Saturday, June 10, 2006

Forty years ago...

On June 8, 1966 a massive tornado (F5 on the Fujita scale, with winds estimated over 250 mph) hit Topeka, Kansas. It killed 16 people & injured several hundred, destroyed 800 houses and damaged about 3000 more. Total cost of the destruction was about $100 million in 1966 dollars. That's a lot.

Even the National Weather Service pays tribute to this famous tornado. And this year the PBS station of Washburn University, whose campus was almost completely destroyed that evening, put together a TV special with an informative companion website.

It hit my house -- didn't flatten it, but caused considerable damage. I was five. This is why I'm not crazy about stormy weather even now.

Rough draft, very rough, which won't stay here for long:
[gone]

2 comments:

Collin Kelley said...

Mmmm...great start on this. I've had a couple tornado encounters...would love to talk to you more about this and how its colored your work.

Anne Haines said...

Thanks, Collin! Interesting question... I'm not sure how it may or may not have colored my work. Something to think about.