Red_Alert
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I personally credit the National Weather Service and Omaha's Emergency Alert System. Everybody had at least 15 minutes of warning to take cover.
My buddy and I got out of Ralston Middle School that afternoon and it was raining/hailing pretty hard and the sky was green. We ran a couple blocks to an apartment complex string of garages (84th & L) where a door was left open. We stood in there and had a smoke. He lived on 89th and M. The rain wasn't letting up, so after about 10 minutes we decided to run for his house where we always hung out for an hour or so after school. We really had no idea there was severe weather anywhere, I don't recall the school saying anything. When we got to his house, my mom was waiting out front in the car with my brother and 2 sisters and angrily yelled "GET IN NOW". She had never picked me up from school before so I thought I was in trouble for smoking cigs in that garage (LOL).
She was babbling about tornados, the whistles started blowing, and KFAB radio was going nuts telling everybody to take cover . As we were pulling into the driveway and garage, she said "Everybody straight to the basement and get under the pool table". We were listening to KFAB on a transistor radio and within a couple minutes it sounded like a freight train and you could here debris hitting the house. The sound then progressed to the sound of an jet engine, my ears were popping, and the house above us exploded. The ceiling (floor above us) stayed intact, but the exits out the garage and up the staircase to the front door were blocked by debris. We could see sunlight and hear firetruck and ambulance sirens. A few minutes later a VFD dude from Gretna hollered down to us if "anyone was in there?". My mom yelled back and they dug us out.
My buddy's house got missed, but that garage we were smoking cigs in on 84th and L was completely gone.
Funny thing is my buddy talked me into running the few blocks to his house. I was content with staying in that apartment complex garage and waiting out the rain/hail. I also wonder how long my mom would have waited in front of his house for me with my siblings in the car?
