3/28 Tornado
#1
Posted 28 March 2007 - 03:06 PM
#2
Posted 28 March 2007 - 03:40 PM
The morning of 3/28/2000, I bought a new car, a blue Acura TL that I loved. Then I headed east to my job at the Infomart in Dallas. As I was preparing to leave, I checked the radar on the web and saw that a tornado warning had a hook echo in the Saginaw area, heading east toward NRH and Hurst. "No worries," I thought, "I'll just take I-30 or I-20 back to FW anyway."
However, as I was heading out of the Infomart parking lot around 6:25 or 6:30, my cell phone got a text message: a new tornado warning about an actual tornado sighting in downtown FW. The projected path of this one was due east down the I-30 corridor. "OK," I thought, "I'll head down to I-20 and get home that way." Headed down US 67 in Dallas, I checked the flagship station of the local Emergency Alert System, WBAP-AM 820. They had the Dallas Stars game on (from the east coast, I guess, or else it was pregame). I figured everything must have been relatively ok so I popped a CD in and settled in for the drive.
On I-20 in Grand Prairie, passing over Great Southwest Parkway, I noticed that an incredible electrical storm was happening in front of me in Arlington. (By now it was fully dark aside from the lightning.) I was 34 years old then and had never seen such intense lightning. Traffic flowed normally, though, until the rain started getting heavy shortly after crossing Texas 360. I kept moving about 40 mph, passed under the New York Avenue overpass, then traffic came to a halt a few hundred yards later.
The rain was now falling Texas style, from left to right. No big deal, just a squall, I'll ride it out.
Hmm. This wind is still picking up. It's throwing dirt at my car! Dangit, my new car... probably already all scratched up. My luck.
Wow, this is really getting bad. The car is starting to rock from the wind, the loose debris is just pummeling the driver's side of my car. This... this isn't good. Now I'm getting nervous.
Then... *poof*. The wind stops. I mean, STOPS. Cold. Total fury and sound, then nothing. Silence.
Then... *bam*. Just like that, the wind is back and the car is getting buffeted/pelted again. Only this time it's coming from the passenger side.
Oh. Damn. I was just in the freaking suck zone of a freaking TORNADO!
I then scrambled to pull up WBAP on the radio again. They were covering the mayhem downtown as the wind slowly abated and traffic started to move again. The lady in front of me had a traffic barrel on her hood she had to remove first. A semi about 100 yards ahead of me in the right lane had been blown over. I didn't know it yet, but a light standard not far behind me had blown down across the highway. All those people behind me wouldn't be going anywhere for a few hours.
Then the tones of the Emergency Alert System come on 'BAP. "The National Weather Service in Fort Worth has detected a tornado in the vicinity of I-20 and Collins in South Arlington." I look up at the overpass I'm going under. It's South Collins.
NOW YOU TELL ME?! YOU PEOPLE ARE USELESS!!! I was highly stressed and not a bit happy. To say the least.
I finally got home I don't know when, probably 25 minutes after riding through a tornado, pulse still racing. I didn't sleep well for at least three days after. I did watch the TV coverage of all the damage and mayhem for several hours and counted myself lucky to have made it home unscathed.
My new car, though, wasn't so lucky. The scratches to the paint were all over the car. I also lost a wheel cover. Yay for insurance.
So now I've been in two tornadoes in a car. The first one totaled my parents' '64 Buick, but neither hurt me. I guess I really am lucky.
#3
Posted 28 March 2007 - 03:49 PM
That is an amazing story; I'm not sure I'd be sleeping even now.
#4
Posted 28 March 2007 - 04:51 PM
#5
Posted 28 March 2007 - 05:53 PM
#6
Posted 28 March 2007 - 06:09 PM
I was at work. I'm always at work. This was in Irving - near 161 and Gateway. We were told over the p.a. to head to the main building for that site. We stayed in the large breakroom and watched some coverage on the t.v. I tried to keep in contact with my wife. She and my first four little angels were in our house near I-20 in Arlington. More specifically, they were in the small half-bath downstairs - the only room downstairs with no exterior wall. I think they had brought a mattress from a baby bed for added protection. They definitely had a worse time of it than did I.
