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Famous Texas Tornadoes - May 11

The deadliest tornado in Texas (since 1900) occurred at Waco in 1953 and the Lubbock tornado of 1970. Both tornadoes were instrumental in developing an integrated warning process and the early stages of tornado research including the Fujita Scale. Learn more:

Lubbock: (video gets much better with time...trust me..lol)


Waco: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=wacotormay1953
 
Several years ago I had a retail customer at my store who had lived thru the Waco Texas 1953. She lived on a ranch with an extended family, and the ranch took a direct hit...completely demolishing it and sweeping most of it far away, she said. At the time of the tornado, she was perhaps 10 years old, but she remembered everything about it, and when I told her that I was a long-time chaser she opened up and told me something very personal. She said that the tornado took her Uncle's life, and they NEVER DID FIND HIS BODY. I asked her if perhaps he might have been dropped in a pond or lake, and she shook her head and said "no, we think it just sucked him up and with all the dirt, sand and debris, it just ground him up into little atoms."

For the rest of the afternoon, I didn't feel too much like talking unless I had to. I'd never heard someone say anything like that....and the thought of that happening to a person left me cold. Just think what that poor woman has had to live with all these years.
 
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