Hesston Kansas F5 Tornado 3-13-1990

@alexdillard6188 8 years ago

Amazing! Probably the first time an F-5 tornado's destructive power was so vividly captured on film. Incredible motion in those vortexes.

@jalenstimes7452 7 years ago

I'm really surprised to hear an actual roar of a tornado. It does sound like a waterfall. Props to the guy for not screaming at the top of his lungs unlike other "storm chasers".

@jboettgerboring 11 years ago

It's not a house at 2:33, it's a massive factory. This tornado was so huge it makes an enormous building like that look like a little house.

@MesoStorm 11 years ago

This guy is incredibly calm. The sound this tornado makes is ridiculous... so much damage.

@bmedic2082 11 years ago

People can actually film a tornado without screaming at the top of their lungs, cussing and generally freaking the F out?!! Great video! I like watching tornado videos but usually have to hit mute because I can't stand all the yelling. It was nice to hear the sound of the tornado for once!! Thanks for posting this video.

@brianmears3388 6 years ago

This wasn't the only F5 tornado of 1990. That same August, a powerful F5 would strike Plainfield, Illinois without warning, due to radar issues. This one killed 29 people.

@bloggulator 11 years ago

At 2.45 or so, there's a structure (perhaps a water tower?) right in the path of the tornado - it was still standing after the tornado passed thru, while everything else around it was pulverized. Great job on the camera!

@karenrosario3345 8 years ago

I was at Hesston College in the building closest to the train tracks. The Hesston tornado of 3/13/1990 demolished everything on the other side of those tracks. Talk about changing your perspective on life.

@26michaeluk 12 years ago

I remember this from my first ever tornado documentary. On it they freeze it to show the multiple vortexis and at 2:32 on this video on the right side of the tornado it shows 30,000 tons of some kind of concrete being picked up. This was the example of the F5 tornado and damage on the documentary.

@soulprophet01 11 years ago

Tornadoes make all sorts of sounds. Some of 'em make almost no sound at all, some sound like a waterfall, some like a freight train. Some of them even make a sort of whining sound. Depends on what sort of terrain it's passing over, how intense it is, how large it is, etc.

@jscottcurrier 10 years ago

I had the audio turned off because I figured there would be yelling and screaming, I turned it up for the heck of it and was pleasantly surprised that there was none. I could actually hear what the tornado sounded like. It does sound like a waterfall. None of the sounds of whatever it was ripping up made it to the cam corder. I wonder how far that tornado was from the camera? This guy was good, very good. We need more like him.

@DANCEMONKEEBOY 11 years ago

That is amazing footage for 1990 the video cams just came out around that Year looks like it went right thru town wow

@SupernalOne 10 years ago

What horrifies me is at 2:00 when unrecognizable stuff (trees? houses?) start getting uprooted and pulled into the trailing circulation, stuff that's not touched by the visible funnel is still within the whirling column of air, and it's drawn irresistably into the vortex and shredded

@ccbitikofer 9 years ago

Homes were flattened, and half a block over, practically no damage. My husband was that close when it hit. There were a few holes in the screen door, 4 houses down, the roof was off a house, a few houses away from that, total devastation! The headquarters for Mennonite Disaster Service were ironically destroyed, but rebuilt, and tons of local volunteers got working right away!

@brianmears3388 6 years ago

The appearance of this tornado is very scary.

@ccbitikofer 10 years ago

My husband was in his parent's basement in Hesston, his dad having made it back from Kropf Lumber just before it hit. They exited their house after it had passed and watched it move northeast. Surprisingly there were only two deaths, probably from the F5 with which it merged NE of Hesston. Thankfully it did not hit the large retirement community, and the college, although many people lost their homes.

@t4705mb6 10 years ago

Looks like the class 5 that hit our house when I was a kid. My house was totally destroyed - half of it sucked up ... vanished - and over 80 people were killed - 8 of our neighbors. I still have nightmares.