if this ever happens again, dont look outside, run like a bat outta he** into the basment if you wanna survive or be ripped to shreds by multiple tornadoes with enourmous debris. tornadoes are powerfull vortex's of pure destruction written all over them
What model of Hallicrafters is that on 7:59? It must be a newer one or a public safety-band radio unless it's just a "prop". Keep in mind much of the footage is a dramatization especially the indoor shots.
i was seven and in our celler living near church hill downs in louisville KY. our celler doors blew off and i remember seeing one of the twisters going right down the middle of our street...it must have botherd me more than i thought because i have no memories of ever seeing any damage and louisville was absolutly torn apart
I will never forget this day. I was in class at the University of Louisville. The sirens sounded and class let out early. As I made my way home on Brownsville Road, the traffic was unbelievable! My apartment was untouched, but only a few blocks away in a georgous neighborhood....DEVASTATION. Several people in that neighborhood died. It was a very sad day indeed.
My mom survived the tornado of '74. She lived in Xenia, OH, in the Arrowhead Subdivision. I enjoy learning about the tornado she survived, it definitely has given me insight into her childhood.
Actually you might well not survive an F5 even if you're under the basement stairs. You really need a purpose-built underground storm shelter with a sloped steel bunker door. The Parkersburg F5 had one house in the F5 zone where it actually undermined the foundation until it exposed and collapsed the basement wall and sucked the poor bastard out to his death.
I don't see how new radar technology would save people from an F5.
The Greensburg F5 had 45 minutes of warning and full TV coverage but people still tried the "get in the 1st-floor bathtub" routine and got killed for it.
You will not survive an F4/F5 if you're not underground. The Jarrell F5 moved at 8 mph. You could have outrun it on foot, but instead people sheltered patiently in the bathroom. Took the cadaver dogs weeks to find all the body parts scattered across the debris field.
@bradhig I don't think so. I think it was a way to activate the Emergency Broadcast System so they can interrupt programming on any other stations they may operate, unlike today where they can push a button and it goes off. In that day in age, there were only about 50 Weather Radio transmitters, mostly in marine locations, so thats why it's leading me to believe that its to activate the EBS.
@romerofan123 You're right. With the old EBS, only one or two stations in an area acted as senders while the rest were listeners, with their EBS signal receiver system hooked up 24/7 to the on-air feed from one of the relay stations.
When they played that creepy two-tone alert noise over the air, it not only got people's attention in an unmistakable way, but it also tripped all the listening receiver stations so they automatically cut their broadcast and rebroadcast the sender station's feed.
@romerofan123 I should add that the new EAS still allows for the alert tone to be used but it's not mandatory anymore. My local station only uses it for tornado warnings and I'm told most of the OK/KS/TX stations don't ever use it because it annoys people. They use a short series of digital "squawks" that transmits the entire EAS message in burst data format to a modem at the TV/radio station which translates it and reads an automated message rather than having to rebroadcast another station.
I was visiting my relatives in Madison right after this storm hit! It was like a war zone! I was only 12 years old but will never forget what it did to Madison. I still visit that town when I can. Its a great place to visit!
My Mom was working at Our Lady of Peace Hospital when this hit in Louisville. She said there was a pond out front of the building, and it was there one moment, and gone the next. Washers and dryers from the laundry mats were found miles away, the grass was rolled up like a carpet, and the dead people from the funeral homes were scattered everywhere. She ended up working 3 back to back shifts at the hospital because of it. This all happend 6 years before I was born.
Tanner, Al was hit by consecutive F-5s (some list the 2nd tornado as an F-4 because it caused less damage than the first. Of course the reason for that is the first one had already destroyed everything in its path) within 30 minutes of each other. One man was badly injured and taken to a Church to wait for an ambulance when the 2nd tornado came through and ended his life. Can you imagine what was going thru his mind when he looked up and saw the 2nd twister? "This just isn't my day."
@LLJ98 It was pretty scary. I go to UofL and was in the basement of the chemistry building and found out that there was a tornado. It didnt scare my professor, he continued with his lecture. ha
@bohrokthunder ya, a lot of times the Louisville TV stations refer to their viewing area as Kentuckyana because its combined with Kentucky and Indiana.
@CelticDragon0 yes Kentickiana which describes Greater Louisville on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and the suburbs on the Indiana side of the river.
I became a spotter by training with others and taking instructions from the local National Weather Service office. They trained us on what to look for and how to safely chase and track the tornado. It would help to discuss tornadoes with your local meteorologist or with someone at your NWS to get a better idea of tornadoes and to hopefully aleviate any fears you have to properly protect yourself. Hope that helps and good luck XD
It would almost be interesting to see how we would fare NOW if this happened NOW. People now have better access to radar data at home and can even pick out tornado storms ( I have dont it my self, just look for the hook/notch)
I remember Dick Gillbert. He came to our school after the outbreak and talked to us kids about it, I think it was spring of 1974 when he came. Very frightening day indeed.
I wasnt born yet but I heard so much about this event!I live in Alabama,and the county next to us was hit by 2 f5s,There is a plauque with info of what happend that day!It wouldnt suprise me if there is anothe outbreak like this one,sometime in the next few years!I just dont beleive that this is a one time thing.Thankfully we have better radar.and better equiped for these situations!
@met1bama I agree as well the weather warning system and radar in 1974 wasn't good like it is today in1974 the warnings come too late and today's warning lead time of a tornado before touching down is 16 minuets advance warning there is an outbreak like the 1974 outbreak my god i remember that outbreak known as the super Tuesday outbreak in 2008 before my 28th birthday.
