The Kalamazoo Tornado - May 13, 1980

[ILOVEPINK0706]

Why Did Someone Dislike The Video?

Great Video By The Way :)

[FunnyLooking77]

wish we had a FUCKING TORNADO today.. but nope! no thunderstorms in forecast

[MzSyditty2]

That's scary! i cant imagine what everyone was thinking then! 

[docmic73]

Yea this really tore into Kazoo there were twin baby twister reported but yea older bros was dragging my butt down the street from school sky was changing many colors right b4 it hit the Zoo.

[ls3361]

great history, any way to get a cd of photos

[charcas67]

I was in 7th grade when it happened. I believe I was home from school. The tornado really made downtown a mess. I remembered it impacted St. Augustines church and school. I went to St. A's "rival" school St. Monica's. For the rest of the school year, St. Monica's students had fridays off so that St. A's students could have school at our school on friday's. I think the other Catholic schools also had a day off so St. A's students could have a school day.

[nikolahull]

I was in the 2nd grade when this hit but that was the day I had to go to the ped's dr at Borgress, and we stopped at the McDonalds to get a burger. We got downtown and the sirens went off, and we ended up in the Hilton in one of their storage rooms. I can remember that our church got destroyed, and that most of downtown was a mess for some time. I still have the paper from the next day.

[bhite41]

it was friday the 13th

[mareee1]

@bhite41 No it wasn't. It was Tuesday.

[tekdogshophiecat]

These pictures are awesome! Makes me feel old.......... remember the "I survived the tornado of 1980" t-shirts?

[southparkfanchamp]

I Was Born In Kalamazoo! it is sweet....Michiagn Is SWEET

[guitarsxrxausome]

i was born in kalamazoo

[metallica11194]

i was born & raised in kalamazoo michigan =]. i love that place.

brings back memories

[Playstationfanatic00]

wow! a tornado in my hometown! i wasnt born when the tornado hit! i dont live in kalamazoo anymore though.

[Ghost2hunt85]

I remember this very well. I was in South Jr. High School at that time, my classmates & I just got off from the bus when arrived at school, I noticed the black cloud rolling in then heard the warning. The teachers ran outside and told us to get back on the bus immediately and go home NOW! We were worried and luckily we got home safe. Unfortunately, they were still cleaning up the messes and we were still out of school for 2 weeks!

[suckerforsweettalk]

my grandpa was in that. when it hit, he was in church, and there was no warnings, so he did not have many places to go. what happend was, he dove under a coat rack, and that is what protected him from all the glass and stuff. the churches chimney fell on his car, so he walked home(because he wanted to see if his 5 children were OK) so when he got there, the neighbors house had been turned 180 degrees! it was kinda a mircle. all that had to be re-done was the piping.his house and kids were OK too

[drooooopy]

I have heard a lot about this tornado (I didn't live in the area at the time but its still talked about). Thank you for this video on it.

[igettig]

Actually, it was a Tuesday. I was in 5th grade and remember vividly the destruction and impact to the community. School was out for the rest of the week. I do wish there was some kind of soundtrack for this video though. It would make it easier to watch. Nice job though. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

[bhite41]

it was also Friday the 13th. Lucky more people were not killed, remember that a school had let its kids out before it struck.

[rnorampergirl]

i was 19 at the time and the weather was fine, then just be-4 schools let out or lettin out there were no warrings it was like the tornado was there there were two bars at the time in 1 building called frontdoor was upstairs country and backdoor down was rock, pizza nextdoor all this behind the mall are and was all gone. people died and it was a mess will not 4-get lot happen that afternoon my best of girlfriends who still in k-zoo we talk about those days and wonder what if

[Floatsfast]

I was really hoping that you had the video taken from The Sound Room.

I had just driven down W. Michigan Ave. not 15 minutes before the tornado followed me, it was weird.

[856956sinewavetones]

Weird? You say Tornadoes in Michigan are WIERD?? Michigan is NO stranger to Twisters at all. Michigan Tornadoes are quite common, in fact more common than the Tornadoes of Ohio and Kentucky combined.

[Floatsfast]

The weather was weird as it was my first tornado. Going through downtown while the sky was black, the lights on the mall turned on, sirens blaring but people acting like nothing was going on, another false alarm. You get used to not having them hit but now if you hear the sirens you take cover, a whole new attitude.

[curtistcc]

i was in kindergarten when it hit. remember going thru d-town kzoo. great pictures. parents still have kzoo gazette of it laminated.