1970’s Tornado

All of the bad weather we have been having reminded me of …

In the early 1970’s I was a police officer in Waco, Texas.

I had lived in Waco almost all my life and had seen some pretty terrible weather in those years but was about to see the worst weather I had ever seen.

One day while working the swing shift I had a feeling that this shift was not going to be like any other I had worked. We had rain the day and night before and were just starting to get what seemed to be yet another terrible thunderstorm. The forecast was calling for more rain, wind and flooding.

I was working the area near what was called Lake Air out near the Heart of Texas Fair Grounds and my old High School.

The wind picked up and was blowing so hard that most of the signposts were just about to blow down. This high-powered wind made it almost impossible to see since the rain was being blown side ways into and up against anything and everything.

While on patrol in my new Ford Crown Victory patrol vehicle I continued to notice the wind and rain was getting stronger and making it very difficult to drive. I was approaching the intersection of Waco Drive and Lake Air Drive when I noticed the traffic lights start spinning and then being blown away. This was another sure sign that things were not as good as they could be.

The high wind tearing the traffic light loose from the light poles got my attention for sure. I called in the destruction of the traffic light and pulled my patrol vehicle into what use to be a gas station located on the corner at the intersection. The old Shell gas station was siting in front of the Fair Grounds and my old high school.

The police dispatcher had not verified receiving my call on the damaged traffic light. While I was trying to call in the damage again, I heard what sounded like a freight train coming my way, yet the train tracks were no wear near where I was parked.

As the freight train noise got louder I decided to get out of my patrol vehicle to see if I could determine from which direction the noise was coming from. As I started to open the driver’s side door of my car I was sucked out of the vehicle and thrown some 35 yards into the middle of the traffic intersection. I landed in what use to be the street but was now a raging and fast moving river that had such force it was dragging me with it down the newly formed river.

I managed to grab onto a light pole as the water swept me down the street and pull myself out of the water onto the curb. The rain was coming down so hard I could not even see across the street to see what had happened to my patrol vehicle. Then I heard a loud whooshing noise and was able to see the roof of the old gas station blow away along with all the glass from the gas station windows.

The wind and the rain died down for a moment and I was able to make my way across the newly formed river to the gas station area and my patrol car. My patrol vehicle had been moved several feet by the wind and the rain but was other wise not damaged. It was then I found out all the doors were locked, auto locks will do that for you when your car is running and your are sucked out of it! So here I was in the middle of a bad storm, soaked, cold, and locked out of my car. This could not get any worse or could it.

Just as I figured out how to get back into my car all the windows of my car blew out tossing me to the ground and into the water once again which had now moved from the river in the street to the parking area of the gas station.

The rain and the wind all of a sudden quit and there was this eerie silence. Then my police radio sparked to life and a tornado warning was being broadcast, nice timing. Just as the tornado-warning broadcast was finishing the old air raid sirens now used to warn of bad weather started wailing, also nice timing.

I managed to get back into my rain soaked windowless patrol vehicle just as the rain and wind started up again along with the freight train noise. My patrol vehicle was still running so I pulled it out of the gas station parking area and started up Waco Drive to see if I could get the vehicle to a safer location. About a block away from the gas station I just happened to look in my rear view mirror to see the old gas station being blown out into the middle of Waco Drive.

The tornado was what was making the freight train like noises all along and had been tearing up the area on the other side of the gas station the entire time I had been parked in the gas station area.

My luck held that day and I was able to get my patrol car and me back to the police station in one piece.

Thought you would like to know about bad weather in Texas so long ago.