20 Years Ago Today

The world ceased to exist the way I knew it.

"It was a Friday afternoon with a long weekend looming so close. A storm moved into Edmonton. And there my life changed forever. A F4 tornado worked its way through Edmonton from the South East to the North East. By noon forecasters were predicting severe thunderstorms. The twister was first spotted south of Leduc just before 3 pm. From there it took a northeasterly path, from Beaumont to Mill Woods, over the Sherwood Park Freeway, through an industrial park, skirting Refinery Row, into the neighbourhood of Clareview and finally ripping through the Evergreen Trailer Park in Strathcona County. "

The tornado was on the ground for about an hour, leaving a trail of destruction 40 kilometres long and up to a kilometre wide in some places.

Twenty-seven people were killed and more than 300 injured.

More than 300 homes were destroyed and hundreds more were damaged by strong winds and hail.
27 people were killed, 17 of them in the Evergreen Trailer Park where I lived. I was working two jobs at the time putting myself through college. I was working 1/2 block from Byers Transport on the south side. When we were evacuated I had to go home. Part way "home" I heard that the trailer park had been hit. The rain, the hail, the winds, it was just so enclosing, it was horrible. I stopped and picked up someone on the low level bridge and gave them a ride, he too happened to live at Evergreen and his car had stalled in the water. He wanted to find out if his wife and child were okay. The whole area around the trailer court was closed off, then the SUN came out. You would never have guessed that such devastation could exist under that clear blue sky. A trauma centre was set up at the Alberta Hospital, to try to connect friends and family, it was mass confusion. The tornado was destructive, unpredictable and a horror. I lived and walked in that trailer court for over a year when it hit. I saw the aireal photos later and could never visualize the place I called home.
The tornado picked up our trailer moved it about 10 feet and gently set it down again. Shrapnel that went through the trailer killed my doberman and my cockatiel died of fright. Our neighbors to the south of us, later found one single picture that they could say was theirs. They never found another single thing that could be traced to them. Our friends accross the street had a couple hundred dollars worth of damage to their roof and that was it. We got off lucky, we were alive and unhurt, many died, and many were injured, it is something that altered lives forever.
That single incident really showed me for the first time the compassion and caring that can exist in humankind, it also unfortunately showed me the power of the all mighty dollar.
With it being the 20 year anniversary it has been in the news plenty, with phycologists talking about long term effects and what the anniversary will bring. In 1997 I was unable to watch any of the anniversary stuff it was too raw for me. A friend that I had met from Turks and Caicos Islands had always said that she couldn't see what the big deal was. After all she had lived through F5 hurricanes. Well she watched that 1997 anniversary special and came to work and apologized to me. SHe said the destruction was like nothing she had ever seen in a hurricane.
So to those people from Edmonton that I have lost track of over time, to those that I ended up buring due to the Tornado let me just say you are in my thoughts and prayers not just today the anniversary but everyday.