@justintime2989 Well They can happen down south because i am from the south we can tornadoes in spring fall and winter spring in Brownsville, Tennessee dangerous with nighttime tornadoes they can kill more people without the proper warning given today
I was 10 years old in 1974 and this was the first time I ever heard a tornado siren. I lived in Indiana, we had 3 funnel clouds over us at one point. We had an earth tremor shortly afterwards
I know I shouldn't make fun of this but I can't resist. "The Day of the Killer Tornadoes" sounds like a bad horror movie. I am referring to "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" in case you were wondering. BUT THAT IS ALL I FIND FUNNY. Losing your property, life, etc is certainly not in the least amusing.
I'll never forget that day until I die. Was 6 yrs old in Louisville and nearly lost my mother and grandparents in that. Thank God for dopplar radars today because we didn't have them back then. I became a volunteer storm spotter because of this tornado. I hope something like that NEVER happens like the "roar of '74".
@ncisducky4ever meteorologists are proclaiming that this year 2010 we will have at least, if not more, tornadoes than we did in 1993. They also point out how the gulf states are hot, and in december said tornadoes will be happenning early there, then just a few weeks ago there was a small outbreak. ... in january. got me a video camera for this year :D (live in kansas)
@MrAmericanAce: I don't know about that, but this has been one hell of an El Nino this year..........I live in TX and we're getting dumped with 6+ inches of snow..............and it hasn't stopped just yet. Right now, I'm a little more concerned about the early summer{live in TX}.
Also, where did you get the information that 2010 could end up like '74{'74 was a La Nina year, btw, according to what I've read}?
@JohnnyDart76 Thats just off an enthusiast forum where people talk and study meteorology. Some of them were from my college course as well. Just offhand assesments. nothing about 1974... they said something about pacific ocean gradually warming.
My dad was 7 when this happened. He lived in Elmwood Place where the F4 tornado hit the town. He said he remembers the entire roof of a house blowing onto the railroad tracks right in front of him while he was runnin to my great grandma's with my aunt. He said he remembers seeing the destroyed town in person thats at the end of this clip and seeing glasses still on the table in the first building even though the wall had been ripped off.
I saw this video in 1987 when I attended a youth development camp for the Red Cross. It has stuck in my mind ever since... Nice to see it posted here.
I was with Civil Defence here in Illinois were I live back then and the first tornado was just 20 miles from us.I remember it well.And Iam still with EMA today.
I remember this. It was 25 days before my 7th birthday. We were in Huntsville near the Arsenal, and that one bounced off a hill and hopped over our house. Scary stuff.
i was 12 at the time. i lived and still live in louisville, ky. i will NEVER, EVER forget that day of april 3rd, 1974. it was a scare for sure! a real scare. i was sitting in the hallway of our house with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters and, all i can tell you is this: it shook the house, and sounded like world war 3 was going on outside. it did a whole lot of damage to our city. wow. hope i never experience this kind of thing again in this lifetime. .. or, any other either!
I've been thinking about this lately. Was in 2nd grade in Indiana, about 2 miles from the path but close to Grant City and Kennard, which were devastated. My dad was affiliated with our little town's police force and was able to get access to Grant City and Kennard the next day and took our family to see the devastation. It was just crazy -- crumpled metal everywhere, rubble, burning fires, huge powerline towers in twisted heaps, concrete steps leading to nothing. Guess I'll never forget it.
I was 13, and i was there. I sat in the basement, listening to Dick Gilbert on the radio, until my dad determined that the tornado was going away from us. We stood in our front yard and watched it, about a mile away from us. It is something I will never, ever forget. I went with my parents into one of the neighborhoods, where they found a friend in what was left of her house. They helped her gather up what they could find and put it in the trunk of her crushed car.
What a day it must have been to have lived through this. I wasn't born until 77, but I have studied this day and read the book F5 which was written about this event.
1974-2009: 35 years ago today. This was my first memory as a human being- I was 2 years old. I grew up in Florence, AL and watched this with my parents. I remember seeing the hook-echoes on TV, seeing the news broadcasts. The announcer you hear reference Huntsville and Huntsville Hospital is Adrian Gibson, formerly of WAAY-TV channel 31. Anyways, we had to watch this in elementary school. What gave me nightmares then became a hobby. I was in OK 10 yrs ago when the big one hit Moore & OKC.
You actually get used to them and most of the town's people ignore them. They set them off and nothing happens so people just don't listen. Not smart! But those of us in the south know the sights, smells and sounds of an approaching tornado. It's like you are born with it. If you seen green? HIT THE DECK!
I was in Southern Indiana and it was all radio coverage... but we were totally freaked out. Xenia was a word that was on our minds and in the news for years. I was there a few years ago and wondered what remained to show the devastation. Terrifying! Kim Algaier
It was terrifying! This went on for 3 days. I was a little boy back then but I remember very well it being completely pitch black outside for most of one day. The street lights were on. Never seen it that way again. Very balmy outside and the clouds so low you felt you could reach up and touch them. Racing and swirling by.
Thank you so much for putting this on. This was actually the 2nd tornado that I was involved with. I was only 6 years old. The 1st was the tornado that hit in Reading (where I live) and also Maderia back in 1969. I really don't remember much of them but still get really nervous when the sirens go off
Thier warings system sucked back then! You pretty much didnt get the warning until the tornado was on the ground! Thank God our warnings are much better now!
