Hurricane Edith and The Tornado 50 Years Ago
Sept 15, 2021 14:25:17 GMT -6
Mike Naso, HarahanTim - Now in Covington!, and 2 more like this
Post by kennethb on Sept 15, 2021 14:25:17 GMT -6
I hope ya'll do not mind me posting this. September 16 marks a significant anniversary for me, my fellow 5th grade classmates and others students, teachers, families and neighbors. Yes back in the day for some reason, we went to school during hurricanes and tornados.
It was 50 years ago September 16, 1971 that a tornado spawned by Hurricane Edith hit my School, St. Thomas More in Baton Rouge LA, which was open and full of us students that day. This traumatic event which is called The Tornado is still discussed today by my classmates and all who were there.
In 1971 we only had two TV stations (cartoons and cereal commercials only on Saturday morning), several mostly am radio stations and tracked hurricanes by coordinates on our hurricane tracking charts we picked up from the local gas station or bank. On the morning of September 16, 1971 Hurricane Edith was a category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds and came ashore in Southwest Louisiana near the Rockefeller Wildlife Management Area. A week back on September 9 Hurricane Edith was a category 5 Hurricane when it hit Nicaragua. From there Hurricane Edith weakened and remained a tropical depression as it crossed the Gulf of Honduras, Yucatan, and into the Bay of Campeche. Near the Texas/Mexico border Tropical Depression Edith slowed and eventually began moving northeast toward Louisiana in response to a trough and restrengthened to a category 2.
The tornado first came down around 8:45 am at Episcopal High School (about 2.6 miles to the SE of St. Thomas More School), a second time St. Thomas More School, and a third time on a shopping center (about 0.6 miles to the NW of the school) at the corner of Florida Blvd. and Sherwood Forest Blvd.
I was in 5th grade and on the second floor of what is called the main building. My classroom had a grove of pine trees outside, separating the main building with the church parking lot. There were several cars in the parking lot for the 8:30 daily Mass of which the 2nd graders were attending this date. My sister was in 2nd grade and in the church. My desk was on the row nearest the windows overlooking the parking lot, facing east towards the church. I recall it getting black and perhaps a gust of wind causing the pine trees to sway and windows closing (Our school did not have air conditioning) either from the wind or other students in other classes. My teacher, Ms Bienvenu, told everyone to get into the hall. I still to this date do not recall or blocked out any sound or anything I might have seen because I just remember suddenly being in the hall and many of the students crying. If I could be hypnotized I would like to know if my mind blocked anything that I may have saw and heard. My classmates and I eventually went back to the classroom and looked out. We saw debris (branches, lumber, etc.) outside the window and in the parking lot. Several of the cars had their doors opened due to the pressure. I recall looking down and seeing a basketball backboard. A couple of days later I noted that all of the basketball backboards were still intact so this backboard came from someone’s house a few blocks to our southeast.
My mom had gone to get her hair done before the tornado and on the way back home saw branches in the road, somehow heard that the school had been hit by the tornado and parents were to come get their children. Radio stations had erroneously reported that the school had been flattened which was not true. This caused much panic amongst parents. The 2nd graders in the church had gone under the pews. There were no deaths and mostly minor injuries. The worst was to Ms Iverstine, with, I think, a collapsed lung. Sadly, Ms Iverstine died in the July 9, 1982 Pan American Airline Crash in New Orleans.
My mom, very emotionally, picked up me and my three siblings up next to a sycamore tree. Yes it was breezy. After the storm I noted the sycamore tree fell during the storm. I still wonder what I saw and perhaps blacked out. Several times during the day my parents would go outside and I remember screaming for my parents to come back inside. Hurricane Edith passed not too far northwest of Baton Rouge in the afternoon as a tropical storm. After the morning tornado I think the remainder of Edith a was mostly a dry storm.
