I am 33 years old and have been a resident of Springfield for almost 5 years now. I am a SWOP (Severe Weather Observation Program) and SKYWARN observer for the National Weather Service, and have been a weather spotter and storm chaser since high school. Having grown up in Southern Indiana near Louisville, KY and then spending several years in the Indianapolis area, I thought I had became accustomed to severe weather, spotting and chasing storms, and helping to survey and document the aftermath and damage caused by them. Having also worked in broadcasting in one from or another since high school, I thought that I was prepared for anything. Little did I know that on Sunday evening, March 12th, all of the things that I thought were going to be proven wrong.

 

I had been watching the NWS and Storm Prediction Center outlooks for Sunday afternoon and evening very closely for several days. I was in St. Louis with my partner David on Saturday afternoon and noticed the unseasonably warm, humid, and very windy conditions. I commented that severe weather seemed imminent. Within a few hours we had the first round of what would end up being a weekend full of storms. When we returned home on Saturday evening, I monitored the first round of severe weather moving through Southern Illinois and started focusing on what was forecast to come later on Sunday. The SPC had already put Central Illinois in a "HIGH RISK" area for a "significant and deadly tornado outbreak" for late in the day on Sunday. Very rarely do high risk areas get issued (maybe a dozen a year or so), but also very rarely is our area included in one. The strong wording of the statements coming out also was unusual.

 

By mid afternoon Sunday, I was beginning to monitor a supercell that I had noticed on radar in Missouri. This storm was starting to grow in intensity and was just sitting out by itself in a very humid and unstable environment. I knew from my experience that this was not a good thing. As the afternoon wore on, I noticed that this storm was not fading away as many storms tend to do in this part of the country, but it was continuing to increase in intensity and was taking a path through Central Missouri that one could almost draw a line from and place it somewhere near our area if it continued to march this direction. Just looking at it on the St. Louis radar as it almost rolled up this invisible path which the NWS would later realize was the boundary of an old cold front made the hair stand up on my arms. I didn't know why then but I just had a bad feeling in my gut about this storm.

 

Around 6 PM, the storm had moved into Illinois and the radar and storm monitoring programs I was looking at were plotting it approaching Greene and Morgan counties of Illinois. The radar showed it had definite rotation, and tornado warnings had been accompanying this cell all afternoon through Missouri. I noticed a friend of mine was online from Murraryville. I told him I might be headed his way shortly and that a major storm was coming towards Jacksonville. I figured I would go out and help the NWS track this storm as it approached from the west.

 

I got distracted and dinner time came, but I was still trying to keep an eye on this storm. When the warning came out for Morgan county, I knew I needed to get out and see if I could help. The warning soon came over for Sangamon County and the tornado sirens began sounding. We were leaving our apartment on Westchester Boulevard to head west towards I-72 and Wabash to keep an eye on the sky. Lightning had started and I grabbed my portable police scanner and camcorder. We both were a little hesitant for some reason to venture out as it was starting to get dark, and neither of us particularly likes chasing at night. There are way too many variables involved. We know all the safety rules and we review them frequently. The goal of a trained spotter is never to put yourself in harms way. We practice that religiously. If something doesn't feel right, we trust our instincts. Because of this, we decided not to venture too far from home.

 

We made it out to Wabash Avenue near Archer Elevator Road. I had noticed the wind moving due west and then suddenly it shifted directions abruptly, almost turning our car around with it. It was now gusting very violently from the southwest. We heard a radio report that a tornado had touched down near Knights Action Park. We started to reposition so we could see towards the southeast. There wasn't time. A Springfield Police officer was in the middle of Wabash Avenue and stopped to tell us and another vehicle that we needed to get into the Showplace 12 theater across the street immediately. He said to tell them that Springfield Police told us to come there and that he was heading in behind us. We did exactly that. We rushed into the parking lot and ran for the front doors. We were greeted by a theater employee who was helping to gather everyone into their safe shelter area. They had just received a call from nearby Parkway Pointe theater and were told that their windows had all just been blown out. There was a sense of urgency but not really panic. Driving rain had started outside, and the wind was blowing it sideways. Intense lightning was hitting the ground nearby like artillery exploding.

