Submitted by readers: 1949 tornado stories

The May 21, 1949 tornado was one of the biggest natural disasters ever to hit Cape Girardeau. Below, our readers tell their stories of the tornado, submitted as comments on our website and email. Stories posted online are associated with an online screen name which isn't necessarily the person's real name.

A trip to the movies

At the time of the tornado, I was a student at SEMO State and was living with my parents at 7l0 N. Missouri Ave. On that Saturday, my parents were entertaining their pinochle club with dinner and cards and I was going to the Broadway with some girlfriends to see "Little Women."

Ruth Gene Leming had her folks' car and picked up me, Betty Low and Mary Dale Magill. After we were all in the car, she told us that she had to pick up her younger brother Paul at the barber shop.

The barber shop was across the street from Hirsh's store in Haarig. While we were getting him, one of the girls commented on a very black cloud to the south. The sky got darker and darker as we approached the Leming home on North Street. When we got there, Mrs. Leming was on the front porch and said she thought we should all come in the house as there was going to be a bad storm. All of us went to the basement with Mrs. Leming and her children. We could see a lot of limbs and leaves blowing by outside one of the window wells.

After it died down, we went upstairs and could hear lots of sirens. At that time, you could lift the receiver on your phone and ask the operator where the fire was. When we did that, the operator said that there was no fire, but there had been a bad storm. Mrs. Leming said that she thought we should all go home instead of the movie, so we got in the car again and Ruth Gene drove up by Academic Hall, down Normal to West End Boulevard. That was as far as we could go because of the debris so Betty Low and I got out and began walking home. Obviously the Lord watched over us as we walked through a few blocks of downed power lines and the like.

When I got home, my folks were thrilled to see me as they had gone to the Broadway and I was not there. Our home had lost most of the roof and a 2 x 4 from some place had come through a front window. Most of our screened porch in the back was gone and My Dad said that at the height of the storm, it had lifted our furnace several inches off the concrete and set it down again. Many of our neighbors were not so lucky as everything to the north of us was leveled. The first house on our side of the street belonged to M.G. and Merry Gay Lorberg and their brick house was leveled. During the summer, I helped them chip mortar off the bricks so they could be used in rebuilding. The Nanna home across the street was leveled too and the Nanna family lived in a tent until it was rebuilt.

Their young daughter came to our house each day to practice for her piano lesson! At that time, I was working on Saturdays at the Arnold Roth Insurance Agency so that the regular secretary could have a day off each week. After the tornado, I worked every day until school began in the fall as we had so many insurance claims to take care of.

The tornado was terrible, but it brought many people together and was a great time for neighbor helping neighbor. Even to this day, I am frightened of windstorms because I well remember the devastation it brought to our town.

-- Betty Jo (Rauh) Hosea, posted in Your Stories

Boys and their toys

My grandfather told me this story a number of times along with other stories of cape. Lots of them referring to where orchards and fields used to be and how things were different, but when he wanted humor during a storm he brings up the tornado incident.

He said that it was as dark as night but seemed calm right until the wind blew. He remembers going into the cellar and hiding with his grandmother and brothers. When it was over they all came outside and looked at the destruction. Their house withstood great damages but still stood.

As he walked around the town he saw one of his neighbors cursing to the sky but he wasn't cursing about his house that was torn to shreds, he was cursing for the fact his truck had just one little scratch on it. His neighbor had his truck in the carport, which surprisingly still somewhat stood. His neighbor wasn't worried about the house he was worried about his truck which basically stood untouched by the tornado except for the little scratch that lay on the side of the truck which was barely noticeable.

That always put a smile on my face for the fact I couldn't see how someone cared more about a car then their house, but now I understand boys like their toys.

-- Kailee Cochran, via email

Childhood memories

I remember the tornado as a 5-year-old boy living in Jackson.

My parents, Marvin and Nora Clark, owned Clark Electric and because he had a generator in the company's panel truck, he was called to Cape to help restore power. Broadway was impassable due to trees being down. There was one very large tree down and in order to get the truck and generator down Broadway, several men literally picked the truck up and set it down on the other side of the tree.

I also remember my dad telling the story about a man's house being destroyed as he was taking a bath and only he and the bathtub were left standing.

-- Wayne Clark, Imperial, Mo., via email

Separation anxiety

I grew up in a house built by grandfather and my dad grew up in the house next door, also built by my grandfather. These houses are on Emerald Street.

My Dad told me on the day the tornado hit, he was supposed to go to the store with his mother. But like a lot of 14 year olds he didn't want to, so when he heard her holler for him, he took off on his bike. Then after he was sure she was gone he came home.

Then the storm hit. He couldn't get any of the windows or doors open until a tree fell and broke a window. He said that was the first time he remembered being so scared, he was worried about his Mom. His bike was smashed and he couldn't find her. After that he never ran away from her again.

-- Posted as an online comment by katred

Saved by a sapling

My great-grandfather, Seth McKee was in this tornado.

My family lived in Illmo at the time. My grandmother and mother watched as the sky darkened from our front porch and knew Cape was being hit. Great-grandfather McKee lived in the Red Star Baptist Church district and his home was destroyed.

He was blown out of his house up into a tree on his mattress and a small sapling pinned him there, saving his life.

I was three and remember him coming to live with us. He scared me because he was black, blue and purple from the bruises sustained in the tornado. He was 87 at the time.

-- Posted as an online comment by SweetAntiquity

Not a scratch on it

I lived on Perry Ave. I was 6 years old at the time and can remember going to the basement and mom praying. My brother had went to the show in town and mom was realy upset.

After the tornado passed over we went outside and our car, a 1939 Chevy, was gone. Then we looked across the street and there it was on Mr. & Mrs. Thomas's front porch and not a scratch on it. And our house did not have any damage to it, or any of the neighbors' houses.

There is a lot I can remember about the tornado. It was like a atom bomb went off. I think one of my brothers has the newspaper mom had saved about the tornado.

-- Posted as an online comment by dmgait

Freaky happenings

I was about 2 1/2 years old when this tornado hit Cape Girardeau. My father, mother, and I were away from Cape when it hit. We lived on Thilenius Street, and the storm completely leveled a neighbor's free-standing garage but no other nearby buildings. However, the tornado sucked a double casement window unit out of the second story of our house and laid it on the lawn below without breaking any of the glass! Apparently those stories about the freaky things tornadoes do are true!

-- Posted as an online comment by arwen

Painful stowaway

I was only 2 years old when the storm hit, so I don't have any direct memories of it, but I do remember my folks years later pointing out trees around Cape Rock that still had clothing and other debris in them.

When I was 5 or 6, one of our neighbors went to the doctor because he was having severe pain in his arm. The doctor removed a huge splinter several inches long that the man didn't know was there. He assumed that it was driven in by the force of the tornadic winds.

-- Posted as an online comment by Its_me