Stories from our Readers

12 - 4:51pm

My Grandma was alone in her home on May 11, 1970. I am her grandson retelling her account of that night.

That was the scariest 2 weeks of my life 02/08/12 - 4:50pm

I was stationed in Okinawa but was Tdy to Vietnam with a layover in Da Nang when I got on the plane to go back to Cam Ranh Bay in South Vietnam. One of my friends threw a Stars and Stripes newspaper at me and said look what happened to your town. The headlines said "Killer Tornado Hits Lubbock", hundreds killed thousands injured.

Mom and Dad dragged the matress from their bedroom 02/08/12 - 4:47pm

I was 6 years old, and my sister was 3. Dad was enjoying his new found evenings with us; he had taken a job with Xerox and had left the night-shift job at KLBK the previous year. Mom was staying at home. We lived on 54th, across the street from the back of Hemphill-Wells. We were watching Carol Burnet, when the weatherman broke in with a TORNADO ALERT. I asked Mom what that meant, and she said that it meant that we needed to take cover. I wanted to go to the window and watch, as the storm was going strong and I loved watching the lightning.

Downtown Lubbock was "gone"! 02/08/12 - 4:46pm

I was a senior in High School in 1970. I remember that night very well for a couple of reasons. My family resided on 61st street just off of Indiana. I remember there was a news release that Downtown Lubbock was "gone"! I wasn't real sure what that meant so in my curiosity, I climbed up on to our rooftop but saw very little toward the northeast the direction of downtown Lubbock, but as I scanned the skies west-north west, I saw what appeared as several tornadoes that appeared as giant spider legs walking toward the downtown area. I'll not forget that sight as long as I live.

Two tornadoes passed 02/08/12 - 4:44pm

I was attending Texas Tech on May 11th, 1970 and was working at Serve-U-Food which was located on 4th north side, maybe 1 block east of University. Two tornadoes passed, one took the roof from the apartment across the street to the sound and blew it into the front windows of the store. Afterward people came by looking for flashlights, medical equipment, etc. the maybe 5 minutes later the wind picked up again so we went back into the remains of the store and lay down in the same place where we had been before.

He came home only to find the city blown away 02/08/12 - 4:42pm

My family and I lived on Avalon Dr. the night this happened. I do not remember the name of the family of the house we went to but my story is this.

There were electical lines laying around snapping and popping 02/08/12 - 4:39pm

I was 5 years old when my parents rushed us into the bedroom and stuffed us underneath some mattresses,(me and two younger brothers and a new born sister)...our mother Lupe was under there with us when I remember hearing the sound of glass breaking and feeling rushing wind. I recall my mother screaming my fathers name...Ramon ! Ramon ! as a great pressure fell on us and it felt as if we were sliding across the floor.

The tornado had lifted our house from its foundation 02/08/12 - 4:37pm

Lubbock, for me, was never the same after the night of May 11, 1970. I was 11 years old at the time. I recall sitting on the floor in front of the television set watching the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers when my father ran into the room yelling that a tornado was coming and that my siblings and I needed to get up and follow him into the closet in the master bedroom. The closet is where the access to the "crawl-space" under the house was located. When he entered the closet he pulled up the floorboard panel and tossed each of us into the dark hole, including my mother, he followed.

Very exciting! 02/08/12 - 4:34pm

I was ten years old at the time. I've always remembered that the tornado hit on a Saturday night because my parents had been out playing bridge with some friends. Imagine my surprise when I went online this morning to review what happened thirty-five years ago--the tornado (really two tornadoes) occurred on a Monday night!

After that we all just packed up and moved to San Antonio 02/08/12 - 4:32pm

My whole family lived at 2118 3rd Street and we decided to run to our neighbors while the tornado passed, and I will never forget what we heard, saw and experienced that evening. It caught us all off guard. I do recall hearing my mom praying out so loud to GOD while she had the bed mattress over all of us 5 kids. She yelled out " Please God, take me, not my children!" After that we all just packed up and moved to San Antonio, Texas.