Twenty Years Ago Today

I consider Hesston my hometown. We lived in Virginia until I was 7 and we moved about 40 miles away when I was in high school, but that period in between contains the bulk of my childhood memories. My parents grew up in Hesston, including both sets of grandparents and other extended family living there. It’s where we come from.

Twenty years ago today I was driving to Salina to watch the Butler County Community College basketball team. I think it must have been a regional qualifying tournament because the juco national championship tournament is always held in Hutchinson, but they had one of the better teams in the nation and were worth following around. Since I had all day and they weren’t playing until the late game, I drove to Wichita first to browse the comic book shops then headed north. I remember being glad to get out of town because I could see massive storm clouds coming in behind me and on the drive the Wichita radio stations all went from regular broadcasts to tornado warnings.

But I had blue skies and was confident that I was out ahead of the storms, so much so that I even chose to take the more scenic back roads for part of the drive. I was planning to stop at my old haunts in Hesston for a bathroom break. I was heading toward town from the east, which meant the I-135 overpass blocked my view. As I drew near, I began to notice things weren’t right. Police car lights were flashing ahead of me, and it gradually sank in that I could see twisted trees, scattered debris, and vehicles pulled over to the side of the interstate. When I came to the underpass, my way was blocked by emergency vehicles that had closed the road and my only option was to turn onto the interstate on-ramp. Once the elevation gave me a vantage point, I could see a path of destruction through the heart town, and the building I’d been planning to stop at had become a pile of rubble.

Not knowing what else to do, I headed north to McPherson, where I found a phone and called home. The tornado hadn’t been reported yet and my parents weren’t worried about me, but I felt the need to reassure them I was OK anyway. After dithering for a bit, I decided to continue on to Salina. I was hyperaware of the storm clouds in all directions, but I never saw a drop of rain and continued to have sunshine the whole way. I arrived in Salina just as their sirens were going off and spent some time huddled in a gas station’s oil pit with the other travelers. Eventually I made my way to the game, but can’t remember anything about it or the trip home later that night.

Here’s a quick link to the Wikipedia facts about it, but if you do a search for the “Hesston tornado” you’ll get plenty of links to more information, images, and video. It was categorized an F5 and was significant for being on the ground for almost two hours and over 70 miles. I found out later I missed it by less than 45 minutes. My experience was very peripheral and I didn’t have to face much more than massive fear—others have had to deal with much, much worse—but it was enough to drive home the point that you don’t fuck around with tornadoes. Just writing this is stirring up plenty of emotion.