After it was over, I drove home. It was still raining pretty hard at times. At one point the car in front of me just stopped abruptly in the middle of the lane under a bridge. No vacancy on the shoulder. It's not like I was tailgating, but given the visibility and road conditions it didn't seem like a judicious or thoughtful thing to do.
By the time I got to 360 and 20, it was clear that this had been a major storm. I started seeing a lot of debris. At one point, I could see brake lights in the distance. It appeared that traffic was coming to a stop, and then cars were pulling off the highway. Way off the highway, where there was no exit. As I approached, I found that one of the signs that spans the southbound lanes of 360 pointing out the way to the exits for 20 was laying crumpled across the highway. People were pulling off and driving around it.
As I entered 20, there was a lot more debris - including the 18-wheeler Chris mentioned. Other vehicles as well. Carbage everywhere. And barricades and barrels. And building materials. I'm glad not to have been caught in the middle of it in a blue Acura TL. Or an 18-wheeler.
#7
Posted 28 March 2007 - 06:39 PM
The tornado I rode out in 1968 was worse. My grandparents had a farm about eight miles west of Newcastle, Texas (west of Graham on Highway 380 in Young County); my brothers (age 18 and 11 at the time) and I (age 3) took a trip into town to get some milk and groceries. On our way back, a hammerhead cloud on our way in had morphed into a rotating monster. We crossed the Brazos on the old narrow bridge still there at the time and within seconds got swept off the road, spinning, until the back of our '64 Buick was slammed into a mesquite tree. I was in the back seat and the rear window shattered into beads all over me, but none of us were hurt.
Now that was scary.
I really don't want to ride through a third one. I hear that those are the charm.
- Stadtplan likes this
#8
Posted 28 March 2007 - 07:33 PM
I really don't want to ride through a third one. I hear that those are the charm.
That's a pair of incredible stories, I'm glad you made it out alive - both times! My 3/28/00 experience was rather dull...I remember walking outside, seeing the greenest, scariest looking clouds of my life, then going back inside to watch the news. Hopefully the severe weather we're supposed to get this week isn't that bad.
#9
Posted 28 March 2007 - 07:40 PM
#10
Posted 29 March 2007 - 12:56 AM
Minor detail but an interesting one, I think.
#11
Posted 29 March 2007 - 05:23 AM
I spent the rest of the evening watching NBC5, which had infinitely better coverage than any of the other stations. David Finfrock is the man. The next day I taked to some friends who were living the CD area and they had a much scarier experience, of course.
#12
Posted 29 March 2007 - 08:57 AM
Better Business Bureau: A place to find or post valid complaints for auto delerships and maintenance facilities. (New Features) If you have a valid gripe about auto dealerships, this is the place to voice it.
#13
Posted 29 March 2007 - 09:29 AM
I was at work at the BNSF HQ on Western Center Ave. I was on the 6pm to 6am shift. The person I had relieved on the day shift said he was going DT to meet his wife and kids. His daughter was taking ice skating lessons at the Tandy outlet center.
BNSF contracts with a private weather service in K.C. called WeatherData. Shortly after 6pm they issued an alert for a tornado to hit DTFW at 630 pm. One of the guys on the evening shift called the fellow that was headed DT around 610pm to warn him of a tornado at 630 pm. He brushed off the threat and said he was almost DT and no worries.
He was wrong, he told us that when the sirens went off they evacuated to the restrooms. His wife had left her purse out at the rink and he went back to get it. He said it was 629 pm on the digital clock when the skylight crashed down as he was running with the purse. His pickup was damaged when a window frame went throught the door. He also said he had a set of window blinds from an unknown building in the back of his truck.
Back at the building on Western Center everyone had gone to the doors to look out for a tornado. The Network Operations Center or NOC was built to withstand a tornado. It does not have windows and is sometimes referred to as the hardened shell. That is why so many people went to the doors because that was the only way to see out. There is a preschool/child care center nearby and those children were allowed into the building for safety. Also some employees that were on duty called their families at home and had them come down for safety also.
After the people at the doors could hear the city sirens sounding the BNSF security people finally sounded the internal alarms around 640pm. Employees groused for years that they had waited until after the tornado had passed to sound the alarm, but everyone knew there was a tornado and they just sounded the alarm to get everyone away from the doors and back to work. No one saw the tornado because the clouds and heavy rain made it so dark you couldn't see across the street anyway let alone all the way to DTFW.