We had NO warnings! Nothing in Tennessee. No sirens. You looked at the skies and listened for the roar. At night you were just a sitting duck unless you heard the roar. Radar was still new and it was a fuzzy grey image on a screen that you really couldn't make out where anything was. Of course when it would lightening, EVERYBODY unhooked their TV from the antenna and unplugged it. Radios too. You unplugged everything.
Everybody says they talked about hook echos and gave tornado warnings all night. Not here they didn't! Not in rural areas. You might hear a blurb on the radio but I only remember the weatherman saying thunderstorms and that was it until the damage reports starting coming in. The only "tornado warning" you would get was if there was one on the ground and spotted. They didn't cut into programming on TV either. They would give a report during the commercial breaks.
There's something about grainy footage of tornadoes in Louisville, Kentucky in 1974 that scares the ever loving crap out of me, and I can't figure out why...
Because they were bigger than the ones we get today on average. There were more F5's during this outbreak. Lots of F4's too. They aren't clean looking tornados like you see pictures off. They look like a massive black wall with all this debris around them. "Rolling smoke" as a lot of people describe it. You honestly don't know it's a tornado until you hear that roar and start seeing things being sucked up from the ground.
@2agray yes u are correct, multiple vortex tornadoes tend to take these features. The midwest and southern US will experience a very similar weather pattern this 2010 that we had in 1974. They say it could be unprecedented.
Thanks for puting this classic on Youtube. I was a freshman in High School in western Cincinnati when the April 3rd tornadoes hit us. In Part 1, when showing Hamilton County (Ohio); where Cincinnati is located at; the videos of the tornado was the one that past the Great Cincinnati Airport, crossed the Ohio River and went throught Green Township in western Hamilton County. The Camera's vantage point, I believe, was from downtown Cincinnati and pointing west.
I was 9 years old when this happened. I saw 3 tornadoes on 4-3-74. I have seen 5 more since then. Native Americans from the Xenia area would not live in the city limits. They refered to Xenia as, "land of the devil winds."
I remember the biggest tornado that hit my hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee on April 2nd, 2006 it damaged 24 houses completely destroying one at a tune of $400,000 no deaths or injuries that was my tornado i ever been through 2 years ago we had 5 tornado sirens now we have 7 tornado sirens 2 2001-130 3 Whelen Vortex 4004 series 1 siratone 612 and 1 3t22 which is the oldest siren in our siren system they are tested the first Saturday of the month every month for 3 minutes 12-12:03pm
In 1974 when the storm hit I lived in Irvington,Ky. and was in the 8th grade. My great great Uncle was the first to be killed that day in the Meade Co. area and I think the first in and around Louisville area. My Dad found him he had just left my dads shop. It is so wild how this has brought back so many memories.
I was 3 years old on 4/3/74. I remember the tornado in Louisville just like it was yesterday. I remember my mom had WHAS on and I heard the weather service guy yell out It's *coming* ! Goodbye!" I also remember Dick Gilbert staying on the radio through it all,I saw his chopper fly over our house with a guy in the other seat leaning out taking pictures. (He received a medal from the president for his efforts). We've come a long way in warning technology in 34 years.
The guy fled...got the **** outta dodge as the tornado formed about 400 yards from the national weather service office on the edge of Standiford Field Airport. As far as I know nobody was hurt at the airport...
I live in Cincy also. I grew up in Carthage, a town that's next to Elmwood. Where the Tornado hit the Hamilton COunty Fairgrounds there's a memorial for the people that died there, a peice of twisted metal that was part of an amusement park ride at the entrance on the vine street side. I also live right down the street from west fork road so it was funny hearing that street name.
You can go to the NOAA web site and there's a link for the history of these storms including the transcript of the late Dick Gilbert's derscription from the helicopter he was in.
wow, this video rules! This was before modern doppler radar which can track storm cells down to the finest detail. These guys relied on some primitive equipment by today's standards and relied heavily on brave weather spotters out in the field. Still, these guys did a splendid job in trying to save lives.
Dick Gilbert said after the tornado, that if it had went towards his house, he would've landed the chopper to pick up his daughter (getting home from school), and back up they would've went. Dick Gilbert received a Presidential medal of Honor for his heroic & bravery of flying SkyWatch84 (WHAS Radio) on April 3, 1974. To this day, he is the ONLY person to have done such. Dick passed away September 7th, 1999. R.I.P., Dick.
5:14 That's the Mt. Airy Thunderbolt!
SSAirsoftowns 1 week ago in playlist Day of the Killer Tornadoes
I lived through this in Central Kentucky. I was 2 years old and remember images of it.
wcmi92 2 weeks ago
yes that the only siren i like for tornado warnings!
MrPunkskametal 1 month ago
Major weather freak here! I had this video on VHS as a kid! Thank you for taking me back! :D
Oracle13 1 month ago
@Oracle13 me too. haha I used to watch this all the time
corey0007 1 month ago
man ty so vm for all yr hard work and lovely comments and of course fro the movie tyvm
Pebscorner 2 months ago
what do we have to do to get these damn sirens turned off
Thepinkfloydmaster 5 months ago
@Thepinkfloydmaster This is not a test, it is an actual warning.
Beauty4Aspies 2 months ago
A THUNDERBOLT T1000! YELLOW WARNING SYSTEM!
