Topic starter
09/03/2012 6:29 pm
In a time when we have lost riverboats and river people now we have lost an entire river town. Moscow, Ohio was hit by an EF-3 tornado on March 2, 2012. 90% of the homes damaged and 60% estimated destroyed and not rebuildable. The house my grandfather lived in right on the river, where he needed to be to run the ferry and Moscow's big wharfboat, was completely turned into rubble. It was a big brick with walls 6-8" thick. Moscow had taken a big hit with the 1937, 1964 and 1997 flood but had survived. An interesting fact, after the 1997 flood some new structures had to be built elevated, now it appears the tornado winds got under those raised structures and they just collapsed or vanished !!
09/03/2012 6:53 pm
Cap'n Bill,
From about 3pm until 5pm I watched the radar here at work on the 2nd. Probably not a very productive thing to do while at work but knew it was in my best interest to keep an eye on things. I watched the storms cross the river on the radar and had a bad feeling given the history of these storms that it would likely be bad. Most of us really dodged a bullet with these storms while many were not so lucky. I've been through Moscow many times and outside of the power plant if you blinked on the way through there you'd miss it. The people of Moscow have been through so much as you mentioned. I hope those who survived are able to pick up the pieces and re-build once again.
Thanks for posting and glad you and Ms. Darlene are O.K.
Aaron
09/03/2012 8:01 pm
The poor people of Moscow. Last Friday was devistating around here, too. The Indiana towns of Marysville, and Henryville were literally wiped off the map by F-4 tornadoes. The Indiana town of Nabb is gone, too. There was lots of damage in south-eastern Kentucky, too. I understand those same tornadoes did considerable damage in Northern, Kentucky, too. What a horrible day in our history. Pray for those who have lost their homes and lives.
09/03/2012 8:12 pm
How awful about Moscow. I am so sorry.
One of our museum board members teaches at the Henryville school. Her classroom, on the second floor, is totally gone, taking with it 27 years worth of collected teaching materials. Another friend who teaches there took a personal day last Friday to go home to Mississippi for a long weekend. Her son, a college senior, often works at the school (one large complex of elementary, middle and high school levels) as a substitute teacher. He was not needed last Friday so, thankfully, wasn't there either. Despite the loss of the building and its contents, its a miracle that NO students or staff were killed. The school building looks as if it has been bombed,
A young lady who sometimes volunteers at the museum called to let us know that her Henryville home was intact, but that all windows had been blown out with considerable roof damage. The house of her next door neighbors is completely gone.
Looking out at the sunshine and calm today it's hard to fathom the terror and horror that occurred a relatively short distance up the road just one week ago. My heartfelt thoughts and prayers to ALL who lost loved ones and homes. Many lives will never again be the same.
09/03/2012 8:46 pm
The very same funnel cloud that hit Henryville as a tornado, came directly over our boats here near Carrollton, KY. We were very lucky to have no damage. We are only about 25 miles due east of Henryville and Chelsea, and luckily that tornado was no longer on the ground (or on the river) and was a funnel cloud when it got here. It had been on the ground for 50 miles before it finally left the ground about 10 miles west of here.
13/03/2012 3:42 pm
Ravaged River Valleys
I was on the Tennessee River, West of Decatur, AL, during the rash of tornadoes that plagued both the Ohio and Tennessee River Valleys. Twisters hit only 15 miles from the SUN*FISH, and several communities that were ravaged by the April 2011 slaughter were slammed a second time in less than a year. Spring isn't even here yet, and my recommendation for the coming season is to keep an eye on the weather and be prepared for the worst.
My heart goes out to all who suffered from this recent blast of tornadic fury. My home county in Kentucky, Kenton, had at least three fatalities. Grandmother, Edith Sanders, grew up in Moscow, and she had many stories of playing on the Greene Line Wharfboat where she nearly drowned when she fell overboard and went under the hull.