Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 11

THE EDMONTON JOURNAL. Saturday, August 1, 1987 A1 1 Two hours of terror Few treasures remain at Evergreen mobile park By BRYANT AVERY Special to The Journal Darlene Dick was one of many distraught residents of Evergreen Mobile Home Park who recognized treasures in the rubble after Friday's tornado and feared the worst. For her, it was a tiny stuffed animal lying in the mud beside a pile of furniture and wood fragments all that was left of her home along 167 Avenue in northeast Edmonton. "I was just talking to my daughter from work, about 2 p.m.," she said. "She was cooking a roast or something." Dick's three children, aged IS, 12 and 11, were still unaccounted for two hours after the twister, wiped out countless mobile homes in the 700-home park.

Sobbing, she repeated "Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Thirty-six year old Albert William was also searching for two children. When the storm hit, he had been at work at Canada Place but he knew his wife was in the hospitel with a broken leg. His six- and 10-year-old children, however, were still missing. "I don't know where the hell they are," he said, and in the chaos of the hour disaster services personnel on the scene were unable to tell him where they might be or if they were alive.

"1 loly my trailer's gone," he said upon first seeing the devasta tion. Like Darlene Dick, William identified the lot he knew to be his and recognized items that belonged to neighbors, but most of his own possessions including he trailer had vanished. "I haven't even finished paying it off," he said quietly. "I finally get a job and get all this stuff and then all of a sudden it's gone." The largest pile of twisted homes rose just east of William's spot, and there a dozen firemen and volunteers heaved aside hunks of sheet metal and household goods hoping to locate as many as live people reported missing. There were at least three vehicles in the mound, ominously suggesting the occupants had been home at the time the twister dipped, skipping the greenhouses of Kuhlmann's Market Gardens and some of the mobile homes but flattening others next door.

Nearby, James Loucks and Gerry Churko frantically called for a woman they called Mrs. Galding. Her trailer was up-' side down, the wheels and floor resting where the roof should hav been. Loucks said he could smell her perfume in the area where the sitting room was, and as the mocking sun began to come out at dusk, he was joined by rescue crews in his search. Like the others, he didn't know if she was there, somewhere safe, or one of the casualties.

Rail cars knocked off tracks Edmontonians opening hearts-homes to victims It Jr 1 By LAS11A MORNINGSTAR Journal Staff Writer About a dozen railway cars, some of which had previously carried dangerous goods, were blown off the tracks by Friday's killer storm. Canadian National Railway spokesman Alex Rennie said the incident was one of three CN Rail operations which were hit by the storm. The railway counted two workers injured in the mishaps. Rennie said the derailed freight was stopped on the east Edmonton line that runs alongside 17th Street near the Yellowhead Highway when the twister hit. "It was sitting in the siding southbound, waiting for clearance to proceed when the tornado blew 12 or 13 cars off the track," said Rennie.

There were no injuries. Five of the cars blown off were empty, but had previously contained dangerous goods. One had carried propane, and had a minor leak in the dome, but Rennie said CN's dangerous commodity experts said the leak was not serious and was easily contained. The second incident involved a yard engine operating in the industrial park in the 60th Avenue and 17th Street area. Two crew members were standing beside the stationary train when they saw the tornado and climbed into an empty boxcar.

"The tornado toppled over the boxcar and the men were thrown out," said Rennie. The CN official said initial reports said one worker had a concussion and back injuries and the other was hospitalized with undetermined injuries. The third CN-related incident saw a company plant destroyed. "Our manufacturing plant or I should say the manufacturing plant we had was totally destroyed," said Rennie. None of plant's 35 people employees were injured.

the storm. The hotel set up temporary beds in the banquet room for the homeless survivors of the disaster. "Two other houses landed on ours, a washer and dryer attacked me," said Brian Bowyer. Bowyer held his sister-in-laws four week old baby Megan Renee in his arm who also survived the destruction of their trailer home. All his family members survived but several were seriously injured.

Jason Braun, manager of the hotel said many of the people entering were missing family members. "They're coming looking for friends or relatives they don't know where they are or what happened to them." Many of the people in the banquet room looked shocked and others cried. "My sister-in-law's house beside us was destroyed. It took an hour and half for us to find one of her sons in the rubble," said Lynda Solberg. All three of her sister-in-law's children were located after a frantic search but the babysitter was not.

"We couldn't find Sharon (the babysitter) I don't think she made it." Nader Ghermezian was one of the hotel owners offering help. He offered free accommodation for about 200 victims in a local apartment hotel. The Ghermezian-owned building, Tower on the Park, is at 9715 110th Street. Fifty apartments with kitchen facilities are available to victims until they can find alternate accommodations. Reservations can be made by calling 420-1212.