MrPunkskametal 6 months ago
@MrPunkskametal Beauties arent they? :D
Oracle13 1 month ago
wow 5:27 for the first time in 17 years the civil defence sirens are sounding in ernast
bohrokthunder 7 months ago
if this ever happens again, dont look outside, run like a bat outta he** into the basment if you wanna survive or be ripped to shreds by multiple tornadoes with enourmous debris. tornadoes are powerfull vortex's of pure destruction written all over them
bohrokthunder 7 months ago
this is an example of mother natures awesome power and beauty also an example of mother natures wrath and destructive behavior
bohrokthunder 7 months ago
What model of Hallicrafters is that on 7:59? It must be a newer one or a public safety-band radio unless it's just a "prop". Keep in mind much of the footage is a dramatization especially the indoor shots.
wkat950 9 months ago
I was only 12 and remember this as though it was yesterday
thankdog 10 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@thankdog i had sex with your mom on that day so it was good for me
vvbn7890 9 months ago
louisville ky, is my hometown
carlzson299 10 months ago
Almost 20 years after the Michigan F4 and F5 of April 3rd 1956.
247Countryboy1 10 months ago
xenia, ohio, xenia, ohio, it killed people-gummo
StraightouttaHouston 10 months ago
Most of the existing Thunderbolt 1000Ts including the one in the video have now been replaced with 2001s
garyhstorms10 11 months ago
i was seven and in our celler living near church hill downs in louisville KY. our celler doors blew off and i remember seeing one of the twisters going right down the middle of our street...it must have botherd me more than i thought because i have no memories of ever seeing any damage and louisville was absolutly torn apart
keithshammer 11 months ago
Happy(?) Anniversary all.
-Twister #44 survivor.
ShadowBlasko 11 months ago
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UTubeVideoBuzz 11 months ago
I was 4...It was like a seen from the movie Twister !!!
innovision777 11 months ago
back in those days tornado sirens were activated telephone line
Heyde1979 11 months ago
I was 11 years old then AND Remember it well !
FollowMeVideos 1 year ago
I will never forget this day. I was in class at the University of Louisville. The sirens sounded and class let out early. As I made my way home on Brownsville Road, the traffic was unbelievable! My apartment was untouched, but only a few blocks away in a georgous neighborhood....DEVASTATION. Several people in that neighborhood died. It was a very sad day indeed.
danafredrick 1 year ago
i never got where my dad live in louisville
X2JEDIFETT33 1 year ago
My mom survived the tornado of '74. She lived in Xenia, OH, in the Arrowhead Subdivision. I enjoy learning about the tornado she survived, it definitely has given me insight into her childhood.
'
hiltum1391 1 year ago
The annoucer was wrong. The first one was in Morristown, Illinois.
talladegajunkie1439 1 year ago
Actually you might well not survive an F5 even if you're under the basement stairs. You really need a purpose-built underground storm shelter with a sloped steel bunker door. The Parkersburg F5 had one house in the F5 zone where it actually undermined the foundation until it exposed and collapsed the basement wall and sucked the poor bastard out to his death.
EntropicMisanthropic 1 year ago
I don't see how new radar technology would save people from an F5.
The Greensburg F5 had 45 minutes of warning and full TV coverage but people still tried the "get in the 1st-floor bathtub" routine and got killed for it.
You will not survive an F4/F5 if you're not underground. The Jarrell F5 moved at 8 mph. You could have outrun it on foot, but instead people sheltered patiently in the bathroom. Took the cadaver dogs weeks to find all the body parts scattered across the debris field.
EntropicMisanthropic 1 year ago
WHAS now transmits the tone to activate special receivers? Do they mean weather radios?
bradhig 1 year ago
@bradhig I don't think so. I think it was a way to activate the Emergency Broadcast System so they can interrupt programming on any other stations they may operate, unlike today where they can push a button and it goes off. In that day in age, there were only about 50 Weather Radio transmitters, mostly in marine locations, so thats why it's leading me to believe that its to activate the EBS.
romerofan123 1 year ago
@romerofan123 You're right. With the old EBS, only one or two stations in an area acted as senders while the rest were listeners, with their EBS signal receiver system hooked up 24/7 to the on-air feed from one of the relay stations.
When they played that creepy two-tone alert noise over the air, it not only got people's attention in an unmistakable way, but it also tripped all the listening receiver stations so they automatically cut their broadcast and rebroadcast the sender station's feed.
EntropicMisanthropic 1 year ago
@romerofan123 I should add that the new EAS still allows for the alert tone to be used but it's not mandatory anymore. My local station only uses it for tornado warnings and I'm told most of the OK/KS/TX stations don't ever use it because it annoys people. They use a short series of digital "squawks" that transmits the entire EAS message in burst data format to a modem at the TV/radio station which translates it and reads an automated message rather than having to rebroadcast another station.
EntropicMisanthropic 1 year ago
I was visiting my relatives in Madison right after this storm hit! It was like a war zone! I was only 12 years old but will never forget what it did to Madison. I still visit that town when I can. Its a great place to visit!
gahpilotva 1 year ago
My Mom was working at Our Lady of Peace Hospital when this hit in Louisville. She said there was a pond out front of the building, and it was there one moment, and gone the next. Washers and dryers from the laundry mats were found miles away, the grass was rolled up like a carpet, and the dead people from the funeral homes were scattered everywhere. She ended up working 3 back to back shifts at the hospital because of it. This all happend 6 years before I was born.
kachinababe 1 year ago
Tanner, Al was hit by consecutive F-5s (some list the 2nd tornado as an F-4 because it caused less damage than the first. Of course the reason for that is the first one had already destroyed everything in its path) within 30 minutes of each other. One man was badly injured and taken to a Church to wait for an ambulance when the 2nd tornado came through and ended his life. Can you imagine what was going thru his mind when he looked up and saw the 2nd twister? "This just isn't my day."
kperk014 1 year ago
did he say kentuckyana?
bohrokthunder 1 year ago
@bohrokthunder Yea, thats what they call the are that is right between Kentucky and Indiana. Usually the area of Louisville KY and Jeffersontown IN.
burtismith 1 year ago
@burtismith What did you think about yesterday ?
