Potpourri: Remembering the 2016 tornado

Thankfully, there were no deaths, but several people had to be extracted from their basements.

The slow-moving funnel was on the ground in Dickinson County for more than an hour and was about one-half mile in width.  

While the tornado moved north of Abilene and narrowly missed Chapman, the rural areas of the county were not so lucky. Of the 104 homes in the path of the storm, 11 were destroyed, not including the number of sheds, barns and outbuildings damaged or destroyed. 

The tornado caused an estimated $3.874 million in real estate property damage. I believe those numbers were adjusted upward in the week's following.

The National Weather Service initially believed it was an EF-3 (Enhanced Fujita scale tornado with winds between 136 and 165 mph) based on damage in the western part of the county; however, when they saw what was left of the Ken Wood home near Chapman they determined it was accelerating into an EF-4 (166 to 200 mph) "when they saw how it pulled the foundation out of the ground," former County Administrator Brad Homman said at the time.

The NWS public information statement said the tornado was a “long track violent tornado with a peak wind speed of 180 mph. It traveled 26 miles creating a path approximately one-half mile wide. It started at approximately 7:10 a.m. five miles northwest of Solomon and ended at approximately 8:40 a.m. three miles southeast of Chapman before ending near the Dickinson and Geary county line.”

More than 123 different first responders were out that night into the early morning hours checking homes and conducting search and rescue. Fire departments from the entire northern half of the county were out, along with sheriff’s deputies, emergency management and responders from other Clay, Saline, Mitchell and other counties, the Kansas Highway Patrol and people from the state.

Getting around after the storm was a challenge due to the amount of tree debris that covered many rural roads. The night of the storm, the Dickinson County Road and Bridge Department was out clearing Old 40 Highway, then began working on Paint Road helping out Hayes Township. Tree debris cleanup in the affected areas lasted for months after.

You can still see remnants of the tree damage along I-70 where the twister crossed the interstate. 

A friend of our family lived on Jeep Road in the path of the storm. When we couldn't reach her by cell phone, we feared the worst and drove out to her place in the dark, driving over some tree limbs and downed power lines.

Once there, we were relieved to learn she was okay and her place was not damaged. She told us she had been watching the tornado from her patio door, heading straight toward her, and she prayed that it would miss her. Just then, the twister shifted south a little and started its path ambling toward the southeast.

Tornado sirens sounded locally that night. Abilene Middle School's year end event, "Night of the Stars," was made more memorable as the attendees spent most of that evening in the gym, which is located below ground.

“It was an interesting night,” former AMS Principal Ron Wilson told me a couple days after the storm. “I’ve been in education 30 years and done hundreds of tornado drills. I always wondered what it would be like to spend a long time in a tornado shelter with these kids. After 30 years, I finally found out.”

The meal had been served, the teachers had finished their skit and the dance was about to begin when a parent volunteer learned a tornado had been spotted near Solomon. Once the tornado warning for Abilene was issued, it was apparent the situation would go on for some time.

What many have probably forgotten is that once the tornado passed through the county, the storm began back building, resulting in a second tornado warning for Abilene. That second storm dropped a funnel south of town.

As I've written before, I have long been obsessed with tornadoes and storms.

So much so, that every few years I find myself reviewing stories about horrific spring storms (mostly in Kansas). Nowadays, instead of just reading about them, there's plenty of videos to watch on YouTube. For instance, I watched a couple videos about the May 26 storm Wednesday morning that I had never seen before.

There's nothing like watching tornado videos during the height of tornado season. In the past couple days, I've seen monsters such as the May 4, 2007, Greensburg, Kansas, and May 22, 2011, Joplin, Missouri, tornadoes.

I don't know why I do that. It is about as comforting as watching shows about paranormal encounters or alien abduction stories at night.