 

About 150 of us huddled into a large storage room at the theater, some of us occasionally peeking into the hallway to see the dark cloud that had enveloped the area. The sky went from dusky to pitch black almost instantly. We heard the rain pounding the roof and then we heard radio reports on my scanner of a tornado touchdown. The power almost instantly went off and there were several people who screamed. We were thrown into total darkness in this storage room. Apparently when the theater was built nobody thought about emergency lighting for this room. I'm sure that will get reconsidered now. The police officer who had directed us in came running into the room to try and update us on what was going on. He had no sooner started telling us what was happening that he got a radio call that the roof on the Gordman's had collapsed and there were possibly people trapped inside. He rushed for his vehicle to try and assist. We would see him again several times throughout the night. He never was able to make it past the entrance road onto Wabash because power lines and poles had already been downed. He was going to be marooned for a while just like us.

 

After 10 or 15 minutes of huddling together in the darkness, many of us decided it was safe enough to venture towards the lobby. We could see the rain had stopped but the lightning outside was continuing. We weren't hearing a lot of communications on the police radio. We would later find out this was because communications was disrupted citywide. I walked outside the front door and was amazed at what I saw. Total darkness as far as I could see. There were 2 visible low hanging clouds in the distance, one towards the downtown area, and another off towards I-55 and the far east side. After a few lightning strikes silhouetting the clouds, you could very plainly see that the cloud towards downtown was a tornado. It was hard to determine if it was touching the ground, but it was definitely rotating and dipping down out of the cloud. Looking closer to the theater, we noticed that almost every power pole on Wabash had been broken in half like twigs. We all realized this was going to be a long night.

 

The parking lot of the theater was strewn with debris. Some people thought they could be successful in leaving and trying to start home, but those who ventured to their cars and tried to leave the parking lot soon realized that was not possible. Nobody was going anywhere for a while. They would eventually be smart and return back to the building. It was such an eerie and unusual feeling to see everything in total darkness. The temperature felt like it was actually warmer than it was earlier in the evening, and the wind was still gusting ferociously.

 

A handful of people, including theater staff and managers, and those curious about what was happening, gathered around the front doors, ready to flee for shelter again if the need arised. This began what would end up being 10 hours of the longest night of my life. David made several calls to WMAY and Jim Leach to let him know that we all had made it through the storm safely. Many people were calling home and reassuring their loved ones, who were beginning to worry I am sure. Someone at the theater had a NOAA Weather Radio and they took this into one of the large auditoriums that still had emergency lighting where everyone was gathering. I walked in and noticed that everyone was seated throughout the room like they were awaiting a movie to start. Unfortunately there would be no more movies that night, and not a lot else to pass the time. Theater employees distributed the little bit of popcorn that was left, and they had an abundant supply of bottled Dasani water that was cold and refreshing. This was the one thing I think everyone was thankful for throughout the night. Later they would break out cases of nacho chips to share with all of us. It wasn't much. Plain nacho chips aren't exactly the most flavorful thing in the world, but it helped. I think we all would have probably went crazy had they have started handing out candy though. 

 

The one thing that we lacked in the theater was a battery operated radio to monitor local broadcasts such as those on WMAY or WFMB so a lot of information was coming via cell phone calls and those of us who were able to get weather updates and radar pictures on our cell phones were surrounded each time we would check them. Several of the theater employees commented that they would have to purchase a battery operated radio to keep on hand in the future. We finally decided to move our car up by the front door and turn the radio up so people near the doors could hear what was being said and relay it to those inside.

