and lived across the street. I can remember seeing electric sparks as the electric lines blew down. My uncle worked at the mall, so afterwards we drove over to find him. I remember driving by D.L. Ligon Coliseum. I looked like a truck had been dropped through the dome.
I don’t know how people recover. It simply boggles the mind the strength of spirit they show. Having gone through three floods on our lower level of our family home, at least it was still standing. Such fortitude.
You should do the Greensburg Ks, the Joplin Missouri, and the Moore Oklahoma tornadoes too. Thanks again I was a Sheppard AFB when I was there for HVAC tech school, and wow do they have some crazy weather.
@@carlyannawx Carly; since Andover, Kansas was hit by a tornado in May of this year, could you please consider the idea of making a video comparing the tornadoes that struck Andover, Kansas in 2022 and Moore, Oklahoma in 2013 and the more infamous tornadoes that hit Andover in 1991 and Moore in 1999 and how the residents of these cities have learned their lesson on how to be better prepared for a violent and destructive tornado?
We were on the north side of Wichita Falls, they sound the sirens so much during this time of year, we didn’t pay it any mind. We eventually got word that it hit the south part of the town quite extensively. My brother had just bought a $700 Nikon camera, so was able to document a great deal of the destruction. Enjoyed the documentary!
After I watched your video I ask my Grandmother about it (We live in Lawton) and she said her and my Late Grandpa were working on post at the time and they had a car pool set up so they were literally taking coworkers home when it all started, most of them took shelter at my grandma's house. After it was all done she said her yard was filled with Bank notes from Vernon Texas!
Great video. Mr Gradpa had just driven through Wichita Falls about 45 minutes on his way home in Dallas on this day. I remember this awful day as I was recovering in the hospital from asthma at age 8. In 2010, I graduated from Midwestern State University with my Bachelors in Nursing. The Tornado had just grazed the campus back then.
Dang this is tragic 😥 I want to say superb job, this is my third video I watched by you about tornadoes 🌪 I subscribed now so I don't miss anymore. Great delivery all the way around I'm very impressed. Prayers for all involved in this scary horrific storm. 🙏
Great video Carly, very well done. I have a cousin who was at a farm machine and implement center when it hit. He was struck by a flying combine but survived it by a miracle. I also worked with a lady back in the 90's, who lived there. She was in her car, she said that the tornado was so wide she didn't realize what it was and drove straight into it. I lived in Lubbock Texas during the 1970 tornado. It is another fascinating, terrible event with 26 fatalities. You should check it out, thanks.
This is a great channel and I love all the episodes! You're hitting all the big ones, especially Jarrell. This episode is so interesting too and this storm did so much damage. The tornado itself has always been so scary looking...the huge black funnel right at drive time and moving so fast. Those poor people. I was 6 years old when this happened but I remember somewhat the news coverage from the storm and the pictures in the newspaper, especially when it was in the clear, multi vortex stage. Have you covered Joplin yet? That was such a scary storm too. It reminds me of Wichita Falls in some ways although it was so much worse! Thank you for the videos!
I remember this tornado quite well; I was a student at Texas Tech in Lubbock at the time. In an Atmospheric Science lab session that morning, the instructor popped in and told us that there would be no lab that morning because a major tornado was expected to hit Wichita Falls later that day, and several department staffers were heading out immediately to study it. Signs were apparently already developing that pointed to the possibility/probability of a serious tornado outbreak that day.
Wow... Awesome video. I lived in faith village in 75, my parents divorced and mom moved us to Florida. We heard of the tornado on the news and we're shocked. I came back that summer to visit my dad who was living in California when it hit. My grandparents lived in burkburnett, a few miles north. We went and looked at our old home in faith village and it was a slab. The mall was a mess. The apt complexes by the stadium we're gone. Just insane. We did move back to burk in 1980 and been in Wichita for the majority of my adult life. People around here don't take it likely when storms approach since that tornado.
Very well put together. This is my hometown. My mom was in this tornado. Just a couple things, Grandfield is actually in Oklahoma, not Texas. And the Dillard's picture is actually in Wichita Falls, not Vernon. We are very close to the OK border.
I recently found your channel and am enjoying your presentations. Always been fascinated by tornados. I drove through the Plainfield, Illinois tornado path several weeks after it happened and was still awestruck by the aftermath. I recall that the Chicago-area meteorologists were caught off-guard that day. I think the story of the Plainfield tornado might be an interesting one.
Definitely. It would be interesting if Carly covered the tornado that hit Washington, Illinois on November 17th, 2013. This tornado is particularly shocking to me because of the time of year it occurred. You really don't expect a tornado to strike in late November. Because the tornado hit Washington eleven days before Thanksgiving; the residents of Washington had gone from being excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas to feeling helpless and heartbroken. To add to their misery; it snowed a few days after the tornado.
This particular episode really grabbed my attention. I’ve been fascinated and equally frightened by tornadoes ever since witnessing the devastation of the 1974 outbreak. Interestingly, 5 years later my family and I were living in Columbus, Ohio when the news broke about what happened in Wichita Falls. Naturally, the first thing that immediately came to me was Xenia. I’ll never forget how spooked I was by that one and the Wichita event was certainly a very grim reminder. Therefore I can definitely understand the stunning comparison brought out in your video regarding these two monsters. To say the least, that 1979 outbreak will always be a very significant chapter in our country’s tornado history.