#14
Posted 29 March 2007 - 11:52 AM
Parked the company van in Hurst and drove to Grand Prairie. Was sitting in a fast food joint eating with my dad when we heard on the radio the reports of the tornado hitting downtown and reports of tornados in Arlington.
#15
Posted 29 March 2007 - 12:19 PM
#16
Posted 29 March 2007 - 12:57 PM
I went to a "Twister Dinner" last night at Joe T's with a bunch of lawyers from Harris, Finley & Bogle. They were on the 13th floor of the BankOne building when the tornado hit. They've got great stories about the storm and the aftermath. Every year they have a dinner on the 28th to commemorate the event and a toast at precisely 6:28 PM.
- McHand likes this
#17
Posted 29 March 2007 - 07:26 PM
We went on the building tour and we walked to the Sanger Building. In 1995, several bicycle riding architects were attending the Cowtown Classic dinner on the night of the hailstorm. A few of us that were in that storm were commenting on how the skies were turning dark and it reminded us of the day the hailstorm hit. Soon we started seeing some debris in the sky, but we couldn't see what was coming because the lease space in the Sanger Building faces east.
As we were seeing the winds pick up, we heard the breaking of glass close by, so we all immediately ran into an enclosed room on the north wall of the space. Before we were across the gallery space the window that we were just standing in front of was shattered. We could hear the winds howling for just a couple of minutes, and after it calmed down, we went outside to take a look and saw all of the broken glass, computers, chairs, window blinds, and all sorts of debris on the streets. We then looked toward the west and saw the Bank One Tower in its state of destruction. The meeting was cancelled and we all went home.
In all my years of living in Fort Worth, I had seen funnel clouds off in the distance before, but it was my first time being in a tornado. I also had my camera with me because of the building tour, and I probably took some of the first photographs of the aftermath because I was in the right place at the right time for this.
- McHand likes this
#18
Posted 29 March 2007 - 08:23 PM
It was a nice 70 degreesish mid afternoon. Happy Hour was just upon us, so I called up the BOYZ and geared everyone up for some 25 cent wings and half price lobster tail buckets and draught beer at the local Baja Bar in Manhattan Beach. Man did I eat myself STOOPID, AGAIN. Well, as we were tuning in to some local early evening news channel, a TEXAS story was coming up. So probably being her only native son there, I asked the bartender to turn it up (You know, like that FREEDOM ROCK hippie). So he obliged and it was pretty scary stuff to see and hear about a tornado hitting the areas of FW/D, having always heard about them being more prevalent in KS or OK. I was also planning to move back to TX in the coming year (lucky for you guys). Come to think of it, I believe they had FINFROCK on a LIVE feed at the time. Must have been the first time I've heard of him, and I do remember the excellent reporting. You get so bogged down with the weathermen out in sunny L.A. CA, and to be a meteorologist in S.California is pretty much meaningless 350 days out of the year. I guess depending on them in TX had me always glued to the L.A. weather reports, as if something eventful was going to break in the sky over there. I was floored to say the least, a little bit of anxiety on my mind with what was being reported back home. So much that I called my folks up and warned them to take cover, not really knowing how far FW was to SA at the time. Yep, I ate and drank plenty pretty early that day, Mom could tell. And then the babes from the nearby beach started to march on in to the bar, so then the REAL happy hour began.
Those were the days. Glad to see FW REBUILD from that.
www.iheartfw.com
#19
Posted 29 March 2007 - 10:09 PM
Do you have those photos in digital form?
#20
Posted 29 March 2007 - 10:25 PM
John, I think your story is scarier than mine. Yikes.
Do you have those photos in digital form?
http://www.fortworth...com/tornado.htm
--
Kara B.
#21
Posted 29 March 2007 - 10:46 PM
John, I think your story is scarier than mine. Yikes.
Do you have those photos in digital form?
http://www.fortworth...com/tornado.htm
Obvious? What's obvious?
(Ugh. Thanks, Kevin.)
#22
Posted 30 March 2007 - 07:35 AM
John, I think your story is scarier than mine. Yikes.
