Your Memories: The 1989 Airport Road Tornado - WHNT

IUYIUYIUYIU

We had just moved down here from Kentucky in Sept. of 89. I was working at a machine shop off of Clinton Ave. when they said that they wanted everybody to leave as there were storms in the area. My idea of a storm was rain and lightning, not tornadoes so I went ahead and left. My truck was needing tires, so on the way home I stopped at Firestone on Airport Road first to look at some tires and prices. Not really finding what I was looking for I went around the corner to Big Ten Tire and was there for about 15 min. As I went out to get into my truck, I saw what appeared as a curtain that was gray on the sides and black in the middle. I got into my truck and went under the overpass near Gibson's and by the time I had circled around all of the traffic was stopped. I had no idea as to what might have happened when all I saw was blinking lights from the firetrucks and the police cars everywhere coming up the parkway. We sat in traffic for almost 2 hours before I could get back home to Brittany Point. I have to say, that was my welcome to tornado alley that I would have gladly not accepted.

i was on whitesburg drive...it threw my car over four lanes into a telephone pole....very interesting day for sure...

I had just moved here after college to work at SCI Systems on 5000 Technology Drive (the old Plant 3). I had left work and was in South Huntsville shopping and had just came through the intersection of Airport Road and the parkway about 5 minutes before it hit. I got back to my apartment and was watching the news showing the devastation and the car sitting on top of the sub-station and remember thanking God I was not there when it happened. It took me several hours before I could tell my folks (and my fiance) that I was OK. My fiance (now my wife) and I drove through the area later and was completely amazed at the devastation!

Huntsville was so lucky (believe it or not) that it did not hit just a little bit later when even more folks would have either been at home, or on the road going home and would have been in the area, but I still will say a prayer for those who lost their lives (or family members) that day.

I was in Huntsville just got off work at Hot Springs Auto Wash. I had just came thru Airport Road and noticed a wall cloud and it was getting black. I was going to Vanguard apartments on Hobbs and South Parkway and once I got home I was going to the new Captain D's to get dinner and heard a train noise but it was east to west instead north and south with the train tracks. I was listening to the scanner when I heard the officer when his car flipped in the tornado. I looked up in the sky and it was green at the time.

I will never forget sitting at the redlight of Airport and Whitesburg and looked back toward the Parkway and saw the black cloud coming my direction. The light finally turned green for us and I was able to turn onto Carl T. Jones. I had just made it down the hill on Carl T. Jones down to where Target is now. There was a Gas Station there, I stopped and their sign flew right over my car.

I was on my way home from research park on Holmes. It got so bad that I was about to abandon my truck and find a ditch but didn't. I then spent the next several hours trying to get home. The parkway was blocked, whitesburg was blocked, and the road past Jones Valley school was blocked. I even tried to go over on the highway to Guntersville but it was impassable. There seemed no way to get to South Huntsville. I finally tried Redstone. I had to go all the way to the river but was finally was able to get south of the major problems. When I finally got to my house my family was in one piece but the power was off. Overall, a very interesting day.

I was in fifth grade at Madison Middle School. I remember when the first sirens started going off going out into the hallway of the school just like we had rehearsed during tornado drills. I remember being picked up early from school and going home. As I walked out of the school, I remember looking up at the sky and It looked like a greenish black color. I got really scared and told mama that we needed to get home and bring in the cats and the dog( that was the only time other than really cold nights that they got to come inside). after that I felt safe and sound and all is well.

I lived on Drake Ave. and had just got home from the hospital. I watched the twister from my front porch go down Airport Road and hit every power pole. It was the scariest thing I had ever saw.

My daughter was one years old lying on a blaket in frot of our tv. we were video taping her and it shows channel 19 and the footage behind her as we were taping. She passed away in March of the following year in surgery (not from storm). On the tape you can even here the sound loud and clear from the reporter.

We were vedio taping our daugher in front of the tv that night. We have it on tape as you can see and hear the reporter behind her. It was a scary night.

We were home.I remember it well. It came without warning. I was inside our home.My husband was outside working. It was just over the mountain from where we live.I recall this one coming without notice on television.
The Sublett's

I was working at a day care on Holmes Ave. We took all of the children to a safe area in the church. Our last child was picked-up around 8:00 p.m. Her mother was in the Golbro store on Airport when it hit (fortunately she was okay). Her grandparents had to come for her that night. I remember the children enjoying watching the snow fall the next day at the day care center. It is a day I will always remember and one that taught me never to take the severe weather warnings for granted.

Working as a paramedic, came from the Shoals area to assist in the rescue.
The night time covered up most of the devestation that occured from this tornado.
But the falling morning hours on a very cold day brought tears to my eyes.
Seeing all the damage, injuries and deaths.
I got to my knees and asked to the LORD to keep me strong during this time of need for so many.
To this day when stroms are in our area, I take a minute again to
ask the Lord to keep everyone safe.
As a E-spotter for the NWS I try to gather as much info. So I can be of help to the public in sever weather conditions.

