Scott Thoma's book Out of the Blue provides eye witness accounts of an F5 tornado that hit Tracy, Minnesota during the summer of 1968. This is a review by Audrey Kletscher Helbling in MinnPost.
It is a brutally honest story about the survival, death and destruction caused by one of two F-5 tornadoes in Minnesota history. The story is relevant to me as I moved into southwest Minnesota in the fall of 1967 and visited the site after the tornado with my dad in the summer of 1968. I remember seeing the destroyed elementary school.
He places three people, a birth mom, a soon to be adopted baby and the adoptive mother at the center of the story. We learn about the move to Tracy Minnesota and the deployment of the husband to Vietnam and the tragedy that strikes on the day of the tornado.
The town's emergency response to the tornado is covered in great detail and can serve as a guide to other emergency management personnel in preparing for a natural disaster. The nearby communities worked rapidly together to provide additional resources for security, hospital workers, electrical generators, shelter and food.
Railroad operators also acted to warn residents as the train was coming into town just before the tornado hit the town. They blew the train whistle and ran the train back and forth on the tracks to get the residents' attention.
The book also provides information about the best place to be in a tornado. It is not the SW corner of the basement. It is in an protected interior room on the lowest level of the house. Cover yourself with blankets to protect yourself from flying debris.
The book provides a clear eyed look at how people respond to an emergency and the results of their decisions.
Thirty minute radio interview of Scott Thoma on KMHL radio
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