LLJ98 1 year ago
@LLJ98 It was pretty scary. I go to UofL and was in the basement of the chemistry building and found out that there was a tornado. It didnt scare my professor, he continued with his lecture. ha
burtismith 1 year ago
@bohrokthunder ya, a lot of times the Louisville TV stations refer to their viewing area as Kentuckyana because its combined with Kentucky and Indiana.
romerofan123 1 year ago
@romerofan123 oh cool
bohrokthunder 1 year ago
2:58 He says "this is tornado warning" kinda like he's announcing a game show. Lol.
DudeDie222 1 year ago
I wish you had some video or pics for the Guin, AL F5 that hit that day. I went through that one. I was 16 and lost so many people I knew.
menopausin1 1 year ago
Is he saying Kentucyanna at 1:53?
CelticDragon0 1 year ago
@CelticDragon0 yes Kentickiana which describes Greater Louisville on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River and the suburbs on the Indiana side of the river.
bixpchiphead 1 year ago
@bixpchiphead Thank you-I had never heard of that before
CelticDragon0 1 year ago
Technology was so sad back then!
theitalian556 1 year ago
My message was a response to Ninerpoolgirl's question
ncisducky4ever 1 year ago
I became a spotter by training with others and taking instructions from the local National Weather Service office. They trained us on what to look for and how to safely chase and track the tornado. It would help to discuss tornadoes with your local meteorologist or with someone at your NWS to get a better idea of tornadoes and to hopefully aleviate any fears you have to properly protect yourself. Hope that helps and good luck XD
ncisducky4ever 1 year ago
It would almost be interesting to see how we would fare NOW if this happened NOW. People now have better access to radar data at home and can even pick out tornado storms ( I have dont it my self, just look for the hook/notch)
Zoomer30 1 year ago
i only live 2 hours away from Cincinnati
mmikeironhorse 1 year ago
I remember Dick Gillbert. He came to our school after the outbreak and talked to us kids about it, I think it was spring of 1974 when he came. Very frightening day indeed.
62636263c 1 year ago
I wasnt born yet but I heard so much about this event!I live in Alabama,and the county next to us was hit by 2 f5s,There is a plauque with info of what happend that day!It wouldnt suprise me if there is anothe outbreak like this one,sometime in the next few years!I just dont beleive that this is a one time thing.Thankfully we have better radar.and better equiped for these situations!
met1bama 1 year ago
@met1bama I agree as well the weather warning system and radar in 1974 wasn't good like it is today in1974 the warnings come too late and today's warning lead time of a tornado before touching down is 16 minuets advance warning there is an outbreak like the 1974 outbreak my god i remember that outbreak known as the super Tuesday outbreak in 2008 before my 28th birthday.
csx2295 1 year ago
@csx2295 to crazy to think that was in febuary to which dont expect that big of an outbreak.
justintime2989 1 year ago
@justintime2989 Well They can happen down south because i am from the south we can tornadoes in spring fall and winter spring in Brownsville, Tennessee dangerous with nighttime tornadoes they can kill more people without the proper warning given today
csx2295 1 year ago
i have this box set
i got it at a garage sale with "The Big Tornadoes"
xxcurnuxx 1 year ago
i have a videotape of the same two volumes of killer tornadoes i got that for christmas
jeremysimsports 1 year ago
I was 10 years old in 1974 and this was the first time I ever heard a tornado siren. I lived in Indiana, we had 3 funnel clouds over us at one point. We had an earth tremor shortly afterwards
maddieirl110 2 years ago
we just had a tornado last year in miami
IT WAS A F5
jaylang121 2 years ago
Tornadoes in Miami? for real? that seems too strange.
NinerPoolGirl 2 years ago
yea and 1 in 1997
jaylang121 1 year ago
@NinerPoolGirl There is a town in indiana called miami but i really dont think that tornado was an F5
MrGSWAGG92 4 months ago
i was not even born yet
mmikeironhorse 2 years ago
I know I shouldn't make fun of this but I can't resist. "The Day of the Killer Tornadoes" sounds like a bad horror movie. I am referring to "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" in case you were wondering. BUT THAT IS ALL I FIND FUNNY. Losing your property, life, etc is certainly not in the least amusing.
UtahMike41 2 years ago
I'll never forget that day until I die. Was 6 yrs old in Louisville and nearly lost my mother and grandparents in that. Thank God for dopplar radars today because we didn't have them back then. I became a volunteer storm spotter because of this tornado. I hope something like that NEVER happens like the "roar of '74".
ncisducky4ever 2 years ago 17
@ncisducky4ever meteorologists are proclaiming that this year 2010 we will have at least, if not more, tornadoes than we did in 1993. They also point out how the gulf states are hot, and in december said tornadoes will be happenning early there, then just a few weeks ago there was a small outbreak. ... in january. got me a video camera for this year :D (live in kansas)
MrAmericanAce 2 years ago
@MrAmericanAce: I don't know about that, but this has been one hell of an El Nino this year..........I live in TX and we're getting dumped with 6+ inches of snow..............and it hasn't stopped just yet. Right now, I'm a little more concerned about the early summer{live in TX}.
