Hull Story
Collection: Tornado Stories
Title
Hull Story
Scroll down to view the document; press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search within the PDF file.
Subject
Tornadoes--Hesston (Kan.)
Description
Account transcribed from hand-written document.
Creator
Hull, Judy
Publisher
Hesston Public Library
Date
3/13/1990
Rights
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Narratives
Transcriptions
Identifier
TornadoStories_Hull.pdf
Citation
Hull, Judy, “Hull Story,” Hesston Public Library, accessed April 25, 2024, https://hesston.digitalsckls.info/item/119.
Text
505 Plaza Blvd.
Judy Hull
March 13, 1990 4:30 p.m.
It had been a busy day and I had just returned from the eye doctor in town. Candy, our 11 year old daughter and our dog Buster were at home. Bob, my husband, was at work at Hay & Forage Industries and B.J., our 15 year old son, was at track practice.
4:45 p.m.
Candy was listening to our scanner and told me there was some storms around. I laid down and told Candy to wake me if the weather got worse, or if she heard anything on scanner. The sun was still shining in places. I had laid down for 5-10 minutes when Candy told me they had spotted a tornado southwest of Buhler. I got up and listened to scanner and decided to send Cindy and Buster to basement with a bottle of water and lantern.
5:00 p.m.
I paced upstairs waiting for B.J. to get home. I knew I couldn't leave Cindy and probably would miss B.J. if I went after him. Between 5:08 and 5:10 B.J. was brought home by a friend. We took the scanner downstairs and listened down there. When they reported the tornado 2 miles south of town we went into our concrete storm shelter taking a radio in with us. We continued to listen to scanner until the lights went out and then we listened to radio. We listened to the progress of the tornado through town. I was trying to convince Candy that we would be alright and that God would take care of us. All of a sudden we could hear the windows shattering and feel the rush of wind under the storm shelter door. The door was rattling and I wasn't so sure we would be alright. It shook the whole house. Seems like it lasted forever, but was actually only a few seconds.
The next thing we heard on the radio was that the Pizza Hut was gone and Sav-a-trip was gone.
After it got quiet I came out of storm shelter to check things out. The basement looked okay except for glass all down the stairway. I didn't have shoes on so sent B.J. upstairs to get some shoes for me. When he didn't come back I went upstairs on glass stepping very carefully, luckily not cutting my feet. Things upstairs were blown around and glass was everywhere. I went outside to check on B.J. He was alright, but I couldn't believe my eyes at all the damage. Our yard was full of things from our garage and everywhere else. The roof of the house was gone and the garages between the duplexes was destroyed. One wall of the garage was lying on our van.
I went back downstairs and got Candy and Buster. When I came back up Bob was coming up the street to check on us.
They had just finally released them from shelter at Hay & Forage. He was really relieved to see we were all okay. There were a lot of people around to check on us and to help where needed. They helped board up windows before warning of next storm drove us all back to shelter.
Original Format
hand-written letter and typed document
Title
Hull Story
Scroll down to view the document; press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search within the PDF file.
Subject
Tornadoes--Hesston (Kan.)
Description
Account transcribed from hand-written document.
Creator
Hull, Judy
Publisher
Hesston Public Library
Date
3/13/1990
Rights
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
Type
Narratives
Transcriptions
Identifier
TornadoStories_Hull.pdf
Citation
Hull, Judy, “Hull Story,” Hesston Public Library, accessed April 25, 2024, https://hesston.digitalsckls.info/item/119.Text
505 Plaza Blvd.
Judy Hull
March 13, 1990 4:30 p.m.
It had been a busy day and I had just returned from the eye doctor in town. Candy, our 11 year old daughter and our dog Buster were at home. Bob, my husband, was at work at Hay & Forage Industries and B.J., our 15 year old son, was at track practice.
4:45 p.m.
Candy was listening to our scanner and told me there was some storms around. I laid down and told Candy to wake me if the weather got worse, or if she heard anything on scanner. The sun was still shining in places. I had laid down for 5-10 minutes when Candy told me they had spotted a tornado southwest of Buhler. I got up and listened to scanner and decided to send Cindy and Buster to basement with a bottle of water and lantern.
5:00 p.m.
I paced upstairs waiting for B.J. to get home. I knew I couldn't leave Cindy and probably would miss B.J. if I went after him. Between 5:08 and 5:10 B.J. was brought home by a friend. We took the scanner downstairs and listened down there. When they reported the tornado 2 miles south of town we went into our concrete storm shelter taking a radio in with us. We continued to listen to scanner until the lights went out and then we listened to radio. We listened to the progress of the tornado through town. I was trying to convince Candy that we would be alright and that God would take care of us. All of a sudden we could hear the windows shattering and feel the rush of wind under the storm shelter door. The door was rattling and I wasn't so sure we would be alright. It shook the whole house. Seems like it lasted forever, but was actually only a few seconds.
The next thing we heard on the radio was that the Pizza Hut was gone and Sav-a-trip was gone.
After it got quiet I came out of storm shelter to check things out. The basement looked okay except for glass all down the stairway. I didn't have shoes on so sent B.J. upstairs to get some shoes for me. When he didn't come back I went upstairs on glass stepping very carefully, luckily not cutting my feet. Things upstairs were blown around and glass was everywhere. I went outside to check on B.J. He was alright, but I couldn't believe my eyes at all the damage. Our yard was full of things from our garage and everywhere else. The roof of the house was gone and the garages between the duplexes was destroyed. One wall of the garage was lying on our van.
I went back downstairs and got Candy and Buster. When I came back up Bob was coming up the street to check on us.
They had just finally released them from shelter at Hay & Forage. He was really relieved to see we were all okay. There were a lot of people around to check on us and to help where needed. They helped board up windows before warning of next storm drove us all back to shelter.
Original Format
hand-written letter and typed document
Do you know something more about this item? See something that isn't quite right? Please post your comments and corrections below: