Bob Ayres - Grand Island Tornado
Friday will mark the thirty-first anniversary of the Grand Island Tornado outbreak, which pummeled the town of Grand Island, Nebraska on the night of June 3, 1980. Although the tornadoes in Grand Island were not as extraordinarily lethal as some of those seen in the U.S. recently, they nevertheless wrecked large parts of the town and claimed five lives, while injuring an additional 200 people.
Shortly afterwards, Bob Ayres headed into the recording studio and laid down this lugubrious ballad to offer some first-hand documentation of the tragic event.
I remember June 3, 1980. I was traveling east on I-80 to Lincoln, NE. As providence would have it, the car broke down somewhere in western Nebraska. I noticed the eastern sky ahead was dark but didn't think much about it. I stopped for the evening and then later, I heard on the news that Grand Island had been hit by a tornado. Had I continued driving, I would have been going through Grand Island just as the storm hit! The car was repaired the next day and I continued my trip. I drove through Grand Island and saw the damage first hand. I did not know til recently, that the storm had actually produced 7 twisters that night. I am so thankful that God protected me from the storm the night before.
Posted by: Sonia Sansonetti | March 25, 2012 at 12:23 AM