Tornadoes in Northeast Ohio

Today brought back some memories for me that I locked away since 1985 as I sat and watched a news report on Andover, Ohio. Andover is a little town about 5 miles from my home and I saw the destruction from a tornado the day beforeon the news channel. Thankfully, no one had been injured or killed but the damage to buildings and property was not a pretty picture.

Being a lifelong resident of Northeast Ohio I have been brought up to be weary of tornado season. I can recall several tornado drills I had to take part in when I was in public school and I can also remember countless speeches on tornado safety when I was younger, as well.

The worst tornado I can recall was when I lived in North Lima and was about 15yrs old and at an outside birthday bonfire for one of my classmates. At the fire pit we encountered heavy winds, some rainfall and heard the warning sirens but being teenagers our festivities were not going to be spoiled by a little bad weather. Ahhhhh, to be young and without fear! Nope, I don't want to go back to that time. I'd rather be old, wrinkly and very cautious.

My mother crashed the party and drug me away to hole me up in our neighbors basement. As she drove me home, I got the tornado and bad weather speech. I didn't take her words seriously, until the next day when all the reports came out on the damage and injuries associated with the previous nights weather.

The tornado was labeled an F5 and left a path of destruction from Newton Falls to Niles and on into Pennsylvania. Several people were either injured or killed in its wake and millions of dollars in damage were reported. The areas that sustained death and damage have since recovered and early warning systems have improved. Andover had a half an hour warning before the tornado struck. This is due to technological advances in science and public education. It's a shame that the people in 1985 and countless other years of tornado seasons hadn't had the chance that Andover had yesterday. Maybe there would have been no loss of life in 1985 had we been better educated and our warning system was more advanced. My heart goes out to the familes who sustained a loss of a loved one and damage to their homes and businesses.