Do you have those photos in digital form?
http://www.fortworth...com/tornado.htm
John, would be willing to update the tornado page with pictures of the same buildings 7 years later? Except for UPR (Carter Burgess), each one of the buildings has had or is about to have a real transformation.
Cavalry - Pier1
Mallick - Blue Glass
Cash America - New Skin
Bank One - The Tower
Tandy - pending...
#23
Posted 31 March 2007 - 06:33 PM
#24
Posted 04 April 2007 - 11:41 AM
#25
Posted 04 April 2007 - 12:03 PM
- Stadtplan likes this
#26
Posted 04 April 2007 - 07:16 PM
#27
Posted 06 April 2007 - 03:06 PM
I was going south on 360 and after heading west on I-20 a tornado crossed in front of my path near the old Johnson and Johnson complex. I've never been that scared in my life.
Are you the one who got the traffic barrel stuck on the hood?
Seriously, could actually see the thing? If so, how? It was well after sunset by then, wasn't it?
#29
Posted 17 March 2008 - 09:45 PM
Bruce Burton
#30
Posted 18 March 2008 - 10:55 AM
I remember...
WFAA Channel 8 announced a possible Tornado going into downtown Fort Worth and within seconds, all family members were standing on our Samuels Avenue back porch watching downtown experiencing the storm. I think at the time, no one realized the extent of the damage. I had been doing some contract work for the Renaissance Worthington Hotel downtown so I called the maintenance surpervisor afterwards to see how the hotel fared. He said many windows were broken out and he could use some emergency help to board up the gaping holes. I told him I would be there shortly but found a police barricade barring anyone from entering the downtown area. After over an hour of waiting and a couple of anxious calls back to the hotel, I was finally granted access to cross the baricade and I walked on foot to the Hotel. A hotel employee and I boarded up 20+ windows, finishing around 2 AM. The supervisor thanked me and I declined any compensation except to hitch a ride in his Jeep back home on Samuels. I could not believe the extent of damage to downtown, The sound of glass falling out of buildings and shattering on the streets was like a thousand wind chimes going at once. This was not a good time to take a downtown stroll!
By coincidence, I'd also been in Wichita Falls during it's infamous F-5 Tornado in 1978. Also experienced the Mayfest hailstorm-weather in Texas can be frightening in its intensity. Living here is not for the faint of heart. We are now approaching Spring and for North Texans that means keeping an eye on the sky. Stay alert and stay safe!
John S.
#32
Posted 18 March 2008 - 03:47 PM
I would have hated to have been washing my car next door at the car wash when the winds bent this metal sign. Supports were still there as a reminder until recently. Now gone, new construction on spot.
Unless plans have changed, the poles will be coming back as a piece of sculpture in the plaza in front of the new post office - that's what the construction is.
--
Kara B.
#33
Posted 18 March 2008 - 05:09 PM
Several of my wifes co workers were caught in the building but were not injured. That was the last time we saw the old Bank One or Tower before it sat for years before being turned into condos.
#34
Posted 25 March 2008 - 08:37 PM
#35
Posted 28 March 2008 - 08:59 PM
#36
Posted 26 March 2010 - 08:48 PM
#37
Posted 27 March 2010 - 06:20 AM
The whole living in a skyscraper thing was really what I was gearing toward my entire life. When I was a little boy in Chicago I marveled at the tall buildings that my relatives worked in. I was being drawn in to both City living and Skyscraper living. (Have never worked in a building taller than 2 stories)
I think I previously shared this magazine with my fellow Forum Members, but here it is again. 360West magazine. (A real Fort Worth Publication) They did a little piece on the 10 anniversary of the tornado. Including using my picture and a little write up about me. It is on page 35 of this March issue.
http://www.bluetoad....?i=32560&page=1
(360WestMagazine.com gets you to the site also and then go to archives for last month's issue)
The most sophisticated, best operating web site I have ever seen. I don't know how they do it or why everyone else is not using there technology for an on line magazine. Just beautiful. Very fast and useful. I admit I never heard of the magazine until they contacted me to see if I had a good picture of the Tower. Funny, I have less pics of the Tower than any building in town. (I know what my building looks like.) My photo they used in their magazine was way cropped and then made into a full page photo. (One of the benefits of a 20 meg picture) It was not a Tower pic but a pic of downtown I took 2 months ago wandering around in the dark.