Nice to know that someone spoke about the history of my home town of "Falls Town" Wichita Falls Texas.....My mom lived thru this she told me that the day started beautiful and all of a sudden day turned into night due to the clouds the sirens went off...My family could see the tornado from Their front lawn and then they all ran into the house my mom and cousins were in the closet and my grandparents and uncle went into the bathroom tub covered by a mattress the tornado just missed Their house
I was 9 years old when this happened. I live in a little town 10 minutes north of Wichita Falls and I remember we (my 3 sisters) had asked my Mom if we could go to Kmart. (They had wonderful sub sandwiches). My Mom had said she didn't like the way the clouds looked so told us no. Thank goodness because if we had gone, we would have been smack dab in the middle of it. Kmart was on Southwest Parkway which was in the direct path of the tornado. Later on that evening, my Grandparents and Aunt (who is 2 yrs older than I am) came to our house. They had been in JC Penney's (Dillards is shown in the video - JC Penney was on the opposite side of the mall) when the tornado was approaching. Back then the mall had some areas where you could gather, sit and visit. I remember hearing my Gpa tell the story of how he put my Gma and Aunt under the bench and he laid on top. He looked up to the ceiling and said it looked like the Mall was "breathing". My Aunt had PTSD for quite a few years afterwards. Every time it would rain and thunder, she would get hysterical and cry and cry. I've never seen fear in someone's face and eyes like I seen that day. It was so sad to hear all the stories about the young ones who were killed. A lot of them did what they were supposed to do and still lost their lives. I remember my parents taking us to Wichita about a month later and seeing the devastation was unreal.
I’m sorry I’m getting to this comment late, but thank you so much for sharing this. I imagine this is such a vivid memory for you, the way you’ve described it in such mesmerizing detail. Your mom, like a lot of other people in the Plains have this sixth sense for storms I feel- and she was so smart for listening to it. I can’t begin to imagine the kind of trauma your grandparents, aunt, and family went through, this tornado was horrifying. Thinking of you all this evening, and thank you for sharing ❤️
@@carlyannawx I ranch near there. Grandfield is in Oklahoma.
How scary!! And yes KMART had awesome subs!
I was 12 when it hit. We lived in Southern WF not far from the mall and MSU, our house was damaged and many homes were leveled. There are too many memories. One was our cat rode out the storm outside. He survived miraculously to have many more years.
@@ThomasCrowne my dog did the same in 2015. She's 13 years old now
I am a survivor of the Wichita Falls tornado. I was two years old. My grandfather packed me, my grandmother, and my mom up in the car and tried to flee the tornado. We lived in faith village. As he pulled out of the drive way we made it to the end of the street and were picked up and thrown several blocks before coming to a stop. My grandfather was killed but the rest of us survived with minor injuries. My grandfather's name was J.B. Swindle.
crazy man. how much do u remember? sorry about your loss
So sad 😞 what a horrible memory
That’s nuts dude
@@JackhammerPossessorso much for respect?
@@RT-qd8yl Sorry for your loss & for the added trauma of the news cycle.
I love seeing other women that are tornado nerds! And your documentaries are rockstar grade🦋
That lady that lost her legs is badass. She survived that tornado while outside, and assuming that interview wasn't super long after it, she was already using her prosthetic legs. Most people wouldn't survive a hit like that from the inside of a building, let alone outside. DAAAAANG
I remember this day so vividly, like it was yesterday. April 10, 1979. 6:04 pm. It was a nice, warm day. We were on Spring break from school. I asked my dad if I could ride my bike to a friend’s house, he said no, I needed to stick close by him and to help him untangle some fishing lines in the trunk of his beat up fishing car. So we did that for a bit, while talking. I noticed he kept looking up at the sky, but I was 14....what did I know? I did pick up that he was acting unusual though. All of a sudden he slammed the trunk down hard on his precious fishing poles and told me to go in the house and get my mother and little brother. This is where I’m glad that I did not pick up that slug to play with. Both my mom and little brother was in the house. We had just finished supper. My mom was folding laundry and my little brother was hanging out. I told him that Daddy wanted them outside NOW. I didn’t know what for, I was just the messenger. My mom corrals my brother and they run outside, my mom still carrying a sock from the laundry. While I was inside getting my mom and brother, my dad had walked across the street to get the older couple to come with us, they said no, they would be fine. Daddy tells us all to get in the car......his beat up fishing car. My mom’s brand new, fresh off the car dealership the month before car was blocked in by his old car, so we took that. Daddy decided that we were going to outrun the tornado. In his experience, he knew the path that tornadoes normally travel, so he knew that we would take a direct hit. We are driving out of the subdivision and come to the first main light to get on a main artery out of town. People are stopping at red lights!!! Daddy was cussing his colorful language at them. My mom is hysterical, crying and my little brother is just plain scared. My parents knew we could die any moment. Daddy was asking me what I saw out the back window. I remember telling him that I see a refrigerator turning and black clouds churning. That made him cuss and yell more and my mom more hysterical. It was gaining on us and they both knew it. It was a mile wide at the base, so it was huge. Finally, we broke free from all the traffic and Daddy was an electrician, so he took us to one of his sub-stations on the outskirts of town. We all watched it pass and eventually move off for 46 miles. They had phones inside the sub-station, so Daddy tried to call his office, but the phones were down, naturally. The only thing we could do is drive as far in as we could, before the rubble started. Once that started, we had to walk back into town. That was a pretty good long walk. We finally made it to what we thought was our subdivision street. We searched for a while and my mom spotted a piece of the wallpaper to our kitchen, so we knew we were in the right place. Our house was demolished. We lost 95% of our stuff. You will never believe what did survive, my Parakeet , Peevy. Once we walked to our house, my Daddy told us to stand back while he walked through our rubble. He walks out carrying Peevy in his cage!!!!! He was alive and still in his cage!!! Daddy said “If this damn bird could talk.....!” when he walked out with Peevy. Our across the street neighbor was decapitated with a board, trying to leave at the last minute. They decided to outrun the tornado and it gained on them. They were on their walkway and he threw his body over his wife’s. She lived. So our parents protected us from that all night. My father pulled some lumber from the pile that was our house and built a fire on the curb for us throughout the night, so we could protect our 5% of stuff that we still had, from looters. Red Cross came shortly after. We made it through and we all know that we wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for my father’s quick thinking. And I really wanted to play with that slug, I’m so glad that I didn’t.
