Your Memories: The 1989 Airport Road Tornado

[Judy]

I was working at Intergraph at the time and it was the day before our annual company Thanksgiving dinner. After work I stopped at Winn Dixie on Hwy 20 to pick up some last minute items and heard over the store loudspeaker that a tornado had touched down near Airport Rd. We were told not to leave the store. My son who was almost 3 at the time was at the babysitter's house. I couldn't reach my husband or her because all the phone circuits were busy. I was frantic!! When I finally got thru to my husband he told me he had heard the warnings and that he had Danny safe at home with him. That was just the beginning of what was going to be a very long night and days that followed. My husband and I, both Jaycees at the time, met up with others at the old Jaycees bldg. off Airport Rd. This was set up as a shelter/central location for food, supplies and other donations, etc. The outpouring from the community was tremendous as food, clothing, blankets and other supplies came pouring in. Since nearly all of the roads were impassable and dangers involved I wan't allowed to go out on the recovery efforts so I stayed behind assisting. When they finally allowed me to go on a food delivery run to the Police, Firefighters and others helping with recovery I couldn't believe my eyes. It was very dark, rubble and smoke everywhere; it looked like a war zone. I didn't even recognize what street we were on. Luckily I didn't see any victims but what I did see was horrific and something I will NEVER, EVER forget. After working at the Jaycees bldg. for a few days we still felt we had to do more. A few days later some of my co-workers and I collaborated to collect from other fellow employees the grocery store gift certificates that Intergraph gave us back then as a Holiday present and dontate them to the Red Cross. It wasn't much, only a few thousand dollars worth but it was something we all felt strongly about. I remember being "called out" by my Supervisor because these donations weren't company sanctioned. I didn't care though because it felt right and good. They needed these certificates far more than we did. I'm thankful that I didn't know any of the victims and my heart goes out to all of them and thier families. God Bless all of the Fire Fighters, Police and other individuals who risked their own lives to help those who needed them that night!

[thomasmorris]

i was at work that day i had stay 4 a little while at work then the light went off an 1 of my coworker went to his car to get a flashlight he call out dame there a tornado on the ground every 1 that was still there ran to the backdoor an watch

[Jean Sanderson]

I remember the tornado very well. I had a niece in Huntsville Hospital battling Hodgkins Disease, and her brother worked at Golbro on Airport Road. I
went to the hospital to see about my niece, and she was upset. She had seen the tornado go over Airport Road from her 7th floor window. She couldn't find out anything about how her brother was. My nephew was trapped under rubble and a car was sitting on top of him and three girls that were working.His really close friend, an older lady had ask him if he wanted to take his supper break with her, and he said he thought he would watch the storm. No sooner had she got back to the break room that everything went black and his friend was killed. He said he and the girls were sitting in what almost looked like a cacoon,an aread big enough for the four of them. They were pulled out right beside the car(whose driver did not survive) about three hours later. We lost my niece two months later, and my nephew went on to become one of the greates math teachers that Madison County will ever know. He had his Bible in his car that was found by a friend during the searching of the rubble. It was filled with glass, but there was not a torn place in it. Amazing!!!

[Barbara Lauster-Scott]

It was a terrible time for our town and it was amazing how many people we knew injured or killed during this horrific time. My husband was deer hunting in Estill Fork Tennessee and had climbed into his stationary tree stand when he looked up on a limb and discovered a school book from a student at Jones Valley school This was at least 50 miles from the site of the school. The name of the student was in the book and we were able to get it back to him.

[shay]

omg so sad

[shay]

omg this is so sad and i live on airport road and i go to school on whiteburg dive

[Benjamin Sheldon]

My dad and grandfather were out running and my little brother and I were with My grandmother at the Central Seventh-Day Adventist church for a Wednesday night prayer meeting. She had heard a tornado producing storm was approaching the area. The three of us left to church to look for them. When we were approaching the Airport Rd. Whitesburg Dr. intersection we were stuck by the tornado. The last thing I remember was watching the traffic signal flipping around it's wires. When I came to my little brother and I were standing 50 yards away from her car, back to back, with a broken utility poll between us. I could hear my grandmother crying out for us in the cool night, but it was difficult to discern where her voice was coming from. When we finally found her there were two cars on top of her Buick and the vehicle no longer had a back seat. Me and my brother crawled back into the car through it's broken windows and sat on the frame of what used to be the back set. We waited patiently for the hero's, that were the first responders, to arrive. I remember three things very vividly in my 6 year old mind.#1: The eerie silence in the chaotic scene with random cries for help coming from unknown shadows.#2: The unrelenting smell of gasoline that seemed the coat everything in the area.#3 How happy I was to see the fireman come take my brother out of the car. He had a 1.5 in. laceration above one of his ears and his face was covered with blood. Except for the stitches he required on said cut, the three of us left that horrible spot in the universe without any major injuries. I'll never forget that night, running from hospital to hospital waiting to hear a list of names being read, to see if they brought my brother there. It ingrained into my mind how lucky we were to live in such a friendly nation and have the proper people to help us. I'll also remember how the cold front was so strong there were flurries the next day.

