06/03/1980: Grand Island, NE

[Mark Blue]

This was a little before my storm chasing passion began, but it helped me determine what subject I would eventually major in a couple of years later at UNL. I experienced my first tornado when I was 5 years old in Minden, NE, on my grand parents farm (it took a direct hit), so I always loved severe weather from childhood. During the summer of 1980 I was fresh out of high school and working a good summer job trying to save money for college. I worked for a company that was located on a farm near Cozad, NE. They were in the business of selling grain tanks, machine sheds, quonsets, the type of structures you would expect to find on a farm if that makes sense.

Anyhow, I was charged with driving from Cozad to Columbus in a 1-ton dually pickup with a very long flat bed trailer on the morning of June 4, 1980, to pick up building parts at the Behlen factory in Columbus and bring them back. Once I hit the road I fired up the radio and quickly learned that several tornadoes had ripped through Grand Island the night before and I was excited to say the least, because my driving route would be on Highway 30 straight through Grand Island. On the western outskirts of Grand Island there was a National Guardsman heading off traffic, so I only saw the damage from a distance such as the VA Hospital. On the way back from Columbus there wasn't anyone on the east side of town directing traffic, so I headed straight for the area that was hit the hardest around Locust street. Keep in mind this is based only on my memories of that day, but I'm sure guys like Tim Marshall can share their experiences as I believe I remember him doing one of his first damage assessments for this event.

My most vivid memory was driving by this house that was right on Locust street and there was this man standing on his front steps looking like he was in shock and totally dejected (even that's an understatement). It was no wonder because that was all that was left of his home - the front steps. The home was swept clean off of the foundation and there was nothing left. I'll never forget that mental picture for the rest of my life. I spent some time driving around the Locust street area where the F4 hit and was simply blown away at the extent of the damage. Sheer and utter devastation period. I'll be anxiously awaiting the experiences of others who went through this event or have memories to share in connection with June 3, 1980.

[Tim Vasquez]

Here's a good shot of the Grand Island storm, before and 2 hours later. It began producing tornadoes within about 30 minutes after that last shot, and the big F3 or F4 tornado hit about another 30 minutes later. There's definitely evidence of a pre-existing boundary, judging by the flattened Sc streets north of Grand Island and the more vertical towers closer to I-80.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/060380.jpg

Tim

[Mark Blue]

Those are nice images of the storm Tim. Here's a couple more links of information I discovered a year or so back when I was searching the internet for anything and everything I could find.

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/giphoto3.html

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/grandisland1980-2000.html

I was friends with someone on the football team that went through this event and I could tell it put the fear of God in him. Some may remember him, some may not, but his name was Tom Rathman and he ended up playing fullback on the 49ers team during their championship run in the late 80s and early 90s. He was number 44.

[joel ewing]

One of my cousins was hunkered down in a building that night. She told me "Joel...they really DO sound like trains".
Of course I remember Tom Rathman. He was a stud with a capitol "S". You were on which football team with him where? Was he in G.I that night??
Grand Island is kind of like "Ground Zero" for tornadic action in Nebaska...at least it used to be. It's in Hall county...which, if you go thru the SPC records since the 1950's....seems to be the most active county. That and Buffalo county next to there (Kearney).

[Mark Blue]

To clarify, I didn't play football in college. My roommate during 1984-85 played I-back at Nebraska - his name was Greg Divis. He had the unfortunate situation to play behind Mike Rozier (Heisman winner) and Jeff Smith on the 1983-84 roster. Jeff Smith was the guy who dropped the 2 point conversion in the end zone against Miami in the 84 Orange Bowl causing Nebraska to lose the National Championship if that jogs your memory. My roommate Greg and Tom Rathman were best friends, so Tom spent a great deal of time over at our house hanging out, so that's how I got to know him. We had some good times back then doing all sorts of crazy stuff! I wish I could go back in a time warp once in awhile to be quite honest!

Anyhow, one night when we were hanging out Tom told me about the night of June 3, 1980, in that he spent several hours in the basement terrified with his family as the tornadoes sat over Grand Island. I believe his dad was a doctor there in town and Tom was in high school at the time. I could tell that it freaked him out by the way he told the story.

About 6 months later in 1985, some severe storms rolled into Lincoln so my roommate Greg and I jumped in my car for some old fashioned storm chasing. The tornado sirens were blaring for quite some time that evening in Lincoln. When we came home Tom Rathman was on our porch waiting for us and he was major league upset that we weren't there to let him take shelter in our basement. Tom and his wife lived in a trailer house in the north part of Lincoln, so rather than ride out a storm in a death trap he ran over to our house to take shelter, not knowing that we were gone chasing the storm. Needless to say he lashed out at us because he was really scared based on his experience a few years earlier in Grand Island. There was a point where I thought he was going to kick my butt, but he finally calmed down after we talked for awhile. He thought I was crazy for wanting to chase storms and see a tornado first hand, so that's how I knew the night of June 3, 1980, put the fear of God in him. Sorry for getting so long winded, but that's some background about the whole deal and how I knew Tom, who was basically a survivor of that terrible night in Grand Island.

[Darren Addy]

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/gid/?n=gi1980tornado

[Mark Blue]

I'm glad someone finally jumped in here to add some content. I backed my way into the NWS file directory at this link:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/gid/Events/GI1980/

It's kind of a neat way to look at the source documents posted on the web page you referenced Darren. The damage I saw where the home owner was standing on the steps of his home is depicted here as tornado #5:

http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/twistermap-grandisland-gii.html

It was no wonder his home was leveled to the foundation as it was an F4 that steam rolled its' way down Locust Street.

[Greg Neuman]

There is an excellent web page on that event at http://www.gitwisters.com/.