Wow! Great story thank you for sharing!
One of the most impactful vivid stories, I've ever read.
You are truly a real storyteller and excellent writer.
Thank you for sharing this, and many
blessings🙏🎶💚
Wow, what a story. What city did you live in?
@@5roundsrapid263 I lived in Wichita Falls in Faith Village addition.
@@forestsky7064 Thank you.
Thank you for this film. I was a 27 year old married man who lived through this storm. I went to get my wife’s grandmother and bring her to our home. I will never forget when I brought her out of her apartment seeing the black wall in front of us and cars, even semi- trucks hundreds of feet in the sky whirling and disappearing agin into the blackness of this wall so big that no sides or edges of it could be seen. It was the most horrible roaring sound I had ever heard. We made to our home and the 3 of us strayed under a mattress in the middle of the homes interior hall. I peeked out from the edge of the mattress to see a bit of one of the kitchen windows in the front of the house. We had a large multiple trunk trees in front or that window and in less than a second those large trees wrapped around each other alike you would ring out a mop. It just as quickly disappeared as they were ripped out of the ground as one mass. We were some of the lucky ones. Our home was damaged but not destroyed. Afterwards I drove only a little way as the debris filled the roadways. I walked the rest of the down past where my wife’s grandmother had lived to the next street where her brother lived. I could not find his house because it was all so destroyed it was not possible to even know where one house was or the next began as it was only flattened rubble. When I finally recognized some of there belongings I found one of there cars in what had been their garages. I began to scram their names and try to look under blown down walls. I saw movement under a wall that had been their living room. The wall was laying over the broken back of a couch and a metal coffee table. The movement was their dog which i gathered up and took top our house. The dog lived for only one more day.
I was 6 years old. I will never forget how black the sky was. A lot of people tried to get away in their cars. That's where a lot of the deaths came from.
Thanks for sharing your story
Was home with my Mom in Wichita Falls when this happened. She first tried to outrun the storm but quickly realized that was a bad idea and we went inside a grocery store basically right behind that bank vault in the video and hid in a meat locker while it passed. Probably about the best shelter place to hope for in our situation as we made it though fine and it's hard to believe we would have been in the home that was completely destroyed. He never really talked about it, but I can't imagine what my Dad was going through rushing home from work 30 miles out of town and seeing the devastation and wondering if he had a family left. We were lucky enough to have family in a part of town that wasn't hit to stay with and afterwards lived for a year in a FEMA trailers while my Dad and Granddad rebuilt our home.
I moved to the US and the Texas Panhandle in 1980 and went to school with a girl who had moved from Wichita Falls after the tornado. She was still deeply traumatised, and me, having arrived from a place where there had been no recorded tornadoes truly could not understand the magnitude of the storm or what she had seen and endured until much, much later in life thanks to channels like yours. What she described, her reason for not wanting to stay in Witchita Falls really hits home today.
I was born in Wichita Falls in 1981 and I always remembered seeing concrete slabs in Faith Village and wondering as a kid why there was a slab, but no house. My dad was 20 years old when the tornado came through and told me when it crossed Midwestern parkway, he was close enough to see cars being thrown around like toys.
Me too
I was12 years old. We were (luckily) out of school on spring break. Tornadoes seemed to spawn bizarre things like a 2x4 lumber through a steel tire rim. The walls that had gravel embedded in them. The next day the sky was so orange. The "City That Faith Built" was a rallying cry. Neighbor helped neighbor and it's the reason I love living here even today.
My dad worked for a company called Diebold and had to travel out to try and get people out of the time-locked vault at Southwest Savings and Loan on Southwest Parkway. The vault was the only thing left standing.
Born and raised in Wichita Falls I was 15 years old and will never forget this day. Nor will anyone who witnessed Terrible Tuesday.
18 years old and running from it in a 64 chevy. Going east on Midwestern pkway watching destruction behind me from Sikes Center for several miles. Wichita Falls then became known as the city that Faith built. Still live here. Thanks...
I was a little older and we ran from it in a Honda Accord, not a '64 Chevy. We found shelter in a church right across from WFHS that offered access to their basement. About 2 miles away from the actual funnel at that point but you could (somewhat) see and most definitely hear what it was doing. We drove to the Faith Village area afterward and there was nothing even remotely recognizable. Block after block after block of what looked like bombed out WW2 Germany.