Also, where did you get the information that 2010 could end up like '74{'74 was a La Nina year, btw, according to what I've read}?
JohnnyDart76 2 years ago
Comment removed
MrAmericanAce 2 years ago
@JohnnyDart76 Thats just off an enthusiast forum where people talk and study meteorology. Some of them were from my college course as well. Just offhand assesments. nothing about 1974... they said something about pacific ocean gradually warming.
MrAmericanAce 2 years ago
Comment removed
NinerPoolGirl 1 year ago
@ncisducky4ever The roar of '74? I'd say that's appropriate.
JasondeLEpee 10 months ago
THUNDERBOLTS!!
d3nv3rm8n 2 years ago
All county broadcast like the one at 4:38 can still occasionally be heard today on 155.370 in Hamilton Co. Ohio, complete with the tone drop.
KC8WJG 2 years ago
The Super Outbreak went all the way down to south Mississippi. Laurel,MS got hit with an F3 tornado
wxman1989 2 years ago
I think the Louisville tornado was an F4.
ColonelAngus75 2 years ago
I saw this on tv back in the early 1980s! Kinda cheesey, but OK to watch. Thanks!
dtiman 2 years ago
My dad's cousin got killed in the Xenia tornado... D:
I don't think my father's side would ever forget this tornado; it was a few miles away from where he lived.
SpottedleafCCRVMK 2 years ago
They didn't issue any watches or warnings in Chicago.
royalfuzziness 2 years ago
Comment removed
Troyboyfilms 2 years ago
Those clouds at 3:06 look so scary.
ThePowerWithin34 2 years ago
My Dad was on a flight out of DC that day, heading to Seattle, his plane went right over that storm.
Linkster2o 2 years ago
We still live in Elmwood, and in my opinion the town still hasnt completely recovered from it yet.
bgb1018 2 years ago
My dad was 7 when this happened. He lived in Elmwood Place where the F4 tornado hit the town. He said he remembers the entire roof of a house blowing onto the railroad tracks right in front of him while he was runnin to my great grandma's with my aunt. He said he remembers seeing the destroyed town in person thats at the end of this clip and seeing glasses still on the table in the first building even though the wall had been ripped off.
bgb1018 2 years ago
I saw this video in 1987 when I attended a youth development camp for the Red Cross. It has stuck in my mind ever since... Nice to see it posted here.
impcat2 2 years ago
my grandmother will not forget this day
gunboy77 2 years ago 3
I was with Civil Defence here in Illinois were I live back then and the first tornado was just 20 miles from us.I remember it well.And Iam still with EMA today.
It tought people to be more aware of storms.
vfw454 2 years ago
I remember this. It was 25 days before my 7th birthday. We were in Huntsville near the Arsenal, and that one bounced off a hill and hopped over our house. Scary stuff.
Joemantler 2 years ago
i was 12 at the time. i lived and still live in louisville, ky. i will NEVER, EVER forget that day of april 3rd, 1974. it was a scare for sure! a real scare. i was sitting in the hallway of our house with my 2 brothers and 2 sisters and, all i can tell you is this: it shook the house, and sounded like world war 3 was going on outside. it did a whole lot of damage to our city. wow. hope i never experience this kind of thing again in this lifetime. .. or, any other either!
Ms87GN 2 years ago
I've been thinking about this lately. Was in 2nd grade in Indiana, about 2 miles from the path but close to Grant City and Kennard, which were devastated. My dad was affiliated with our little town's police force and was able to get access to Grant City and Kennard the next day and took our family to see the devastation. It was just crazy -- crumpled metal everywhere, rubble, burning fires, huge powerline towers in twisted heaps, concrete steps leading to nothing. Guess I'll never forget it.
SyntagmaStation 2 years ago
I was 13, and i was there. I sat in the basement, listening to Dick Gilbert on the radio, until my dad determined that the tornado was going away from us. We stood in our front yard and watched it, about a mile away from us. It is something I will never, ever forget. I went with my parents into one of the neighborhoods, where they found a friend in what was left of her house. They helped her gather up what they could find and put it in the trunk of her crushed car.
darkfireyguy 2 years ago
What a day it must have been to have lived through this. I wasn't born until 77, but I have studied this day and read the book F5 which was written about this event.
RayAir1 2 years ago
1974-2009: 35 years ago today. This was my first memory as a human being- I was 2 years old. I grew up in Florence, AL and watched this with my parents. I remember seeing the hook-echoes on TV, seeing the news broadcasts. The announcer you hear reference Huntsville and Huntsville Hospital is Adrian Gibson, formerly of WAAY-TV channel 31. Anyways, we had to watch this in elementary school. What gave me nightmares then became a hobby. I was in OK 10 yrs ago when the big one hit Moore & OKC.
bren10man 2 years ago 2
yea AL got hit so hard it was so sad
Femalejuggalo316 2 years ago
a tornado siren has got to be the scariest sound in the world...
foreverhulkamania 2 years ago
WHen they wind down sounds the eeriest
RayAir1 2 years ago
You actually get used to them and most of the town's people ignore them. They set them off and nothing happens so people just don't listen. Not smart! But those of us in the south know the sights, smells and sounds of an approaching tornado. It's like you are born with it. If you seen green? HIT THE DECK!
