20th Anniversary Andover Tornado

[John Hudson]

The date of this event has really stuck in my head over the years, mainly due to the fact that it was such a significant tornado, at least at the time. Today will be exactly 20 years since the tornado that struck the Golden Spur trailer park in Andover.



Hard to imagine that it's been that long.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Same here, was just thinking earlier that it's hard to believe that 20 years have gone by since that day. I was only 10 years old and it's the earliest tornado outbreak that I have in memory, and it was that event that contributed to my interest in severe weather.

 

[Chip Redmond]

Is there a good historical link with reference to this outbreak?

Chip

 

[rdale]

Right on this very forum... In the historical section:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?20137-4-26-91-Andover-Kansas-F5-tornado

 

[Chip Redmond]

Right on this very forum... In the historical section:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?20137-4-26-91-Andover-Kansas-F5-tornado

Aye, thanks. I always forget that sub-forum exists.

Chip

 

[Will Campbell]

Aye, thanks. I always forget that sub-forum exists.

Chip

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=weather-event_1991apr26

Or the direct link hah

 

[Kirk Chestnut]

My fiance and I were headed north out of town on I-35. We were listening to storm coverage on KFDI when I switch to see if my station KCEV (now KYFW) was covering it. My boss Bill Endsley was giving an eye witness description of the tornado outside our Derby studio window as it began to plow through Haysville and on to Mcconnell AFB. I must have been about 20 minutes ahead of Gregg Jarrett (KSNW-TV at the time) on I-35 when he and his cameraman got caught under a overpass just north of El Dorado. Thankfully, my fiance and I got off at Eldorado and headed east. I've never seen a storm tower that tall since. Heading back home it looked like a war zone. Cars carried hundreds of yards from the interstate only to be wrapped around trees 20 feet in the air. Richard Peckham, Andover attorney and owner of the Golden Spur, left his law practice to rebuild the trailer park where so many lives were lost. It was a life changer for so many of us.

 

[Rick Stockton]

Didn't see that my initial reply was posted so I'm trying again. Don't know what I did wrong and hope I'm not double posting here!

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just arrived at my home (1.5 mi. NNW of McConnell) and was standing on the back deck watching the storm pass by to our right. The television was on and I could hear the local meteorologist reporting the location of the tornado. I could see some circulation but the only sound I could hear was a faint whistling sound that was tracking NE across the base. Then they started reporting damage, cars in the ditch on Rock Road and the base hospital "flattened". My first thought was to head that way to help, but quickly realized I needed to get back to work (I was the safety manager at St. Joseph Medical Center - about 3 miles away) and get the EOC activated and implement our disaster plan.

We saw over 80 patients within the first 2 hours of the disaster, including the 4 fatalities from the Greenwhich Heights neighborhood. 2 of the fatalities were young girls (ages 6 & * I believe) who were caught in the open with their babysitter running for shelter in Greenwhich Heights. We didn't get them ID'd until about 2300 hours that night when their parents finally turned up to identify them. So sad. I manned our EOC until about 0030 hours the next morning. St. Joe ended up treating over 120 patients (storm victims) that first night and many others trickled in over the next few days.

We had plenty of lead time on the storm thanks to Mike Smith and his colleagues in the local Wichita media. There were also plenty of eyes on this storm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Tim Marshall was on this storm from it's infancy south of Clearwater, KS.

EDIT: Spelling, et al.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Today is also the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, which spewed radioactive contamination across Europe on a massive scale compared to what has recently taken place in Japan.

It could be another disastrous April 26th if today's forecast pans out, but I'm sure everyone here also remembers (and with the exception of a few, would like to forget) this:

 

[Zach Clark]

I remember my mom taking me to Andover two weeks after the tornado. I was 13 years old. The image that sticks in my head was the Golden Spur mobile home park. I remember the park was bulldozed into a pile. No trees, no homes left - nothing! My mother grew up in that park and was crushed by the events that took place that day. All of her childhood friends survived though. As stated earlier, hard to believe it has been 20 years. I had always been fascinated by weather as a child, but that storm taught me the seriousness of weather. I will never forget the images placed in my head by the aftermath of that storm.

 

[Jennifer Bankier]

Last year (2010) the tour group I was with included an Australian who knew a lot of the history and theory of tornadoes, but didn't have much exposure to the chaser community. We were passing by Andover on the main hwy and he wanted to see the trailer park and the famous shelter. We went off the hwy and found and drove through the trailer park and saw the shelter. Although this was interesting, it also made me shudder since I have been exposed to the chaser discussion that suggests one shouldn't go sight-seeing in neighbourhoods that have been hit by tornadoes. Some of the people sitting around outside the trailers looked quite hostile.

Does it make a difference re this issue that the tornado was twenty years ago and famous? On the other hand, with anniversaries and famous tornadoes, the residents could be inundated with sight-seeers.

 

[Andy Jackson]

Last year (2010) the tour group I was with included an Australian who knew a lot of the history and theory of tornadoes, but didn't have much exposure to the chaser community. We were passing by Andover on the main hwy and he wanted to see the trailer park and the famous shelter. We went off the hwy and found and drove through the trailer park and saw the shelter. Although this was interesting, it also made me shudder since I have been exposed to the chaser discussion that suggests one shouldn't go sight-seeing in neighbourhoods that have been hit by tornadoes. Some of the people sitting around outside the trailers looked quite hostile.

Does it make a difference re this issue that the tornado was twenty years ago and famous? On the other hand, with anniversaries and famous tornadoes, the residents could be inundated with sight-seeers.

It shouldn't matter being 20 years ago. I'm sure most have moved away. Maybe strike up a conversation with one of them.

 

[John Hudson]

Last year (2010) the tour group I was with included an Australian who knew a lot of the history and theory of tornadoes, but didn't have much exposure to the chaser community. We were passing by Andover on the main hwy and he wanted to see the trailer park and the famous shelter. We went off the hwy and found and drove through the trailer park and saw the shelter. Although this was interesting, it also made me shudder since I have been exposed to the chaser discussion that suggests one shouldn't go sight-seeing in neighbourhoods that have been hit by tornadoes. Some of the people sitting around outside the trailers looked quite hostile.

Does it make a difference re this issue that the tornado was twenty years ago and famous? On the other hand, with anniversaries and famous tornadoes, the residents could be inundated with sight-seeers.

I beieve that if you had stopped to chat with them, you might have been surprised. When I was in Andover six years ago, I did several interviews and took a lot of photos, and was treated wonderfully. Mr. Peckham's wife lent me the keys to that shelter so I could take pictures, and they showed me the wall of photos inside the church that was rebuilt after the tornado.

A very nice woman at the Andover Chronicle gave me an original copy of the special edition they printed after the storm. I still have that newspaper filed away.

Plains folks, even after being through such horrible tragedy, are incredibly hospitable.

John
VE4 JTH

 

[Greg Stumpf]

The last time I was in Andover (5-7 years ago?), the infamous storm shelter was replaced by a swimming pool. I could not find a new shelter anywhere else in the trailer park.

 

[John Hudson]

The last time I was in Andover (5-7 years ago?), the infamous storm shelter was replaced by a swimming pool. I could not find a new shelter anywhere else in the trailer park.

You probably just didn't notice it, Greg. It was a very squat brick building, right next to the swimming pool. You can see the iron fence of the pool in the background of the photo.

John
VE4 JTH