Word: tornadoes
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...dies away, and a hot and oppressive calm lies across the land. From the west comes a line of thunderheads. At first they are low on the horizon, but swiftly they rise and swell and dominate the sky. By this time, weather-wise Great Plains farmers, who know tornado signs, are sticking close to their cyclone cellars...
Such weather wisdom warns of tornado conditions only an hour ahead at best; usually much less. This is not time enough to broadcast an alarm to people who spend little time in the open and so cannot watch the sky. For such potential victims, the U.S. Weather Bureau, with a big assist from the Air Force, has developed a system that warns of tornadoes two to four hours ahead...
...tornado, sixth and worst in Blackwell since 1912, destroyed and damaged 500 houses, hurt 493 people and killed 19, caused a $10 million loss. The whirlwind ripped surfaces off the highways, wrapped a big electric refrigerator around a tree stump, tossed a wrecked pickup truck onto the second floor of a ruined brick house. Sweeping north across the amber wheat, the deadly funnel killed one family's five children in Oxford, Kans. A farmer three miles south of Udall saw it coming: "It sounded like a bunch of jets and looked black as an oil slush pond. I didn...
...home in Udall, Lester Sweet turned on his TV set to catch the weather report: tornado warnings had been broadcast all day, and he was "deathly afraid." He heard an all-clear at 10:20 p.m. and was just settling into bed when the house cracked open. "We're in for it," he yelled to the wife, pushing her and the children under the bed. "We could hardly breathe with the vacuum and the dust," he said later. "It was like being in an echo box, with everybody yelling so loud you couldn't hear...
...houses, 170 were smashed to bits, 16 damaged beyond repair and only one left unscathed. Almost all property and automobiles were wrecked. The city hall, three churches, the old grade school and new $250,000 high school were destroyed. For its size, Udall had suffered the worst tornado toll in history. Paper and debris from Udall were picked up dozens of miles away, but none of Aileen Holtje's wedding presents were found, except-three days later some yellow and lavender sheeting...