@@cll1639 yes, it was something spectacular that's for sure
18, then you were most likely there for the April 1964 tornado in Wichita Falls.
@@geoffoakland I was....sitting in biology class at Wichita Falls High School. My Dad was commander of the local Civil Air Patrol; we were in the air immediately in his Cessna 310 and I remember him giving aerial reports to the people on the ground. Not nearly as wide and long lasting as the one in 1979, it was still a legitimate F5. I also rode out the one in 1959 that nearly took out our house.
They ever rebuild the Jr high school that was flattened there? I think it was named McNeil. They were supposed to have the Easter Great Passion play that evening, but the weather caused the event to be canceled
I lived through it... inside a drainage ditch..... scary but a "safe place"!! Lost everything but my car...
I was 14 years old and we were having a family get together when this happened and all 13 of us huddled in the bath room with the smaller kids in the bath tub and that was the only room left standing. We rebuilt and my parents still live there today but with a storm cellar.
Still remember that horrible day. I was a month shy of 11 years old. What I saw afterwards is something I'll never forget.
The Terrible Tuesday documentary was the scariest tornado documentary I've seen so far. The only problem with it is they kept showing the Wichita Falls tornado even during what was supposed to be the Vernon tornado. I'm fascinated by tornadoes so I love your channel. Your cat ear headphones are awesome.
I was in Wichita Falls for a couple of months for training at Sheppard AFB. The story of Terrible Tuesday is still used for the weather safety briefs when you first arrive, and if I'm being honest, it was a bit hair raising when Sikes Center was mentioned as being one of the most devastated areas. I've visited that mall and would have never known given how well it was rebuilt/renovated in 43 years... Thanks for the docu-video.
How deep, dark, and ominous at 13:47 and 17:18. PTSD is normal after these experiences. Thank you, Carly for your support of mental health issues after tornado trauma.
A mile and a half across at its worst, many back then would not have even known it was a tornado, expecting a 'Wizard of Oz' slender, dancing funnel.
My mom didn’t cry about the damage to the home until the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma and East Oklahoma City. She didn’t realize she was keeping her grief bottled up.
Thank you for covering this!
The Witchita Falls tornado 🌪️ put the extreme fear of tornado activity in my soul.
I was very little but we drove through Witchita Falls to attend a funeral of a family member who died in it. Actually had a heart attack because of it. I remember my Grandmother telling me to cover my eyes so that I didnt see the destruction but of course I did. It was etched into my child mind for life.
I have dealt with 2 tornado situations in my life but nothing terrible. One just took our chimney off during a Hurricane. My fear was so strong that even my own kids made fun of me.
I had to start watching tons of tornoado videos to help me face my fear. I then became a tornado enthusiast and if I was younger I would definitely be a chaser.
But this entire life arch with tornadoes began with a young girl seeing the traumatic destruction and fanily death in this Witchita Falls event.
I remember this day very well. I was 7 years old. After the tornado driving through town was very eerie. There were no traffic lights working.
I went through school and grew up in Wichita Falls. I had been gone for about 15 years when this hit. Had friends that survived Sikes Center. My house and High school were hit. Lots of memories there for me, when I was in High School I did search and rescue for the 1964 tornado. Bless those who lost their lives in 1979.
21:43 The man was blown into his garage, but it was soon destroyed. The camper shell seen in one photo then landed on top of him! It shielded him from debris and saved his life.
That's incredible lucky fella
I had no idea that there was a video for my city! Cool! My grandma was out in this when it came to town. My aunt's trailer house was thrown by it. Only her dog was in it. He survived, but every time it rained and there was thunder, he'd shake uncontrollably. Even many many years later.
Poor dog
My family was very affected by this day.
I wasn't born yet, but my mother and sister's were at home when it came through McNeil Jr. High. My mother and sister's ran to the middle bathroom with one of their twin mattresses over them. After the tornado tore through the Jr. High at 6:10 pm, it increased in intensity to one of the strongest points of that storm cell. It smashed into the university park subdivision, and my parents' house was destroyed. My mother was pulled up into the tornado, and my sisters were ripped out of her arms...both of them suffered fatal injuries, and they were only 5 and 11 years old. They were the two youngest victims of that day.
My mother was slammed into their yard but survived. She had bruises and shrapnel, and her leg was dislocated.
I'm sure your Mom had many more injuries you couldn't see... PTSD and survivors guilt. Most people that survive something like this have a difficult time accepting that They are still alive and the people that died are not. It's a sad thing to see.😥
I'm sorry for your loss!
I am so sorry for your loss.
😢😢😢
😢😢😢 I’m so sorry for your loss.
I’m glad you covered this one. You don’t grow up around Wichita Falls without hearing about Terrible Tuesday.
I live in Wichita Falls, have my whole life. I was born in 1980 and have heard so many stories about this. I like your video and how you laid it all out and explained it and the footage. Thank you!
Me too, 1987, my Dad was in the Brentwood timberlane apts, right across from sikes mall when it hit!!
From what I’ve heard from my parents, the tornado itself didn’t even look like a tornado, but a giant black cloud. Before it even hit, the weather was beautiful and my dad remembers sitting outside on his front porch with my grandpa when the trees across the street just immediately flipped over because of the wind caused by it. To this day, hearing their stories on where they were and what they were doing when it happened really interests me.