#38
Posted 27 March 2010 - 08:25 AM
What a difference a decade makes!
#39
Posted 27 April 2010 - 10:12 AM
Best believe I aint going no where!!
#40
Posted 02 June 2010 - 02:22 PM
#41
Posted 02 September 2010 - 12:49 PM
#42
Posted 28 March 2011 - 04:05 PM
#43
Posted 28 March 2011 - 04:14 PM
#44
Posted 28 March 2011 - 08:14 PM
Tragic loss of life and you have to feel bad for all the poor people in the near West side community (on the West side of Montgomery Plaza) that lost their homes and had no insurance.
But It sure enough gave me an opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of living in a skyscraper in the city. (The Tower being a condo structure in lieu of tearing the tornado damaged bank building down.) It has been the best 5 years of my life. Fort Worth would be a very different place had this huge building been demolished. Downtown would likely be not much at all really. It needed the skyscraper. It needed 300 condos that were sold near instantly. (Pretty much in 6 weeks.) Many of us are not much in the way of renters. We wanted to own, and downtown. The options were pretty thin. And if you wanted to live high up, there were no options above 3 floors. (to own)
Once again, I have had an unsolicited offer from somebody to buy my condo. (A letter was sent to me, more on that another day)... For a hunk more than I paid for it. I will likely not turn it down. So I am looking for a new home tonight. As I love the Tower, I am hoping to find another place here. I am looking at larger units. Have been wanting a bigger place. Not huge but bigger. (Go from 1100 sq. ft. to 1600) I am looking at all options. Le Bijou, Art house condos, Hospital district Townhouses, Villa De Leon. But would be hard to leave the Tower as I can't get high enough. (Charley Sheen comes to mind there) I would live on the 165th floor of a building if it was in Fort Worth and within a reasonable price. The Tower has been great. In 5 years have never heard a neighbor. (In any of my 3 condos) Pretty much soundproof. We hear downtown, but it was here before us. And we are used to concerts in the summer. I love it all, except for Violence Night. (Fight night) It is for for guys that like to watch men sweat and bleed and suffer. No thanks.
I really like some of the townhouses in the Hospital district. (Magnolia area). I do think it is a bit creepy living next to pain and agony. The one townhouse is RIGHT NEXT to the place I recently had a colonoscopy. (Don't make me post the pics...) Would be easy for me to live next to a cemetery. (Peace and quiet, no more pain.) In fact that would be my favorite neighbor. Best guess? A bigger unit in the Tower. Unfortunately, lower. There is nothing higher for less than 1.3mm or so. And a couple of grand a month in dues and a couple grand a month in taxes. Just couldn't do it. Bet I wind up on 26 or so.
I would love to live in the Omni, of course. I think I will at some point. I am heading in that direction. But pretty pricey. Likely worth it. I would not use any of their services however. No use for a message, or somebody to walk my cat. Or someone to shine my $19. Target shoes. But I am crazy about the building and the exact location. I have a friend there at the top. Too fine. Expect to join him there in the years to come.
#45
Posted 29 March 2011 - 09:04 AM
#46
Posted 21 May 2013 - 05:45 AM
#47
Posted 21 May 2013 - 07:34 AM
There are Fallout shelters all around downtown- there used to be signs up everywhere. I know there was one in the federal building. Hopefully they haven't all been filled with file cabinets, but who knows?
#48
Posted 21 May 2013 - 05:49 PM
Tornado's is a great reason to live downtown. They same tornado that hit the Tower in 2000, that did not injure anybody in the building, would have likely squashed me like a bug in my house. As far as an F5 tornado, you cannot design for one and shouldn't. They are just too rare. It is like making your home able to withstand a large meteor. Not that it couldn't come in handy but it wouldn't. (Better chance of winning the powerball.)
If the weather warning sirens sound, there are also many underground levels to go to in this big building and most. My favorite place is under the parking garage. The parking garage would likely withstand an F-4 I would think. (The F-2 surely did not faze it.)
#49
Posted 25 May 2013 - 12:16 PM
The Weather Channel just had a question " how often is a tornado likely to strike same place" and the answer was( 2nd time) 2000 years. They must have filmed that before the Moore, Ok. events.
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