Family accounts of the 5/21/53 MI/ON F4 tornadoes

[on_wx]

Both of my grandparents experienced the May 21, 1953 F4 tornadoes that devastated Port Huron MI, Sarnia ON, rural Lambton County, and rural Middlesex County. They had yet to meet each other, which happened at a bar in Port Huron MI in the late 50s, but they were both personally affected by the tornadoes on that day.

 

My grandpa was first to see the tornado that afternoon. He worked as an iron worker building the refineries that stand today in Chemical Valley, and that day he was on shift working high up constructing what could have been the DOW plant on Vidal Street between Froomfield and Sarnia, when the storm approached. According to him an alarm sounded onsite or even across the city but I'm not sure what the signal would have been, and I assume it was an on-site alarm for lightning or a storm so everyone got down to safety. He said they could see a black mass coming through Port Huron, which would have been about 1-2 miles to the west tracking to 2 miles to the north of their location, and the tornado crossed the St. Clair River plowing into downtown Sarnia. The tornado was over half a mile wide at this point and producing F4 damage in downtown Port Huron and Sarnia.

 

They knew a tornado had hit the city and everyone left the work site, so he drove home to Courtright ON, about 10 miles south of Sarnia across from St. Clair MI, and learned that one of his sisters was in town to do the shopping. He and his brother got in the pickup and drove to the shop where his sister was to be, and they found it to be heavily damaged with ordinary people combing through the partially collapsed store. They assisted in rescue hoping to find their sister, but she didn't turn up. They drove around and looked at the devastation with some areas, including downtown, leveled. Without learning of their sisters fate, they drove home with an uneasy feeling unsure what to tell the family. When they arrived back in Courtright they saw their sisters car in the driveway and it was an emotional evening for everyone in their family to learn they were all okay. Five people were killed by the tornado in Sarnia.

 

My grandmother lived on a farm near Arkona, Lambton County not too far from the Middlesex County line and about 30 miles east of Sarni. She worked as a bank teller at the bank in town and that day she was on shift. When news of the tornado in Sarnia hit the airwaves her boss told her to go home because bad weather was moving their way. She tried to cram in some extra work before leaving, and her boss had already gone home, when she heard thunder. She hurried up and grabbed her things, and was locking up the entrance doors when the wind violently picked up. She turned around and saw the tornado coming through the north side of town. There was a school on the outskirts either on the west or north side of town, and the tornado slammed into it reducing it to rubble with mass amounts of splintering debris swirling around. She panicked and tried to get back into the bank, but having just locked the doors, she couldn't open them and ended up crouching down on the steps trying to get the best possible protection. Within seconds the tornado had moved past the town and she drove home outside of town hysterical at what she had just seen happen. 

 

She described the tornado being more like a stovepipe than a wedge at this point, but I'm not entirely sure. Her brother Elgin lost his farm house and many other farms in the area were devastated.

 

The tornado was on the ground for 75+ miles, but is believed to be separate tornadoes from a cyclic supercell. For as long as I've known them anytime there is a bad storm they'd go to the crawl space under the house where they'd keep Spring and Summer stock of supplies just in case. They even had a designated spot where my grandpa determined would be the safest place in the crawl space if the house ever collapsed from a tornado.

[michsnowfreak]

VERY cool stories! Love hearing personal accounts from storms of years past.