I appreciate your empathy as you make these videos. You keep your composure but I can see that you feel the pain of the victims of such events🩷🙏
I was nine yrs old sitting in a closet with my Mom, Dad, Sister and two dogs listening to my house being ripped apart, Afterwards we went and stayed with family friends and I remember sitting with the only light being a kerosene lantern since all the electricity was out and listening to the one AM station still on the air with the sound of helicopters overhead
Me and my wife lived through that tornado. A day never seen like it before or since
Thank you for your analysis of The Red River Outbreak. Being from Wichita Falls and watching lots of tornado footage, this set of storms often get overlooked in regards to how bad the destruction was. I was 7 at the time and watched the tornado hit the city from my next door neighbor’s swing set. I remember how it was eerily quiet at our house 5 miles from where the storm was raging. The damage was unimaginable, seeing footage does not come close to watch you see in person. Debris from this storm fell on Tulsa, OK which is hundreds of miles away.
Your play-by-plays of these historic tornados are really interesting. I also love the fact that you pay respect to the victims. Your channel is going to blow up.
I stayed overnight in Wichita Falls in a Hampton Inn that is now next to Sikes Center Mall in 2012. You can still see the scars from the tornado damage. The bricks used in the repair were a lighter shade of red so you could see the damage the tornado had wrought. There were still debarked trees and cleared slabs from former homes.
Another factor why people took the warning seriously is that 16 years earlier, a devastating f5 went through the northern part of the city including Sheppard AFB.
Great content! I'm from Brazil, we have the second most tornado activity area after the US. Four years ago, the town next to where I live was hit by an F2 and was partially destroyed, very scary. I hope you talk about the Plainfield (IL) tornado in a next video, I do a lot of research on this event and I'm still impressed by the force of nature. Hugs from Brazil (and sorry for some English mistake)
Your English is great! And yes, the Plainfield tornado is a good (bad) one!
Italy is having an upsurge of tornadoes recently and the scary part is that they are still calling it tromba d'aria rather than tornado 🤔😕
not only brazil, we share the tornado alley of south america with argentina too (im from uruguay btw)
There is now a Plainfield segment up.
I was on Spring Break from college classes in Kansas and one of my classmates was shopping in the Sykes Center Mall when the tornado hit the mall. She had a horrific story when she returned unharmed 2 weeks later to class. I was later stationed at Sheppard AFB in 1980 and saw the damage and scoured cement sidewalks that was never repaired - definitely F5 damage.
It was spring break for the schools when the tornado hit. We were in Houston visiting family when we heard about the tornado on the 10 o'clock news. We rushed back the next morning. My mom got stopped for speeding by a Texas state trooper on the way back from Houston. He looked at her address on her license and told her to be careful and let us go. Once we hit Southwest Pkwy heading towards the Memorial Stadium (we lived 1/2 mile North of the stadium) we couldn't recognize the intersecting streets starting at Kemp Blvd. Almost everything was unrecognizable.
We were fortunate to only have roof damage. The house we had moved from was in Faith Village and it was flattened except for the bathroom. The two guys living there survived the tornado in that bathroom.
I was living in San Angelo when this happened. Back then, hiding under overpasses was recommended before anyone figured out what a terrible idea it is. A friend of mine left his mobile home that day to hide under an overpass because he had no place else to go. He saw someone die, then tried to go home but his home was gone. He lost everything. I don't think he ever got over it. I traveled through Wichita Falls a short time later and was shocked by the damage path. It was scary to see even with cleanup under way.
I'm from San Angelo and I was visiting the northside of Wichita Falls with my grandfather. I was 7.
A underpass is still safer than out in the open.
My father was stationed at Sheppard AFB. He was in Turkey when it hit. My mother, my 4 year old brother and I, who was 7 at the time, saw the funnel from our front door on the base. It missed us, but I remember that my teacher broke her arm during the storm and all the funny signs that were put up. My favorite was "Free Toilet, must supply house." The toilet was the only thing that was left of the home.
I lived in WF at the time of this tornado, I was 13yrs old. I will never forget the destruction it caused. Prayers to everyone involved.
I came across your channel while searching for information about the EF3 tornado I lived through in 2001 that damaged my childhood home. After watching a few of your documentaries I am hooked on your channel. They are really well researched and very informative. Keep up the great work!
I was a kid living in N. Texas and remember hearing about this in the news for days. I went to the skating rink that summer and saw someone wearing an “I survived the Witchita Falls tornado” t-shirt. It was a big deal.
I came across this video today. My grandmother lived in a town west of Wichita Falls at the time of the tornado. She told us how emergency vehicles were going through her town on their way to help the people after the tornado. She used to go shopping, and doctor appointments Wichita Falls, so it hit close to home for her. I have lived in Texas for over sixty years, and spring storms always cause anxiety for me because of the threat of tornadoes. I know someone who lived in Wichita Falls, and he still says it is a day he will never forget
That day I saw my mother be picked up by the wind about 4 feet off the ground and set her back down. She was holding my baby bother. The sky was so green and you could see the wind twisting trees all around our house. That was so very scary. God is good he didn’t take my mom that and brother that day. My uncle was in a closet in the city of Lawton and in a closet and it threw an entire window into his closet shattering his hip. He and my Aunt lost everything.
