Tornado terror 50 years ago remembered

Описание: If you're of a certain age, you likely remember the tornadoes that swept across the metro area fifty years ago on May 6, 1965.

At least six tornadoes touched down in the northern and western portions of the greater metro area and beyond, four of them were F4 tornadoes, including one in Golden Valley.

At the time, a publication from Twin Cities Suburban Newspapers, Inc. dubbed the events of May 6 "Suburbia's Longest Night."

"It got dark, I remember it also changing kind of a greenish color," said John Trautmann, who was a kid growing up in Eden Prairie in 1965.

"They said there's something coming on the radio and then the sirens, the alarms went off and that was the first tornado that went through," said Mike Riley, who was a teenager living in Fridley when one of the tornadoes came through his city.

Thirteen people were killed and 683 injured in the storms. It could have been even worse had it not been for new tools at the time that included weather radar and a warning system designed for the Cold War era.

"The outdoor warning sirens were actually established for air raids and people practiced duck and cover and things like that," said Hennepin County Emergency Management Director Eric Waage. "So when the sirens were used for the very first time in desperation, people acted, and they took actions to save their lives."

Fifty years later, Hennepin County and the National Weather Service in Chanhassen have a network of 16 new sophisticated weather stations, with 8 more on the way, that offer real time data throughout the county. The tools measure elements such as wind speed, wind direction and rain.

"It's better to have an instrument on the ground telling you how fast the wind is going than estimating that from the radar as far as public response," said Waage.

The network of new weather stations can help prompt immediate warnings for the public. But Waage says he worries whether the public is listen and paying attention in today's age of information overload.

"There's almost too many sources of information and they can become confusing, and so we're concerned that people might not take lifesaving action when the word goes out even though it comes much faster and is much more accurate than it's ever been," said Waage.

Alexandra Renslo reporting
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