2agray 2 years ago
I was in Southern Indiana and it was all radio coverage... but we were totally freaked out. Xenia was a word that was on our minds and in the news for years. I was there a few years ago and wondered what remained to show the devastation. Terrifying! Kim Algaier
SpriteNC 2 years ago
Did you know it will mark 35 years since the Super Outbreak hit Xenia, Beavercreek, Cincinnati areas, this year.
35 years!
usa02 2 years ago
This seems scary and I was born over 30 years later. I feel sorry for those who had to live through it. I couldnt imagine the fear
chad734 2 years ago
It was terrifying! This went on for 3 days. I was a little boy back then but I remember very well it being completely pitch black outside for most of one day. The street lights were on. Never seen it that way again. Very balmy outside and the clouds so low you felt you could reach up and touch them. Racing and swirling by.
2agray 2 years ago
Thank you so much for putting this on. This was actually the 2nd tornado that I was involved with. I was only 6 years old. The 1st was the tornado that hit in Reading (where I live) and also Maderia back in 1969. I really don't remember much of them but still get really nervous when the sirens go off
KKenny1967 2 years ago
Thier warings system sucked back then! You pretty much didnt get the warning until the tornado was on the ground! Thank God our warnings are much better now!
theitalian556 2 years ago 2
We had NO warnings! Nothing in Tennessee. No sirens. You looked at the skies and listened for the roar. At night you were just a sitting duck unless you heard the roar. Radar was still new and it was a fuzzy grey image on a screen that you really couldn't make out where anything was. Of course when it would lightening, EVERYBODY unhooked their TV from the antenna and unplugged it. Radios too. You unplugged everything.
2agray 2 years ago
Everybody says they talked about hook echos and gave tornado warnings all night. Not here they didn't! Not in rural areas. You might hear a blurb on the radio but I only remember the weatherman saying thunderstorms and that was it until the damage reports starting coming in. The only "tornado warning" you would get was if there was one on the ground and spotted. They didn't cut into programming on TV either. They would give a report during the commercial breaks.
2agray 2 years ago
There's something about grainy footage of tornadoes in Louisville, Kentucky in 1974 that scares the ever loving crap out of me, and I can't figure out why...
IamGoodyesIam 3 years ago 3
Yeah the quality of this video seems too scare me more than todays footage would
chad734 2 years ago 9
I agree! Wonder why that is . . .
SyntagmaStation 2 years ago
well when I see tornado footage in todays time it dosent look so scary. Just the ery look of 70s filming just makes it freaky.
chad734 2 years ago
Yeah youre right
makes it a lot of freakier
dillido24 2 years ago
Because they were bigger than the ones we get today on average. There were more F5's during this outbreak. Lots of F4's too. They aren't clean looking tornados like you see pictures off. They look like a massive black wall with all this debris around them. "Rolling smoke" as a lot of people describe it. You honestly don't know it's a tornado until you hear that roar and start seeing things being sucked up from the ground.
2agray 2 years ago
@2agray yes u are correct, multiple vortex tornadoes tend to take these features. The midwest and southern US will experience a very similar weather pattern this 2010 that we had in 1974. They say it could be unprecedented.
MrAmericanAce 2 years ago
@chad734 I attribute it to the need these days to coddle people and sugar coat things.
timhomer2009 1 year ago
Thanks for puting this classic on Youtube. I was a freshman in High School in western Cincinnati when the April 3rd tornadoes hit us. In Part 1, when showing Hamilton County (Ohio); where Cincinnati is located at; the videos of the tornado was the one that past the Great Cincinnati Airport, crossed the Ohio River and went throught Green Township in western Hamilton County. The Camera's vantage point, I believe, was from downtown Cincinnati and pointing west.
lfwd12345 3 years ago
I was 4 years old when this happened..How many nervous breakdowns were made that day?
NinerPoolGirl 3 years ago 2
I was 9 years old when this happened. I saw 3 tornadoes on 4-3-74. I have seen 5 more since then. Native Americans from the Xenia area would not live in the city limits. They refered to Xenia as, "land of the devil winds."
muskaman33 3 years ago
it's called the super outbreak..
cutedoggy441 3 years ago
The narrator really sounds like the guy you hear over the weather radio.
XtremeWeirdo 3 years ago
Thanks for putting this on. Wow. I remember when this happened. Intense!!!
LawlisMom 3 years ago 2
Amazing
chefwolf 3 years ago
Having lived through that night, I'll never forget it
cowbelle07 3 years ago
i hav this video!!! =]
Tyses 3 years ago
Never mind, just read the info.
Thought the super outbreak started in the early afternoon, near Morris IL.
HauntedGhostLady 3 years ago
Was this the Palm Sunday outbreak of 1965?
HauntedGhostLady 3 years ago
no, but the powerful tornado is almost hit my hometown, i was 28 years before i was born
davidlee110 3 years ago
I remember the biggest tornado that hit my hometown of Brownsville, Tennessee on April 2nd, 2006 it damaged 24 houses completely destroying one at a tune of $400,000 no deaths or injuries that was my tornado i ever been through 2 years ago we had 5 tornado sirens now we have 7 tornado sirens 2 2001-130 3 Whelen Vortex 4004 series 1 siratone 612 and 1 3t22 which is the oldest siren in our siren system they are tested the first Saturday of the month every month for 3 minutes 12-12:03pm
csx2295 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I can destroy these monsters...
and want to make my discovering in practice...
maccKaron 3 years ago
quit commenting all these videos mccKaron your an idiot
cubs629 3 years ago
my dad was little when this happened. it skippe dover his house!
kpL7weenie 3 years ago
is that like terrible tuesday?