I was 7 when this happened, and my family had moved away from Wichita Falls, just 3 months earlier. I freaked out when I saw it on the national news, and I begged my mom to call to make sure my friend was ok.
Since then, my family has moved back to the area. It has gotten a lot better here, and we get great notice if something might happen.
Side note, the museum in Lawton has a simulator setup that allows you to hear and feel what it would have been like, if you were in a basement, when that F4 tornado hit Wichita Falls.
I was there on the oposite side of town underneath the overpass , the Tornado was so big it looked like a big cloud on the ground! We had Grapefruit size hail where we were ! The entire sky w a s R o tating ! I realize how we are for sure we would have been killed ! It was a life changing !! God Bless everyone and Thank You for this video !!
I was 12 years old when it hit. I lived in city view area my dad had recorded several funnels in our area . We could see a blackness that was so large. What scared me was all of a sudden it became so dead quite no birds no animals no sound . Some of my family lived at 31st street. It was a hard thing to see so much damage after it was over
I was 13, and to this day the same terror I felt then, the same helplessness of not finding my grandma and uncle
Great job on this video, Carly. I've been obsessed with tornadoes ever since I was a little kid and I'm glad that I came across your channel.
I love tornadoes as well, my nightly routine is watching tornadoes on UA-cam until I fall asleep.
@@lorrainegreen3320 I'm also obsessed and fall asleep to these videos every night they're incredibly relaxing, but for some reason tonight (it's 5:37am) can't seem to fall asleep :/
Wow! Reporting was great. I was 3 yrs old when this happened. I don't remember much growing up but I remember my dad grabbing me and my mom, who was 5 months pregnant with my brother. I remember seeing the damage and pics my parents took of the damage. Trains turned in their side and buildings demolished. Thank you for the video. Great job!
Fun fact: In 1964, an F5 tornado hit Witcha Falls, killing 7. This tornado is overshadowed by the 1979 Witcha Falls Tornado (rated F4) that killed 44.
I lived at 2924 Cunningham in Wichita Falls, one street over from total devastation when this beast came through!
Holy cow, I cannot fathom how scary that must have been, and what a story that must be! It’s so different for me to tell a story compared to what you lived through, I hope all was okay after the storm for you
I remember my dad and I driving through Faith Village a few weeks after....there were no landmarks and we got so lost.😟
I was 11 at the time and in 5th grade. When a tornado watch got issued for our area (south-central Missouri) the next day, Wednesday April 11, my grandpa came up to my school and took me out of class for the rest of the day.
2 hours later, at about the time school would be letting out, an F3 tornado passed several miles to our west. Thankfully, there were no fatalities with that storm, but boy was there quite a bit of damage.
My High School Algebra Teacher, Mr Cherry was a survivor of this. Only thing that made it out with him in once piece was his stereo. Which he had in his classroom. :)
It's amazing that more people weren't killed in this tornado, given how many were in cars trying to drive away from it and how many others were simply caught unaware.
The number of houses and businesses destroyed were almost as many as Joplin which is usually a rough indicator of the death toll.
Same here were born and raised and my wife was 1yr old. Sad fact later in life we moved to Moore OK, and lost our home in the bridge creek tornado but thankfully we all survived.
I was 12 and I remember driving into WF with my parents right after it hit to look for my sister who worked at Sykes Senter. I had never seen so much destruction until I went to Iraq in '91.
What branch?.....
@@thediehardarkansasrazorbak7288 Navy
I remember this day like it was yesterday. It was summer break I just turned 18, and am getting ready to graduate from S.H. Rider High. Class of 1979. We were leaving Sikes Center Mall after shopping and the weather started changing. Living in Texas you were use to Tornado watches and warnings. So it just seemed like another day. We were listening to the radio as we got across town and heard the sirens. My mom pulled into a school and we sheltered in the gym with hundreds of friends. Until we got the all clear. We lived close to SAFB and that side of the city wasn't touched. My high schools gymnasium was damaged and we had to have our graduation ceremony at the University Midwestern. We drove around the city to try and help anyone we saw that needed help. Because that's what neighbors did back in those days. 😮 I will never forget that day.😢❤🙏🏽
When I was a kid in elementary school back in the early 2000’s, we had a book in the library called “Disaster! Tornadoes” by Dennis Brindell Fradin. The book talked quite a bit about some famous tornadoes (Tri-State, Great Natchez, Flint, the 1974 Super Outbreak, etc..), but one whole segment was on Terrible Tuesday, focusing hard on Vernon and Wichita Falls. That book was the first exposure I had to all of those events, and I think is what really got me into meteorology at a young age. I credit the multiple (couple dozen) times I checked the book out as to why I’m a storm spotter now, over 20 years since I first read it.
I have to say you have an absolutely contagious smile! Your videos are next level, I could listen to you talk about tornados for a lifetime so you definitely gotta keep up the great work!!
I'm from Birmingham Alabama and we had one of the biggest tornado outbreaks since 1974 on April 27, 2011. Several tornadoes ripped through Birmingham in the VERY early hours of the morning. I think that a lot of people slept through it. It was really messed up. By the time the sun came up outside of the destruction of all was pretty visible ,trees were down everywhere. I was forced to take off from work because I couldn't get to the job and the roads were blocked off. I remember that weather felt really nice though but I could tell that the conditions were ripe for another batch of tornadoes. And later that evening we got one . A BIG one. It started out in Tuscaloosa, I believe and by the time it reached Birmingham it had grown to about a mile wide to possibly a mile and half wide, and I remember thinking, "that thing's wider than it is tall!" It doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but it was over 11 years ago. Good job with this video btw!