[e-mail]

[Shirley G Davis]

I was in a camaro at airport road and the parkway. My car was picked up inthe funnel and was carried across the road came down in a nosedive and fliped several times and landed upside down against a telephon pole. had to cut out of my camaro.whnt tv 19 cameraman held the light for the rescu wokers.Iam the lady on tape being cut out wiyh my hands over my head in a fetal poition.I did not know I had been in a tornado until the rescue wokers told me. Ithought an 18 wheeler had hit me.Due to my injuries I had to retire from my job with micom at redstone arsenal. following numerous surgeries after two months in huntsville hospital, the latest being later this month and years of pain and suffering I shall never forget that night.However I thank God that I survived as i had a four year old daughter at home who needed her mom because i was all she had.! reside at 104 stafford lane in hazel green ala. Thank You shirley g. davis

[jennifer]

i was in 8 th grade when it happened. was at whitesburg middle school. stayed after school for band and was waiting for my mother to come pick me up. was waiting outside the band room and looked at the sky, i noticed the sky was green and then i saw some of the clouds come down they were spinning then go back up. this was around 4 in the afternoon

[Yolanda Daniel]

Nov. 15, 1989 marks my first day ever in Huntsville, Al. I was 5 and coming from Arkansas to Huntsville where my father was relocated (Redstone Arsenal). We arrived a little bit after 4pm and I remember it was quite dark out to be still so early in the evening. We head into our new home and Mom instantly threw us in the hall closet with covers, couch pillows over our heads and snacks. All of a sudden I heard this loud, very scary sound screeching outside (sirens), and the house began to get pelted by what sounded like rocks (hail).
At that point in my life, even coming from Tornado Alley, I had never experience a tornado before, and being confined to to Redstone Arsenal, I had never seen or even known the severity of the damage caused by the '89 Tornado.

[Jesse Wayne Wilbanks]

I was at work in Flint City in Morgan County. The weather alert had stated "there is a tornado over Flint City". My wife heard this over the radio and called me. Approximately an hour later my Mom who lived in Huntsville called me and said "Your Dad (Jesse C. Wilbanks) has been in a tornado". I wanted to know how she knew and she said "He's not home". He carried your Aunt Ola Wilbanks to the doctor on Airport Road and he's not home. I said, I'm on my way. She said "No" too dangerous. My cousin was on the way here to go look for Dad and Aunt Ola". They found them in the emergency room at the hospital. Aunt Ola had been admitted and Dad was awaiting treatment. They were setting at the traffic light on Airport Rd when they were hit. Dad said the car was picked up, spun around several times and then dropped. The glass imploded on him and Aunt Ola causing several cuts and also bruses from the hail. Aunt Ola never survived. She was the 23rd person to die from the results of the tornado.

[Jennifer Allen]

I live in Madison and I was working at a beauty salon the day of the
tornado. I remember the electricity going out, is all that happened in Madison.

[Jennifer Campbell-Cosby]

I was at my grandmother's house. I was only in the sixth grade but remember this all too well. My dad was painting Jones Valley school that day. His name is Roy Campbell and we had just talked to him moments before this happened. I remember the radio telling us the school was demolished and my mom and I just broke into tears. We did not hear from him again for about 4-5 hours when he got to where we were. I remember he told us about how right before the tornado hit the school he was running from the end of the school the tornado was spinning in the parking lot and while he was running he caught a teacher and a student then fell on top of them right as the tornado hit. Dad then had many blood clots and lost both legs and eventually lost his life in 2001 from the blood clots so this storm not only has an effect on me as a tornado but it was what started all the health complications that ended up taking my dad's life.

[Erica Lane]

I was a reporter for Channel 19 at that time. Videographer Gregg Stone and I were two of the very first people on the scene. It was difficult to even get there because of downed trees and power poles. Once at Airport road, it still took a while to figure out where we were because nothing looked like it had before. We were there for 6 hours and yet didn't "report" a thing. It was a rescue effort. The job that night was to try to find those buried in the rubble. I remember each rescue and the heroics of the police, fire and EMT personnel, the volunteers who just showed up and the television photographers with their heavy light belts giving needed light to the efforts. But I also remember a man lying in the Goldbro parking lot, who could not speak, he could only moan, a woman over him with an umbrella trying to keep the rain off his face. I gave the lady my coat because the temperature was dropping. Amazingly, my coat was returned to me even though I don't remember giving the lady my name. I never did find out what happened to the man. I still wonder about him....

[Jennifer K]

I was only 3 and lost my father that day. This has forever changed my life. RIP Daddy we miss you.

[Tommy Montgomery]

I remember that day very clearly. At the time I was a delivery driver for the South Parkway Terry's Pizza and my shift had just started at 4:30 that day. I took my first delivery to an apartment in Hunters Ridge and was on my way back to the store sitting at the light at Golf Road. This was before the overpass was there. I looked north up the parkway for oncoming traffic as I was about to turn right and head south. When I looked north I saw this wall cloud cross the parkway between me and airport road it was coming off of the golf course. I followed it with my eyes and watched as it slammed into Waterford Square and the buildings there just basically evaporated. Upon seeing that I turned right headed south on the Parkway and floored it back to the store as fast as I could. When I returned my boss was out on the front porch waiting for me as the reports had already started to come in about the tornado. In the true spirit of Terry's Pizza we did not close. The electricity was out but our ovens were gas powered so they continued to make pizzas using flashlights to see when they were done and I continued to deliver them. We finally closed at about 9 that night and I had to cut across the Arsenal to get to my apartment off of Drake Avenue at Newson Road. I learned that day that in a tornado it will either hit you or it won't the only thing you can do is do your best to get the heck out of its way because when you do suffer a direct hit the only thing that will save your life is the mercy of God.