AmyFreeze's Blog

August 4th a line of severe storms developed west of Chicago and moved eastward.  Fox WEATHERWATCH broke into programing to give live information about the dangerous storms at 7 p.m.  The warnings included the liklihood of strong winds, heavy rain, some hail, and possibly tornadoes.  

The weather did produce significant damange.  An EF 2 Tornado touched down in Griffith, Indiana.  From the National Weather Service storm report "A radar image at 828 PM displaying storm relative motion.  In this image, rotation is observed in northern Lake county near Griffith, Indiana.  This is once again observed through the green colors representing strong velocities directed toward the radar while the adjacent brighter red colors representing velocities away from the radar. This couplet suggests a cyclonic, or counter-clockwise circulation."

There were five tornadoes that touched down in the area that night. 

Here is a transcript of the 911 calls that came into the Griffith when the tornado happened.

GRIFFITH 911 UNIT 21

  "oh man i had a tree just come thru my living room window."

   "you've got trees down. major trees down?"

"yes sir."

"Major trees down!"

 "my tree in my yard, i don't know if it was hit by lightning or whatever but it's all over and it looks like it crushed a van in the tree."

 "Griffith 911. What's you emergency? Um, yes. I don't have a roof, no windows and there's kids. We need to get out of here."

"you what?"

"i'm on the 2nd floor. i don't have a roof. the walls are barricaded in and we just need to really get out of here."

 "our house just got hit by a tornado. 1709. our gas lines are ripped up and they need to be turned off."

 "we're outside in the, outside!"

"where are you at?"

"we're on broad street."

"ma'am get home. try to get home."

"please help us. i don't know what to do."

"ma'am you just gotta try to seek shelter somehwere. that's all i can tell you. i'm sorry. we have got. it's bad. just try to seek shelter somewhere okay?"