I just turned six when the tornado hit Lawton. Passed almost a mile ahead of us. I remember all the debris being thrown around, and eventually left behind. The clearest memory is RVs flying, and a Furr's roof being blown off.
I was inside my mothers belly when that happened, in Wichita Falls. I was born on December that year, 79. My parents told me that story when I was around 8 years old and I've been fascinated with that kind of disasters ever since. Them both and my older brother, who was 3 years old, got inside a closet with all the pillows there were in the room and the mattress and just waited for it to go away. The worst, they told me, the worst was AFTER it was over. Besides realizing that half of our hose was gone, the car also and nothing looked as before, it was the silence... That was the WORST. Stepping out of all the destruction into the street and watching everybody lost, looking at what just happened, the silence they said to me. Everyone coming to their senses and trying to understand what just happened but all in silence...
It was 7 days before my 9th birthday. I lived across town in the City View area so we heard the sirens going off , ran outside and didn’t see anything. I would have been petrified if I had seen it. My mother’s aunt lived in Faith Village, and her house was demolished. I was terrified of storms after this disaster.
i live in Wichita falls and i have watched so much over this event my grandparents and me talk about it all the time.
My niece was an ER nurse at General Hospital working on patients from the Vernon storm. They did know anything about the Wichita Falls tornado until injured people they knew began to be brought into the ER.
Wow!! I remember this one! I was 8 yrs old when this monster tore through our town. My immediate family was fortunate that our home wasn’t hit, but my uncle, aunt and 2 cousins were in the neighborhood that was virtually flattened. They were spared, but so many were not. I remember being huddled in our neighbors storm shelter, terrified of this monstrosity. Our town looked like a war zone for so long…I remember the smell of destruction afterwards, vividly to this day. This Wichita Falls tornado is what caused me major anxiety with storms, until just a few years ago.
Thank you for this video and remembering those who were lost
I waa there too,..found a head.
Still remember this day! Was 11 years old! Still live here in wf
I really am riveted to your vids. Top notch info, great footage uncovered, and warm,human touch. Keep up the excellent work
Great info! I remember this living in LA. A picture of the W.F. Twister was actually on the front page of the LA Times the day after it hit. Blessings to the people who endured this monster.
I was stationed at SAFB at the time and was sent into the city to help search for survivors. The devastation was incredible.
We lived in Duncanville, TX at the time which is a southwest suburb of Dallas. I remember this well because Harold Taft, meteorologist at KXAS Channel 5, warned the residents in that area at least a day earlier that there was a good chance of severe weather. He received a lot of letters afterwards thanking him for saving many people's lives.
He was the GOAT in the North Texas area. Our James Spann.
These older tornado tales show how much we have grown in knowledge of tornado safety in our modern times.
This isnt your typical Weather youtube channel. I kinda like it! Look forward to your future videos.
Thank you so much!
We moved to Wichita Falls in 2019. Many friends and workmates shared their stories of terrible Tuesday. Our home has a shelter. Our home, built in 64, survived the twister.
I’m working my way through your videos. I got hooked on twisters from the movie when I was young. Thanks for what you do! I’ll always be a viewer!
I was there. I was 19. I'll answer your question. The reason so many people were out is not because they weren't taking it serious, it's because it was right at rush hour.
That's right ... we got in the car to outrun it and got to the intersection of Taft and the SW Parkway and it was unbelievable how many people were driving due west straight toward the tornado and some people were at the stop light, waiting for it to turn green like nothing was happening.
I'm from Wichita falls tx and we have pictures of this every where.
I was about to turn 7 years old when it hit. It miss our house, but I remember standing in the front yard watching it pass by before the rain hit. My grandparents had just gotten home and lived across the street. I can remember seeing electric sparks as the electric lines blew down. My uncle worked at the mall, so afterwards we drove over to find him. I remember driving by D.L. Ligon Coliseum. I looked like a truck had been dropped through the dome.
I don’t know how people recover. It simply boggles the mind the strength of spirit they show.
Having gone through three floods on our lower level of our family home, at least it was still standing. Such fortitude.
You should do the Greensburg Ks, the Joplin Missouri, and the Moore Oklahoma tornadoes too. Thanks again
I was a Sheppard AFB when I was there for HVAC tech school, and wow do they have some crazy weather.
Working on Greensburg right now! Wow it must be intense to be in those areas during tornadoes, I can’t begin to imagine 😵💫
Yes do the Moore Ok it was the most fascinating multi vortex I've ever seen footage of!
@@carlyannawx Carly; since Andover, Kansas was hit by a tornado in May of this year, could you please consider the idea of making a video comparing the tornadoes that struck Andover, Kansas in 2022 and Moore, Oklahoma in 2013 and the more infamous tornadoes that hit Andover in 1991 and Moore in 1999 and how the residents of these cities have learned their lesson on how to be better prepared for a violent and destructive tornado?
We were on the north side of Wichita Falls, they sound the sirens so much during this time of year, we didn’t pay it any mind. We eventually got word that it hit the south part of the town quite extensively. My brother had just bought a $700 Nikon camera, so was able to document a great deal of the destruction.
