CSNbbs

In the days before cell phones, we had to sit and wait to see if family members could make it home. Most land line phones in the area were down.
My wife watched the tornado rip apart Bronson Park from her office window in a dwntn building. I was working a few miles outside of Kzoo and didnt know about anything til it was over.



http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/inde...the_m.html
or http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/inde...the_m.html

I was about 25 years old down in Acapulco, Mexico partying like crazy because I had just sold a whole bunch of blow and made millions. Somehow I got drugged and raped by this hot women. She eventually killed me and I was reincarnated as bronco5.

I was 2 months from making my debut.

My girlfriend called, and told me to get out of the apartment (she was a nurse at Borgess and had heard the weather alert). I left our apartment near Plainwell, and headed down Douglas ave. to.................Kalamazoo . I got to around Alamo Ave and every street was blocked with downed trees. Occured to me that a tornado may have gone through. I was able to drive down West Main and got a look at the ISB building and the Hilton before cops deverted us. Those buildings were spooky, curtains hanging out, every window blown out.

Joe Wrights (local sportscaster) came on the radio by phone from the Hilton (now the Radisson). He'd gone through it. If my girlfriend had called 10 minutes earlier I'd have driven right into it. :ncaabbs:

Living in Cadillac MI, but my old boss had just moved to Kalamazoo.

I was actually supposed to be at a building on W. Main that afternoon but had car problems and couldn't go. So, we sat around and my roommate and I looked at the greenish sky, noted the stillness and both agreed it looked and felt like tornado weather.

Not 10 minutes later the sirens went off and unlike good mindless drones, we did what many did - we went outside and looked at the sky. We lived well south of where the tornado went - at least 5 miles. But we could actually hear it. Couldn't see it because of the trees.

The next day at work was quite weird - no power, so the backup generators were in use and only about 20% of the lights were on.

I still keep the issue of the Gazette with the pic of the tornado on it.

Yeah, I have that edition of the Gazette too

Edition, CD. I think we need to evaluate your teaching credentials.

That picture was taken from Espanola St. in Parchment with a pretty good telephoto lens. The picture is more impressive than reality, cause it just wasn't that close.

(05-11-2010 04:39 PM)bronco5 Wrote: [ -> ]I was about 25 years old down in Acapulco, Mexico partying like crazy because I had just sold a whole bunch of blow and made millions. Somehow I got drugged and raped by this hot women. She eventually killed me and I was reincarnated as bronco5.

Nice. :clap2:

No and I lived on South Street two blocks west of Bronson.
She worked in the Hilton at an artsy fartsy art store and was 2 months pregnant with Take.
She closed up the shop early and headed home, through Bronson. When she got to the house (we lived on the ground floor) she heard a deafening roar and made it to the backdoor to go into the houses basement. She ran into the folks that lived up stairs (2 apartments) and then the lights went out. So by our estimation she missed a head on by 7-8 minutes cutting diaganolly through Bronson from the NE corner (Rose St) to Westnedge and South.

I was coaching a baseball game way west on I-94 but short of I-196. The weather was warm and we were all in short sleeves prior to the game. The front came through and the temps dropped precipitously and by the 2nd inning I was scrounging around inside for track sweats for both teams. We had no idea a twister had run up M-43 from Bangor to Kazoo.

We were having an honors assembly that evening post game. After the game the principal ran me down and asked if I had heard. "Heard what?"

He just said, your going first, give the awards and get home. I passed out the girls award to the guy and vice versa. Jumped in my Plymouth Valient and sped up I-94.

I can't remember why, but I wound up having to take Oakland south down from east campus to get close enough to our home. Power poles and trees were down not to mention power lines. I had to park at the Stop and Go (don't know what is there today) at the bottom of the hill by Lovell(?). Trees were blocking the road.

By the time I got to South St. a guy in a helmet with a long rifle stopped me and asked where i was going. I believe he was a National Guard (uniform and all). I explained I could not get through to my pregnant wife and we literally lived around the corner. He said something to the effect of "be careful and stay clear of the power lines". I climbed over some down trees and could see and hear sparking lines. I got home and found No in the living room with candles on.

The next day I called in and No and I toured as much as security would allow. CD was correct. The ISB bank building and the Hilton were an erie sight and Bronson Park was a mess.

