Jump to content

May 5th 1989 Tornado Outbreak


Recommended Posts


  • Replies 10
  • Created
  • Last Reply

This doesn't pertain to 1989, but there was also a tornado outbreak on May 7, 1998. If you look at the map for that day, you will see an F4 path in eastern Caldwell County. That tornado was less than one mile south of my house! I was in shock when I first saw the tornado because that is a rather hilly area and the thing was coming off of a freaking mountain! It was basically making a B-line right for our house and turned at the last minute on a more southerly track. I remember the sky having this wicked green hue to it before we saw the tornado, almost like some sci-fi movie. The tornado would "skip" on the ground, touching down for a few seconds and then going back up for a few seconds. We had no damage at my house, but several of our neighbors to the south were not as fortunate as their houses were destroyed. The testament to its strength was the fact that several brick houses were pretty much leveled, but thankfully no one lost their life!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow that must of been scary!! It just goes to show you that Tornadoes can from any where!! Also we are supposed to get some bad weather tomorrow! And that would be 10 years later and 1 day from that year and date. Kind of strange!!

This doesn't pertain to 1989, but there was also a tornado outbreak on May 7, 1998. If you look at the map for that day, you will see an F4 path in eastern Caldwell County. That tornado was less than one mile south of my house! I was in shock when I first saw the tornado because that is a rather hilly area and the thing was coming off of a freaking mountain! It was basically making a B-line right for our house and turned at the last minute on a more southerly track. I remember the sky having this wicked green hue to it before we saw the tornado, almost like some sci-fi movie. The tornado would "skip" on the ground, touching down for a few seconds and then going back up for a few seconds. We had no damage at my house, but several of our neighbors to the south were not as fortunate as their houses were destroyed. The testament to its strength was the fact that several brick houses were pretty much leveled, but thankfully no one lost their life!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember them. I think they hit Winston Salem as well... in fact I think that most of the trees on the campus of Old Salem fell due to the tornadoes and not Hugo. I can remember driving (or riding) down i-40 during that time and seeing a radio tower that had turned like a pretzel.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well looks like there were some pretty nasty storms that rolled through yesterday. A funnel cloud was reported not too far away from my old stomping grounds in Caldwell County yesterday afternoon/evening. As far as I know, there was no damage reported, but pretty weird how that kind of weather happened again almost 10 years to the date! I do know that there was quite a bit of damage near Greensboro and Winston-Salem last night when the storms rolled through that area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I vividly remember those storm on May 5th 1989. I was 17 and lived at home with my parents in the Ardmore section of Winston-Salem. It topped my parents trees, blew in a sliding glass door, took every other shutter off the front of the house, and literally flipped all the asphalt shingles on the street facing side of the house into the backyard. Other areas of town were hit harder.

I was coming home from work at Food Lion near Hanes Mall in my mom's car that night and had made a stop on Peter's Creek. To make a long story short, I was stuck in the car during the height of the storm. It was after dark when the storm hit, and I was at a traffic light. When the lights went out I couldn't tell where I was with the intensity of the rain and wind even though I had travelled that area often. I will say that a car is not a place to be in a storm like that, a street sign was blown into the rear portion of the car, causing all the side windows to blow out.

As the previous poster noted, it seems odd that 9 years almost to the date this area had another outbreak. Those storms hit within 5 miles of my house and those neighborhoods are still in shambles as they struggle to rebuild. Several of my neighbors have commented how we all heard a short noise that sounded like a delivery truck driving by. Where I live would have been hit if the tornado had stayed on the ground from Clemmons to Greensboro..

Scary stuff and it shows nature should always be respected. We can get quite a few things thrown at as here.. from floods and tornadoes to blizzards and heat waves!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.