Tyses 3 years ago
i remember watching this in high school
kixcountryfan 3 years ago
how big is the storm plz answer back by hitting reply
Klabybaby 3 years ago
The "Superoutbreak" was the largest outbreak in US history. The numbers vary slightly depending on which data you follow but in essentially:
335 Killed 6,142 Injured
At least SIX F5 tornadoes, numerous F3 and F4
144 or 148 Tornadoes hit From April 3 to early April 4, 1974.
Your question is hard to answer. Xenia and Guin (OH and AL resp.) we two massive tornadoes..but any of the six F5 tornadoes that day were horrific.
ChristopherSaindon 3 years ago
interting.
itstheBIGcheese 3 years ago
In 1974 when the storm hit I lived in Irvington,Ky. and was in the 8th grade. My great great Uncle was the first to be killed that day in the Meade Co. area and I think the first in and around Louisville area. My Dad found him he had just left my dads shop. It is so wild how this has brought back so many memories.
18204850 3 years ago
I remember this, I was 4 at the time, very scary. I remember Frankfort (about 50 miles from Louisville)had lots of buildings destroyed.
posiemax 3 years ago
I'm saving this, man!
ilovetogofast88 3 years ago
My family lived through this!
Singer1939 3 years ago
I was 3 years old on 4/3/74. I remember the tornado in Louisville just like it was yesterday. I remember my mom had WHAS on and I heard the weather service guy yell out It's *coming* ! Goodbye!" I also remember Dick Gilbert staying on the radio through it all,I saw his chopper fly over our house with a guy in the other seat leaning out taking pictures. (He received a medal from the president for his efforts). We've come a long way in warning technology in 34 years.
code3mmc 3 years ago 3
Goodbye as in he fled, or he died? lol.
EMDPr0ductions 3 years ago
The guy fled...got the **** outta dodge as the tornado formed about 400 yards from the national weather service office on the edge of Standiford Field Airport. As far as I know nobody was hurt at the airport...
code3mmc 3 years ago
Oooh
EMDPr0ductions 3 years ago
That was funny, "What do we have to do to get these d*** sirens turned off?" They might just save your life!
shannonm75 3 years ago
Are the thunderbolts that goes off from 5:12-5:45 1000T's or 1000's?
RobotxAngel 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
who gives a shit man...
Penceldude 3 years ago
Fuck off and don't come around here anymore, this is awesome
ilovetogofast88 3 years ago
Very Interesting video
rousseau5550 3 years ago
@rousseau5550 uh yeah its history its ment to be recorded
bohrokthunder 1 year ago
Part of this video between 5:20-5:40 was shown on 100 Biggest Weather on The Weather Channel.
Kara3000 3 years ago
I live in Cincy also. I grew up in Carthage, a town that's next to Elmwood. Where the Tornado hit the Hamilton COunty Fairgrounds there's a memorial for the people that died there, a peice of twisted metal that was part of an amusement park ride at the entrance on the vine street side. I also live right down the street from west fork road so it was funny hearing that street name.
mojorisen74 3 years ago
I live in Cincinnati now and am from Hamilton county, this so creepy, hearing street and area names I know.
renthepanda 3 years ago
Those tornadoes looked scary. I'm glad I wasn't there. Actually I wasn't around back then.
garrettsambo7 3 years ago
I was and it was Scary as HELL !!!!
Glr31 3 years ago
You can go to the NOAA web site and there's a link for the history of these storms including the transcript of the late Dick Gilbert's derscription from the helicopter he was in.
parkman35 3 years ago
An IndyFan is calling someone else old? LMFAO.
moobie1010 3 years ago
Love those hammy narrators from back then. I wonder if they still talk like that to their families?
moobie1010 3 years ago
I WONDER wat would happen to a t-rex in a tornado
NFLfan9 3 years ago
My grandfather was sent to work there for repair. He said he had never seen anything like that in his life.
FstFormula 3 years ago
i agree starvol they did there best to save lives
hogsfan73 3 years ago
Today is the 34th anniversary . I remember it like it was yesterday .
snattler 3 years ago
wow...i dont usually watch the whole video that are 4+ mins but...this is way too awesome
Brady0o 3 years ago
I live in Louisville... this is cool to watch.
At 5:20.... LOL!
RipTheSystem33 4 years ago
The reenactments are classic!
pkdavis1495 4 years ago 2
wow, this video rules! This was before modern doppler radar which can track storm cells down to the finest detail. These guys relied on some primitive equipment by today's standards and relied heavily on brave weather spotters out in the field. Still, these guys did a splendid job in trying to save lives.
starVol 4 years ago 4
"What do we have to do to turn these damn sirens off".
hfkjehgufihgiufewi 4 years ago
i live in ky ant was in hosptal at this time all the windows were blew out
codyclayrice 4 years ago
Dick Gilbert said after the tornado, that if it had went towards his house, he would've landed the chopper to pick up his daughter (getting home from school), and back up they would've went. Dick Gilbert received a Presidential medal of Honor for his heroic & bravery of flying SkyWatch84 (WHAS Radio) on April 3, 1974. To this day, he is the ONLY person to have done such. Dick passed away September 7th, 1999. R.I.P., Dick.
fredalan 4 years ago