[DrCaleb]

$1:

The tornado struck July 31, 1987, killing 27 people and leaving hundreds of others injured and homeless.

One of the worst natural disasters in Alberta's history, the tornado changed the lives of those who survived its awful power.

“I discovered a few things during the tornado,” John Marzolf told CBC News. “One of them was that I was no where near as brave as I thought I was, and that your life can change in a flash.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... ories.html

And a new locally produced video, remembering the day. I've always found it hard to listen to; too many memories.

[DrCaleb]

Where were you? Let's hear stories. I was with a bunch of friends, camping in the back country of Jasper.

[Lemmy]

I was playing baseball in Montana. I remember watching the news coverage on the television in the hotel room.

[raydan]

I don't even remember this story...
...we don't get Alberta here in Québec.

[bootlegga]

I was 17 and at home at the time. One minute it was calm and clear, the next, the sky was black and the streetlights came on.

My brother left a few minutes before to hit the Red Rooster (long time Albertans may recognize that name) for a slush. Suddenly the skies opened up and it poured cats and dogs and marble-sized hail fell.

My brother came home ten minutes later soaked to the skin. At the time, we just thought it was a terrible summer storm. A few minutes later, the sky was clear again and it seemed like nothing had happened.

I rode my bike to work at Arby's around 5pm and during the dinner rush, the news had reached us that Edmonton was struck by a tornado. The manager thought about closing the restaurant and sending us all home, thinking the tornado was still in progress. When I got home, I watched the evening news and saw the devastation.

There were two weird tidbits that always struck me about that tornado - the first was my parents had been looking at buying a house in Clareview and it had been almost totally destroyed by the storm - debris and high winds wrecked it. The other was that my father was contractor and worked in various plants in the Refinery Row area - I went to see it over the weekend and it was eerie how there were piles of rubble everywhere, how this building was fine and the one next to it was totally destroyed, etc.

I also rode my bike down into the river valley and I was awestruck at the massive trees the tornado had uprooted in Hermitage Park.

For the next couple of weeks, everytime a thunderstorm hit Edmonton, people freaked out and ran to their basements, called 911 demanding information and so on. It really affected a lot of people, and not just those in hardest hit areas (Refinery Row and Evergreen Trailer Park).

Still as terrible as it was, a lot of good came out of it - Edmonton finally got Doppler radar, the City established a proper emergency centre and the authorities started to make effort to warn people about severe weather.

[DrCaleb]

raydan raydan:

I don't even remember this story...
...we don't get Alberta here in Québec.

https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?msid=208 ... urce=embed

We heard the reports in the back country over the radio. We packed up and left immediately. Turns out my girlfriend at the time, her Uncle was in the Byers Freight yard. He drove truck for them, and he was in the shop when the tornado hit, lifting the roof right off the building and dropping it on everyone.

He was trapped in the cab of his truck, under that rubble for 2 days.

[peck420]

I was at Millwoods Rec Centre when the hail broke the skylights.

Got home in time to watch the tornado go down the south east side of the city.

I will never forget the colour of the sky just prior to the tornado. Am I crazy, or was it unimaginably calm between the hail and the tornado?

[Alta_redneck]

I kind of put my story in another topic http://www.canadaka.net/forums/post1909010#p1909010

All of July had wicked weather that year but we were actually working that day, 6 miles north of Bentley, our boss was at the gravel pit which was closer to Rimbey when that cloud started hailing on him, he tried talking to us over the radio but we couldn't hear him over all the noise of the hail beating the crap out of his truck.

About an hour later we heard the reports from Edmonton about a tornado, someone commented about the green looking sky earlier but no one knew that usually accompanied a tornado. It was impressive to watch from a distance.

No one played horseshoes that night, we were all glued to our TV's

About 13 years later I had another float over my house and 20 minutes later it was tossing trailers into Pine Lake, I'm good, I don't need to see any more again.

[martin14]

raydan raydan:

I don't even remember this story...
...we don't get Alberta here in Québec.

'87 ?

Montreal as well, missed the whole thing.. sorry.

[Alta_redneck]

raydan raydan:

I don't even remember this story...
...we don't get Alberta here in Québec.

Never have, and never will.

[Unsound]

I was 8. I remeber mostly how little we knew about how dangerous weather could be. My mom, sister, and I spent a good part of the day standing in front of the picture window watching the sky. The green colour and the crazy clouds... it was just cool, at first.

Then we starting hearing news reports and getting an idea of the devastation. Dad was working on the south side and had decided to head home when he first started hearing how bad it was. Of course, in the days before cell phones, he had no way of telling us about the flooded roads and underpasses that turned his 30 minute drive into a few hours. Looking back, I can't believe how calm my mom managed to be in front of us when she must've been worried sick.

[raydan]

Alta_redneck Alta_redneck:

raydan raydan:

I don't even remember this story...
...we don't get Alberta here in Québec.

Never have, and never will.

That was uncalled for.

I get a lot more of it now then I did a few years ago.

[Thanos]

Very sad. I remember that summer quite well with all the extreme heat and intense thunder/rain/hail storms that seemed to happen at least once or twice a week. We were camping near Red Deer a few weeks after the Edmonton tornado and a system brewed up around 6 PM on a very hot day. A partial funnel cloud developed on the horizon and man, did everyone start freaking out big time. Kids were running around crying and their parents we're all "should we get in the car and GTFO of here?".

[DrCaleb]

peck420 peck420:

I will never forget the colour of the sky just prior to the tornado. Am I crazy, or was it unimaginably calm between the hail and the tornado?

Nope. You aren't crazy. I've seen several of those Electric Green clouds since ('89, @ Pardee Equipment IIRC) and the calm and sudden temperature drop means 'run for the hills!'.

[Thanos]

Saw one of those green skies back in 2007 west of Cochrane. The way the humidity magnified everything made it look like the mountains were about ten klicks away instead of a hundred. Nothing happened but the Albera emergency alert system was going nuts on the radio as I was driving. The thunderstorm hit just as I got to the motel in Sundre and sounded so wall-shaking loud it was like someone was shelling the town with big-calibre artillery. A genuinely creepy moment all around.