The Albion tornado was devastating to the town, but they must have updated their protocol to be safer when another tornado comes through in the future. So, what is their new protocol to keep them safer
On May 31st, 1985 it was a normal day, but it soon turned to devastation as 43 tornados had struck Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario. At the end of the outbreak it was recorded that about eighty-nine people were killed, more than a thousand people were injured, six-hundred million dollars were racked up in property damage. The Penn State Campus WSR-74C radar started to show the signals of tornados. The Penn State Campus Weather Service was on top of the outbreak since it started summer president Brian Orzel updated all the CWS’s radio stations with tornado watch information hours before the storm hits. So many people came into the room to watch the large supercell, but the room got to hot resulting in the computers shutting down and them losing the placement of the supercell and all the information they had resulting in them not being able to inform the public on what is happening with the storm.
The worst town to be hit was Albion in Erie County. 75 people were killed from Pennsylvania and another 800 Pennsylvanians were among the more than 1,000 who were injured. A former Red Cross coordinator Martha Sherman will never forget that day because among the 12 people who were killed in Albion was Sherman’s daughter-in-law. Sherman said “She got in her car and her car was lifted up over a silo. The neighbor who saw that, he suffered terribly, I don’t think he ever, ever recovered from that”
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A few more statements were taken by other people who had survived the Albion tornado. Joanne Catron was only fifteen years old in 1985 and she said that “A part of you just had to grow up fast. It was a whole new meaning as to life can be cut short so fast. Another statement on the Albion tornado was from another local in Albion his name was John Yazembiak. Just hours after it hit, he got on a front loader and helped the rescuers dig out survivors and victims from the ruins, he had done that for thirty-six hours straight. About the survivors who were trapped beneath the rubble Yazembiak said, “You can hear them screaming and hollering.” The mental images that the tornado had imprinted onto these people will never be forgotten. They may keep the story alive of the tornado by telling their kids, grand-kids or even great-grand-kids.
The aftermath of the Albion tornado was devastating for everyone involved. During the reconstruction of the Albion tornado was hard and emotional for those who survived. The historical sight of the tornados path of destruction is almost invisible to the eye but the mental destruction that it caused to the people of Albion will never be healed or forgotten. The people of Albion will make sure that the story of the 1985 Albion tornado is never forgotten as the generations of people make their way through the small town and as the tornado was a historical event the made the town of Albion what it is today.
Being a junior fire-fighter, I was able to ask the older members of the Wattsburg Hose Company what they were doing on the day of the 1985 tornado. While I was sitting in the lounge doing homework when John Hull, the president and captain of the fire department also my step-dad came in I asked him what he was doing he told me “my buddy and I were working on a farm and about towards the end of our day we went to a store (I cant remember the name of the store he said) while we were in there we heard a noise that sounded like a train and I turned to look out the door of the store when I see the tornado picking up debris and throwing debris all over the place.”
After a half hour everyone else showed up for drill the assistant chief showed up so I had asked him what he was doing on the day of the tornado he said “about the time the tornado went through Albion he was out of school and I was a ball-field playing baseball with my friends from school didn’t even know a tornado when through Albion until the next day.” The next person I asked what they were doing on that day was Bradly McCray or as everyone in the department calls him “papa smurf” he said “I was riding my four-wheeler on route 420 but after the tornado was called in I helped get civilians to safety and out of harm’s way” after doing my two objects which was cleaning my gear and restocking the ambulances I went and asked more people in the department.
The next person I asked was Ann Hull, Brads girlfriend she couldn’t quite recall what she was doing but she told me “I was either getting ready to go out and do my chores or I was getting ready for dinner”. Then we had a call someone was in cardiac arrest. After we came back from the call and we sat for a little talking about something I don’t remember what the conversation was about I was drawing. Then Henry Beaumont walked in he is one of the oldest lifetime members of the department so I asked him what he was doing ad he said “I was a part of an ambulance crew for the mass casualty crew trying to determine who was fine, who was in need in help but didn’t immediately need it those who immediately needed help and those who are deceased”.
The next person I asked was my mentor and a longtime family friend Sherie Thomas she said, “I was coming back from the hospital with my daughter tiffany when we started seeing debris and other things from the tornado was flying around the place while I was driving which almost caused me to crash”. Then we had a car accident and a little kid had a seizer so after we came back from those two calls and relaxed for a little, I asked Jim Pencile the mayor of Wattsburg he said “I wasn’t in the united states during the tornado I was in Germany serving the us military” the last person I asked was Janet Maine my mother she said “I was working during the tornado” but she actually didn’t remember what she was doing at the time cause she’s old.
In conclusion to the end of the 1985 Albion tornado, the town of Albion is now a little bit more aware when tornado sighting, warnings, and advisories are released by the national weather service s they have more time to prepare for the natural disaster. the town of Albion updated their means of communication. They updated their sirens, their weather alerts. The people of Albion will always make sure that the historical event of the tornado will never happen again but if it does occur again then they will make sure minimal amount of destruction and lives will be lost. The people who had family members die in the tornado will never forget the day that the tornado took their lives away from them. The people who were injured will always remember that day because of the scars it had left behind both mentally and physically will never be healed. And for the volunteers who help save the lives of victims and to the people who help rescue their friends, family and neighbors will never forget the destruction and devastation they had witnessed.