For months and even years after the tornado there were work crews putting new tar roofs on the school. The sound and smell of tar pots were almost constant through 8th grade. To this date anytime I smell tar I immediately go back to the tornado. For the next few years after the tornado anytime the skies would blacken or thunderstorms were forecast some parents would keep their children home or take out them of school early. Somehow, someway, miraculously no one in my school or at any of the tornado touchdowns were killed or seriously injured. But we all have mental scars and memories.
It was 50 years ago September 16, 1971 that a tornado spawned by Hurricane Edith hit my School, St. Thomas More in Baton Rouge LA, which was open and full of us students that day. This traumatic event which is called The Tornado is still discussed today by my classmates and all who were there.
In 1971 we only had two TV stations (cartoons and cereal commercials only on Saturday morning), several mostly am radio stations and tracked hurricanes by coordinates on our hurricane tracking charts we picked up from the local gas station or bank. On the morning of September 16, 1971 Hurricane Edith was a category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds and came ashore in Southwest Louisiana near the Rockefeller Wildlife Management Area. A week back on September 9 Hurricane Edith was a category 5 Hurricane when it hit Nicaragua. From there Hurricane Edith weakened and remained a tropical depression as it crossed the Gulf of Honduras, Yucatan, and into the Bay of Campeche. Near the Texas/Mexico border Tropical Depression Edith slowed and eventually began moving northeast toward Louisiana in response to a trough and restrengthened to a category 2.
The tornado first came down around 8:45 am at Episcopal High School (about 2.6 miles to the SE of St. Thomas More School), a second time St. Thomas More School, and a third time on a shopping center (about 0.6 miles to the NW of the school) at the corner of Florida Blvd. and Sherwood Forest Blvd.
I was in 5th grade and on the second floor of what is called the main building. My classroom had a grove of pine trees outside, separating the main building with the church parking lot. There were several cars in the parking lot for the 8:30 daily Mass of which the 2nd graders were attending this date. My sister was in 2nd grade and in the church. My desk was on the row nearest the windows overlooking the parking lot, facing east towards the church. I recall it getting black and perhaps a gust of wind causing the pine trees to sway and windows closing (Our school did not have air conditioning) either from the wind or other students in other classes. My teacher, Ms Bienvenu, told everyone to get into the hall. I still to this date do not recall or blocked out any sound or anything I might have seen because I just remember suddenly being in the hall and many of the students crying. If I could be hypnotized I would like to know if my mind blocked anything that I may have saw and heard. My classmates and I eventually went back to the classroom and looked out. We saw debris (branches, lumber, etc.) outside the window and in the parking lot. Several of the cars had their doors opened due to the pressure. I recall looking down and seeing a basketball backboard. A couple of days later I noted that all of the basketball backboards were still intact so this backboard came from someone’s house a few blocks to our southeast.
My mom had gone to get her hair done before the tornado and on the way back home saw branches in the road, somehow heard that the school had been hit by the tornado and parents were to come get their children. Radio stations had erroneously reported that the school had been flattened which was not true. This caused much panic amongst parents. The 2nd graders in the church had gone under the pews. There were no deaths and mostly minor injuries. The worst was to Ms Iverstine, with, I think, a collapsed lung. Sadly, Ms Iverstine died in the July 9, 1982 Pan American Airline Crash in New Orleans.
My mom, very emotionally, picked up me and my three siblings up next to a sycamore tree. Yes it was breezy. After the storm I noted the sycamore tree fell during the storm. I still wonder what I saw and perhaps blacked out. Several times during the day my parents would go outside and I remember screaming for my parents to come back inside. Hurricane Edith passed not too far northwest of Baton Rouge in the afternoon as a tropical storm. After the morning tornado I think the remainder of Edith a was mostly a dry storm.
For months and even years after the tornado there were work crews putting new tar roofs on the school. The sound and smell of tar pots were almost constant through 8th grade. To this date anytime I smell tar I immediately go back to the tornado. For the next few years after the tornado anytime the skies would blacken or thunderstorms were forecast some parents would keep their children home or take out them of school early. Somehow, someway, miraculously no one in my school or at any of the tornado touchdowns were killed or seriously injured. But we all have mental scars and memories.