Show dedicated to storm victims A concert at the Jubilee Auditorium at 8 p.m. Saturday will be dedicated to the victims of Friday's tornado. Funds will also be solicited for a relief fund, said Gordon Wright, MLA for Edmonton Strathcona, and vice president of the Richard Eaton Singers, one of the performing groups. The concert will also feature the choir, Hagacantare, from The Hague, Netherlands. Selections will include Faure's Requiem for the dead, and Bruckner's Te Deum.

injured CN Rail worker helped from Transportation was a mess Friday's twister was biggest to hit Alberta By AL TURNER, FRANCES MISLTKA and GREG OWENS Journal Staff Writers Edmontonians opened hearts and homes to victims of Friday's tornado. Gary Cook, regional manager of the Canadian Red Cross, said about 200 citizens and "eight or nine hotels" phoned to offer temporary accommodation to the hundreds left homeless. He said about 70 families were being housed in the Bonnie Doon High School and about 20 others at the Londonderry Hotel. "We've mobilized all our volunteers and Edmonton staff," Cook said. "It's all under control, we have all we need." Cook said the phone lines at the Red Cross "have not let up" with people wanting to help.

Cook said there is no immediate need for blood donors despite the the number of injured people admitted to local hospitals. However, he said an emergeny alert will be issued if the situation changes. However, he urged displaced people who are staying with friends or relatives to check in with the Red Cross at 423-2680. He said the regional centres in Edmonton and Calgary are getting calls from all over the country from people concerned about the welfare of friends and relatives. "We're getting so many calls I can't even get an outside line," Cook said.

"We've got 10 lines and AGT is putting in another 10 lines." Most of the callers would likely not know the status of family or friends until late Friday or early today because information about survivors was trickling in very slowly, he said. Rescue workers and the homeless are being provided with food, coffee and donuts donated by Canada Safeway. Cook said supplies of baby formula and disposable diapers are also being made available. Richard Thibeau and his family had only one question. "What are we going to do where are we going to go.

We don't have any relatives in this city," Thibeau said. His Evergreen Trailer Park home was flooded out during the tornado and barely escaped being ravaged. The Thibeau family was one of many that flooded into the Londonderry Inn for shelter. All three Renf ord Inn hotels in the city were offering free shelter to victims of buildings are evidence of power 11 1 4 i 'IS V- and another Vermilion woman died after being thrown 30 metres. About 200 people have died on the Prairies from tornadoes in the last 87 years.

Canada's worst previous storm hit Regina on June 30, 1912, killing 28 people, injuring hundreds, and demolishing much of the city. While Friday's storm eclipsed rthis mark, it's far short of the world's worst tornado 689 people killed March 18, 1925 in the south-central United States. Keith Hage, a retired University of Alberta meteorology professor, said the province's concentrated population in 1987 made trouble more likely should a strong twister set down. He said there is little protection from tornadoes, one of the most powerful forces on earth. The narrow, erratic funnel clouds are difficult to predict more than a few hours in advance, he said.

Tornadoes occur when warm, humid unstable air meets a cold front. This slowly-rotating air may begin to converge and spin faster, in the same way a figure skater spins faster when he pulls in his arms. The storms, which can produce winds of up to 500 kmh, usually touth the ground for only a few seconds. Here are some other recent fatal twisters to hit Canada: May 31, 1985: Thrre tornadoes in Barrie, kill 12 people, including four children, and destroy 300 to 400 homes in 20 communities. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed.

Aug. 7, 1979: Two people killed, 130 injured by a tornado described as "a train building up steam" that flattened Woodstock, Ont. June 19, 1978: One person killed, 14 injured in southeast Manitoba by two tornadoes. i One PICTURE: Karen Sornberger boxcar after 4 p.m. after a section of track washed out between that station and Belvedere.

Lawrence said he hoped service would be restored by noon Saturday. Cab companies advised customers to wait at least an hour. Yellow Cab received emergency calls from the Stelco plant, where people were hurt. Flights at the municipal airport were delayed for about an hour, while a spokesman at the international said they experienced minimal disruption. of their leaves and demolished Buses and cars were trapped in traffic jams, a section of LRT tracks washed out and cab companies were swamped with calls as the storm struck during Friday's rush hour.

"Bus service was completely disrupted," said Llew Lawrence, an Edmonton Transit spokesman. "We had underpasses we couldn't get through and the traffic lights were off so that there were traffic jams." LRT service north of Coliseum station was shut down just Trees stripped By GORDON KENT and LINDA GOYETTE Journal Staff Writers Edmonton's massive tornado Friday killed more Albertans than all previous tornadoes combined, according to Journal files. At least 35 Albertans died Friday. About 17 people have died in previous tornadoes across the province since 1900. Four people died on the Morley reserve near Calgary in 1950.

Three Vermilion children were killed when a funnel cloud destroyed their log cabin in 1918, Forces ready, not called in Civic officials were flown over the disaster sites in armed forces helicopters Friday evening to assess the damage, said a forces spokesman. Capt. Barry Charles, aide to the CFB Edmonton base commander, said he believed Mayor Laurence Decore and Police Chief Leroy Chahley were among the officials aboard the two choppers. That was the only active role the Canadian Armed Forces had taken in the storm relief by 9:30 p.m. Friday.

But about 400 people remained on stand-by alert to help if needed. Charles said civilian authorities were handling the situation but were aware the armed forces could help on short notice. "We have manned a command post and have put personnel in place if needed," he said. He said the armed forces had ready: ambulances and paramedics; heavy-duty vehicles to reach islolated areas; firefighters; search and rescue technicians; and troops to deal with possible rr'w -Vi-iTiL of tornado 1 1 i.