Gary Rose
Florence Al.

I was sitting at the intersection of Airport and Queensbury when the tornado hit. I recall my car being pulling toward another car in the East bound lane. I woke up in the Crestwood ER with no recollection of how I got there. Witnesses in the ER recalled that I was carried in by a police officer. My thanks go out to the rescue personnel who pulled an injured lady out of a black RX7 which ended up side down at the Chevron station at the corner of Airport and Queensbury.

Hi! Yes, I do remember when the tornado came while I was in high school being in 10th grade. I am deaf, was home alone and used to live off of Drake on Medford when this happened. I had no idea what was going on. I was doing my homework when the power went off so I looked for some candles when I felt the floors moved like crazy train coming through and that really terrifed me to death! I ran to my bedroom crying because I didn't know what it was and something told me to go into the hall and wait there. I tried to contact my family thru TDD (telephone direct for the deaf) but it wouldn't go thru due to the power line was down. So, I waoted in the hall for a little while and then heard someone knocked on the front door. It was one of my neighbor coming to see if I was alright. She asked me to go to her house for a little while until everything settled down a bit, then went back to the house. I asked my neighbor if she doesn't mind try to call my folks and told me that the line didn't work. Which I later found out the next morning that the power line came loosed and was on the driveway!! After a while, my family came home and told me that the tornado came through!! My sister thought that I would be dead and was soo relieved to see me VERY much alive!! Ha! When we looked at the backyard, there a 1 or 2 desk that just sat on the grass from Jones Valley Elementary school among other things. My sister went to Jones Valley and we discovered that it was destroyed and had to transfer to another school for a while until they rebuild the school.(my dad was coming home from work and went for a short cut drive where Jones Valley was but had to drive around the other way to get home) That's when I discovered that I was told it was gone.)

I was (still am) a member of the Green Mountain Volunteer Fire Dept.
That night I and my wife, also a firefighter, were listing to the fire radio traffic after the tornado struck. It seemed not many HEMSI orHuntsville Fire units could get to the south side of Airport Road, so we responded and came in along Queensbury Rd.
Incidents I can remember well.
1. Since ambulances could not reach the south side, doors were improvised as stretchers and victims were carried in trucks.
1. I helped remove a lady buried in the rubble with both ankles broken.
2. I found a massive gas leak behind a ruined pizza building and together with a Huntsville Firefighter found a valve and shut it off before there was a bad fire.
3. I helped dig to the vault in the remains of Goldsboro and escorted the people that were trapped in the vault out over the rubble to the street and safety.

I was working at Kroger on South Parkway at Logan Drive. I was scheduled to be off at 6pm but the weather was getting bad hours before then. My son was working at Little Caesar Pizza a couple doors down from Kroger and would be getting off before I did. Before he headed home he came over to Kroger to say "hi", and go to the house. Shortly after he walked out we heard a loud noise as wind hit the front windows and the power went out. It took awhile before we knew what happened, but I realized if my son was heading north on the Parkway, he could have been right at Airpot road when the tornado hit. Needless to say, I was one worried mother, huddled in the dark in Kroger's back room. I don't remember how long after that it was, I was at the front of the store, and he came walking in. I can not describe the relief I felt, knowing he was safe. We were in the store until after 10pm that night until they opened Martin Road so folks would have a northbound route past the devastation on Airport Road. Yes, a night this mother will never forget.

I cannot believe it has been 20 years ago. I can remember Audry Hurford and I coming home from the Parkway City Mall. We just picked out our new year dresses. This would be the first year that Audry would be spending her birthday away from home. We went back to our apartments right behind the shopping center off of Airport road. We could walk outside our backdoor and look at the back of the stores. Audry lived three doors down from me and I lived at the very end of the apartment building. We both had upstair apartments. She went home to get ready for her blind date and I went home to get ready for Jazzercise that night. The next thing I knew, my building started to shake and it started hailing. I looked out my window and saw a black cloud all the way to the ground. At that time, I did not know a tornado follows a black cloud. I jumped in my bathtub. The mirrors started shattering. I saw the sink and cabinet lifted into the air. A part of the sheet rock wall pressed me into the bathtub. Somehow or another, I got the strength to push it off my stomach. I could feel myself airborn but still in the bathtub. I held on for dear life. I can remember people screaming. I thought I had heard Audry too. Finally, the bathtub fell to the ground. I was barefooted and a diabetic. After I had calmed down, I crawled out of six feet of rubble and saw complete devestation everywhere. There was not much light, but I was able to maneuver my way down to the ground without getting any cuts or scratches on my feet. The next day after the tornado, I was told that there was one unclaimed body in the morgue. The managers at the apartment complex told me they thought it could be Audry. Later the next day, I was told Audry got killed instantly. My life has completely changed since the tornado. I miss my best friend and know she is now in heaven at peace.