 

After a couple of hours, the emergency lighting in the theater began to fail. Children of school age were getting sleepy and grumpy as it was well past their usual bedtimes. The theater staff realized that they needed to start preparing for the eventuality that we might have to all sleep there. People were directed back into the hallways. Staff found every available chair and blanket they could. They tried to do whatever they could to make people comfortable but their resources were limited. Thankfully we had several flashlights. Later many of us would loan our cell phones to people as they went into the bathroom so they could light their way in and out. I never thought of using a cell phone as a flashlight, but it worked fairly well. We did have one person on crutches and another in a wheelchair in the theater. I know everyone did their best to try and make them comfortable. We also had a gentleman who was on oxygen, and this was becoming a concern. There were a handful of diabetics who were also starting to feel bad. We all crossed our fingers that we wouldn't need an ambulance because we weren't sure they would be able to make it through.

 

During the night we had a few more visits from the police officer, who wasn't able to provide a lot of updates as he wasn't getting much new information from the power crews about when we might get to leave. Some of us heard midday Monday. Others said a few hours. There were a lot of rumors going around. We had to all huddle in the dark storage room 2 more times during the night as more sirens sounded and warnings were issued. We would divide our time between checking outside, taking shelter, and trying to pass the time between storms in the darkness of the lobby and hallway. Many tried to sleep. The children were the ones who seemed to be able to do that the easiest. When we had to go into the shelter area each time, several of the younger kids were passed out and oblivious to the activities around them. I think all of us were a little envious of that and would have liked to have been in that dream state as well. This all was pretty much like a living nightmare. We all wanted to pinch ourselves to wake up.

 

Throughout the night, WMAY and WFMB provided good information, and David continued to phone in reports. His co-workers at Cingular Wireless were listening and hearing him, and they would tell him the next day how none of them could believe all of us had been stuck in that theater all night. Around 5:30 in the morning, the power crews were able to get the poles moved just enough for us all to make a mass exodus from the parking lot. I think it took about 5 minutes for dozens of cars to flee the place we had been prisoner in for the better part of half a day. Driving home was like an obstacle course. The sun had not yet came up and every road we turned onto was either flooded or had debris across it. Somehow we dodged everything and what normally would have been a 10 minute trip home took nearly an hour. We were lucky though compared to others nearby. We only suffered damage to one room in our apartment, A window had got sucked open and everything had got wet. Buildings just a block away were missing entire floors. We felt like kissing the ground we were standing on at that point. So many things came together right to keep us safe. So many people pulled together to keep each other comfortable and calm. It was true community spirit, and during the following days of helping to survey storm damaged areas, I would see more and more examples of this man helping man attitude. It made me proud to live in Springfield.

 

What did we learn though that I feel was one of the most important things that every business should do to be prepared? Buy a NOAA Weather Radio. Have it on in alert mode so you will know when a watch or warning is issued. Make sure it has a backup battery in case the power fails (in fact, keep a couple of extra batteries taped to it). When a test comes over, don't turn it off. When a watch comes over, be aware. When a warning comes over, take the appropriate action. The NWS very likely saved many lives that night. A simple investment of under $100 is worth the safety of your customers and your employees. Homes should have these radios as well. If the sirens fail like they did in some places after the first round of storms, these radios might indeed save your life. It is a resource that a lot of people don't realize is there. Also, businesses need to practice their safety plans. The fact that a statewide tornado drill had just occurred a few days earlier helped a lot of places stay safe. Make sure your safe shelter area is equipped with emergency lighting, or at least a good supply of flashlights, and bottled water. If the power goes out water fountains and vending machines won't work (ask Jim Leach at WMAY about that). Finally, have a battery operated AM/FM radio so if all else fails you will have some information and/or music to help inform people and find out what is going on. Some stores sell crank operated radios now that will give you an hour of power just by turning a crank a couple of times. These are great resources. We all thought a tornado could never hit Springfield, much less 2, and much less 3 rounds of storms in one night. We all were wrong. Now we know what went wrong, what went right, and how to fix things next time around. Let's just hope there isn't a next time. 

 

Lawrence Estep

David Seneff

Springfield