Later I bought a mint green T shirt stating "I survived the Kazoo Tornado". I was young and stupid as opposed to being just old.

If I remember correctly the Catholic school or the church along with a car dealership were hit hard.

Wasnt there or maybe it is still there, but a furniture store on W. Michigan? Stewarts or something? I believe the twister "jumped" that store. Again, erie to see a flattened building, an untouched building then another flattened structure, etc.

Was sitting at home (off West Michigan in Arcadia between Howard and Drake) looking Southwest out window thinking, "Wow, sure is raining hard", which was weird because the sun was shining!

My wife (fiancee then) was on East Campus, was going to head downtown to do some shopping, changed her mind at last minute.

Spring session, 1966: Picture taken from Eldridge Hall room.
The women in the dorm next door were in tornado shelter. But the men's dorm didn't hear a word.

Was building a home just off M-43 10 miles west of 131.

The house was sited in the middle of about 200 70' tall pines.

The tornado went right over the top of the house. I sat in a big truck with Mr. Tinker, the guy drilling my well, and watched the whole thing go right over our heads. Lots of debris, pole barn metal, misc. junk just swirling by. A deep woooshing sound.

300 feet down the street the tornado picked up a home and set it back down about six inches back on it's foundation. A few bricks fell off the front of that house. Never could figure out how it could pick up a whole house and set it back down with just that little bit of damage.

(05-12-2010 02:25 PM)Dirty Ernie Wrote: [ -> ]Was building a home just off M-43 10 miles west of 131.

The house was sited in the middle of about 200 70' tall pines.

The tornado went right over the top of the house. I sat in a big truck with Mr. Tinker, the guy drilling my well, and watched the whole thing go right over our heads. Lots of debris, pole barn metal, misc. junk just swirling by. A deep woooshing sound.

300 feet down the street the tornado picked up a home and set it back down about six inches back on it's foundation. A few bricks fell off the front of that house. Never could figure out how it could pick up a whole house and set it back down with just that little bit of damage.

Funny you mention the pine trees. We have friends who's parents had a place in South Haven. Going out for a couple weekends on M-43 I/we saw a number of tree's both feld and tops twisted off, then nothing, then more trees strewn around. All on the south side and back in about 100 yards or so. I remember the pine trees because they are more vertical in plane and to see them lined up and see a swath of them either snapped off at the same level or toppled like bowling pins was quite a sight.

Wasnt there a fatality on W. Main just west of the cemetary. Someone, if I recall, fled the laudermat on the north side (Paris Cleaners?) and hid on the east side of a building, only to have bricks from a chimmney come crashing down and killing him or her. Right across from an old Elementry school on the south side.

Many of the trees in the cemetary still have scars from the tornado.

Was playing hoops with my best friend in his neighbors driveway (years later the owner of said driveway would become big WMU bball supporter) on W ON Ave. His dog started making noises even he -- a jumpy, loud britney spaniel -- never made. Was sunny...went back to his house and heard on the radio, spent a frantic 25 minutes or so thinking my dad was a goner (I was 11) because he worked in the Park Building and the person on the radio was saying a building right near there was no longer standing (which was ultra hyperbole, all the windows were blown out but the building was standing). After that time it dawned on me that pops had left town that am for a biz trip -- whew! Remember getting non-stop calls next day from relatives in NYC as the pic of the Gilmores wall that collapsed made the back page of the Daily News. Also remember how the visual evidence path told a story all its own all the way out to Bangor and S Haven. Pics of neighborhood off WMain that my brother and sister took right after were unbelievable. Still can't believe more folks didn't die -- what was it 5/7? St A's was the school GB -- all the kids from over there came to my school for the rest of the year (St Monica)

(05-17-2010 07:54 AM)hiphop10 Wrote: [ -> ]Was playing hoops with my best friend in his neighbors driveway (years later the owner of said driveway would become big WMU bball supporter) on W ON Ave. His dog started making noises even he -- a jumpy, loud britney spaniel -- never made.

Not to be hatin but....
Research has shown that animals do not react any differently as a precursor to natural disasters, its just that we seem to notice and remember certain behaviors that the animal might make and think it is out of the ordinary, even though it isn't.

Dr. Fujita said so - son of the guy who made the Fujita scale of how to rate tornados.

ok

Yeah, I'm a so called "expert"