April 10, 1979 I was a freshman in high school and an amateur photographer and weather buff. The storms had been brewing to the west all day (typical April afternoon weather in that part of the country) so I hurried up with my paper route and ran home and climbed onto the roof to watch the weather.
For reference, look at that map linked below; our house was right on the north edge of the green band, right at the “H” in "Western Hills". Our house happened to be pretty much at the current most-west edge of town - there was almost no development to the west except for some factories far off - so I had an unobstructed view of the prairie/scrubland that direction.
I was watching to the west as the storm rolled through, clouds low, black, and harsh, and it seemed like the far back edge of the storm was about to move past us and clear. Suddenly, that whole area of the clouds started moving BACKWARDS (westward). When they got a few miles (~5?) west of us an area about 3-5 miles wide started rotating around a common center point. From that center three smaller funnel clouds (the type and shape you typically think of when you think of tornadoes) popped down from the clouds and danced around each other! A few minutes (seconds?) later they dropped to the ground and started criss-crossing each other. This was still about 3-5 miles away in the western distance.
Obviously, caught got my attention.
Since the road at the back (west) of our house was a minor 2-lane highway (Barnett Road), everyone had a tall opaque wooden noise fence back there. Since I was on the roof I cojld lok over and see people in their backyards, unaware of what was going on. I was the only one seeing it! I started yelling at the neighbors and pointing, then yelled down into the house at my mom to "come see!"
Well, the tornadoes continued criss-crossing across the open land, heading east-northeast, until they hit the major electrical trunk line about 2 miles away feeding the city -- the sparks were pretty damn impressive! All of a sudden the tornadoes seemed to hit each other and all three merged into one 1/2-wide wall cloud! The damn thing was pretty much like from the worst movies you've ever seen, the vibrations were incredible, and the noise indescribable (best description I've ever heard was like standing next to train tracks, 'cept there weren't no "clickity clack"! And it's MUCH louder. It was just this loud, dull, low-frequency vibration/roar).
So I'm on the roof yelling "woo hoo! Look at that!" and now my mom's screaming something to the tune of "get your ass down here NOW!" and the neighbors are just screaming. We started getting hail a moment later, and I continued to watch that massive tornado until it hit the football stadium south of us (in that photo) and watched all the light stanchions fall inward simultaneously, and it wiped the press box clean off!
At that point I suddenly realized how serious this damn thing was, got religion real quick, and jumped off the roof and ran inside. My mom and sisters and I (and the dog) jumped into the tub in the central bathroom (ranch house, no basements there) with a mattress over our heads. I tell ya, man, the noise and vibration! It really did sound like a freight train was passing through!
It seemed liked forever – I have no idea how long it took - but as the vibrations began to subside I slowly opened the bathroom door and peeked out through the open door of the room across the hallway, window facing east (with my mom screaming "get your butt back in here NOW!"). The window was broken out, but I got to see that monster retreat off into the distance. I read later it went back into the clouds after getting past the other side of town...
Obviously, the city was a wreck. Our house was not hit directly; we lost some windows, back fence, and parts of the roof. Debris was everywhere. Houses at the south end of the block, just hundreds of yards away, were seriously damaged. The neighborhood all milled about outside for a while as the general storm passed, checking in on all the neighbors, all ready to jump back inside if we had to (and we all had a brief panic when a sudden wind gust came up). It got dark soon after so everyone just kinda stayed put; we had no power, no phones, no water pressure, and there was debris on all the roads, so we stayed close to home to see if anyone nearby needed help.
The next morning we were devastated; the city was flattened. The neighborhoods along Southwest Parkway (the east-west road at the south of town along the path) were completely unrecognizable; it looked like some kids had just taken his playpen of houses, broke 'em up, and scattered them all over the place. It was a junkyard. We started getting radio reports of some deaths in the area, but we couldn't really drive anywhere (streets were all blocked). The National Guard was there that prior night trying to create a semblance of order and they blocked off most of the devastated area.
What a mess.
While everyone was pretty much "staying in place" I still had a paper route to manage (and the Wichita Falls Times (afternoon edition) and Record News (morning edition) were publishing excellent information on the disaster and current status (given no city power, they published the next few day's edition in Fort Worth and shipped it up). Armed with that paper bag, some rolled-up newspapers, and a bike I got pretty much got carte-blanche access to all areas. I'd talk may way into places ("hey, I have a paper route") and was incredulous at the damage and took some photos. I should look for those...
It took a while for the city to recover; utilities were gone, among other problems. Curfews were put in place but there were very few instances of looting. The city's inhabitants were hardy, though, and it really didn't take long to get into the swing of things. I remember the trailers in all the city parks for the homeless, and I remember the Guard Hueys flying all over day and night for a month or more (“womp! womp! womp!”). I also remember getting stopped by some Guard guys while on my route and later getting spot-lighted by an overhead Huey at 4:00 AM!
Our family was lucky; many others were not. Many (if not most) of the people killed were in their cars trying to flee. Thousands were left temporarily homeless. The dollar amount in damage was a pretty big record, as I recall. Wichita Falls was, at the time, 100,000 people...and that tornado went right through its suburbia home and retail.
When I went back last summer to visit my mom (early 20-teens) there was still evidence of damage 25 years later, but for the most part it's nothing but a distant memory.
It was one of those experiences that are very hard to describe to someone that's never been through it. Rest assured it's not something you want to try… - GA
NOAA Report:
https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19790410
Map of City Damage:
https://www.weather.gov/images/oun/wxevents/19790410/figures/wfalls2.png
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