Enjoyed the documentary!
That was my 6th birthday. I remember driving through the areas that were hardest hit by the tornado. Everything was flattened.
Great video! Most of your facts are spot-on as far as I've learned them over the years (I was five when the tornado hit). Thank you for the coverage!
After I watched your video I ask my Grandmother about it (We live in Lawton) and she said her and my Late Grandpa were working on post at the time and they had a car pool set up so they were literally taking coworkers home when it all started, most of them took shelter at my grandma's house. After it was all done she said her yard was filled with Bank notes from Vernon Texas!
Great video. Mr Gradpa had just driven through Wichita Falls about 45 minutes on his way home in Dallas on this day. I remember this awful day as I was recovering in the hospital from asthma at age 8. In 2010, I graduated from Midwestern State University with my Bachelors in Nursing. The Tornado had just grazed the campus back then.
Dang this is tragic 😥 I want to say superb job, this is my third video I watched by you about tornadoes 🌪
I subscribed now so I don't miss anymore. Great delivery all the way around I'm very impressed. Prayers for all involved in this scary horrific
storm. 🙏
I've studied this outbreak for over ten years. I enjoyed the progressive nature of your presentation. Well done and thank you.
Great video Carly, very well done. I have a cousin who was at a farm machine and implement center when it hit. He was struck by a flying combine but survived it by a miracle. I also worked with a lady back in the 90's, who lived there. She was in her car, she said that the tornado was so wide she didn't realize what it was and drove straight into it. I lived in Lubbock Texas during the 1970 tornado. It is another fascinating, terrible event with 26 fatalities. You should check it out, thanks.
This tornado took my father and grandparents house, heard stories my entire life every storm season while we were out spotting for Skywarn
This is a great channel and I love all the episodes! You're hitting all the big ones, especially Jarrell. This episode is so interesting too and this storm did so much damage. The tornado itself has always been so scary looking...the huge black funnel right at drive time and moving so fast. Those poor people. I was 6 years old when this happened but I remember somewhat the news coverage from the storm and the pictures in the newspaper, especially when it was in the clear, multi vortex stage. Have you covered Joplin yet? That was such a scary storm too. It reminds me of Wichita Falls in some ways although it was so much worse! Thank you for the videos!
I remember this tornado quite well; I was a student at Texas Tech in Lubbock at the time. In an Atmospheric Science lab session that morning, the instructor popped in and told us that there would be no lab that morning because a major tornado was expected to hit Wichita Falls later that day, and several department staffers were heading out immediately to study it. Signs were apparently already developing that pointed to the possibility/probability of a serious tornado outbreak that day.
I did not know of this one. Thanks for posting Carly.
Wow... Awesome video. I lived in faith village in 75, my parents divorced and mom moved us to Florida. We heard of the tornado on the news and we're shocked. I came back that summer to visit my dad who was living in California when it hit. My grandparents lived in burkburnett, a few miles north. We went and looked at our old home in faith village and it was a slab. The mall was a mess. The apt complexes by the stadium we're gone. Just insane. We did move back to burk in 1980 and been in Wichita for the majority of my adult life. People around here don't take it likely when storms approach since that tornado.
Also, today is the 45 anniversary of that day. Again great video thank you
Very well put together. This is my hometown. My mom was in this tornado. Just a couple things, Grandfield is actually in Oklahoma, not Texas. And the Dillard's picture is actually in Wichita Falls, not Vernon. We are very close to the OK border.
I recently found your channel and am enjoying your presentations. Always been fascinated by tornados. I drove through the Plainfield, Illinois tornado path several weeks after it happened and was still awestruck by the aftermath. I recall that the Chicago-area meteorologists were caught off-guard that day. I think the story of the Plainfield tornado might be an interesting one.
Definitely. It would be interesting if Carly covered the tornado that hit Washington, Illinois on November 17th, 2013. This tornado is particularly shocking to me because of the time of year it occurred. You really don't expect a tornado to strike in late November. Because the tornado hit Washington eleven days before Thanksgiving; the residents of Washington had gone from being excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas to feeling helpless and heartbroken. To add to their misery; it snowed a few days after the tornado.
Been living in Wichita Falls for over 10 years, when I first came here in 2009 there were still places being fixed from this event
What places are those? 😊
This particular episode really grabbed my attention. I’ve been fascinated and equally frightened by tornadoes ever since witnessing the devastation of the 1974 outbreak. Interestingly, 5 years later my family and I were living in Columbus, Ohio when the news broke about what happened in Wichita Falls.
Naturally, the first thing that immediately came to me was Xenia. I’ll never forget how spooked I was by that one and the Wichita event was certainly a very grim reminder. Therefore I can definitely understand the stunning comparison brought out in your video regarding these two monsters. To say the least, that 1979 outbreak will always be a very significant chapter in our country’s tornado history.
Nice to know that someone spoke about the history of my home town of "Falls Town" Wichita Falls Texas.....My mom lived thru this she told me that the day started beautiful and all of a sudden day turned into night due to the clouds the sirens went off...My family could see the tornado from Their front lawn and then they all ran into the house my mom and cousins were in the closet and my grandparents and uncle went into the bathroom tub covered by a mattress the tornado just missed Their house
Cant wait for your May 99 outbreak video, the bridge creek/moore f5
Working on it now 👀👀