The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 6

AB SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1998 WEATHER THE SALINA JOURNAL: Tornado Lives spared in storm PROM PAGE A1 "It had rotation up higher as well as down lower, and that, combined with with land speed, made for an intense funnel," Burke Said. "Usually that type of funnel cuts a small but defined path." A steady stream of gawkers drove along Yocemento Road, among them parents in minivans with children out for a Saturday drive, curious teen-agers pointing at the debris and broken trees, and concerned Hays residents carting food, bringing probably as much traffic to the town in one morning as it might get all month. One apparent resident in a pickup truck shouted at a van crawling along the gravel road to "hurry up and get along." Dreher was in good spirits as he smoked a cigarette and shooed his friends from most of the tangled mess that used to be his home. Tiffany, a dog smaller than most cats, danced at his feet and begged strangers and well-wishers to pet her. seen a funnel before, hut nothing that close," Dreher said.

''it was just like the movies." Not only did the dog survive, but liis two horses found some covqr in a low part of the land. "They were smart enough to find a low ditch and stay there," Dreher said. Dreher was insured but not enough to cover everything he lost. The Ellis County chapter of the American Red Cross will put him in a motel and pay the first ijnonth's rent of a place when ibrejaer finds one. When asked wha't he had left, he pointed to a Ijruck with a beat-up a refrigerator and a stove.

"(Fhat's about it," he said. Not much to build on Randy Augustine watched the fornado as it came over the hills from his basement after his brothers called to warn him of the storm. Most of his home was blown a.way, said his sister Donna of Hays. "It was awful," Donna said. Paul Faber and his two daughter had dropped off some ice Cream and milk and were headed west to Ellis for pizza when his older daughter, Jenny, 12, pointed at the sky, noticed its yellow col- 4r, and said "that's a tornado TOM DORSEY The Salina Journal Friends and relatives help to move furnishings Saturday from the Yocemento home of Paul Faber.

The items were moved to rented storage in Hays. Faber, professor of philosophy TEXAS STORMS and chairman of the department at Fort Hays State University, usually tries to downplay his daughter's fears. This time he agreed with her. Even so, he wasn't too concerned. It's rare, he said, to have a second severe storm front blow through in one night.

The sirens started wailing as they were ordering their pizza. They spent 10 minutes in the basement of Arthur's Pizza and Mexican Foods before heading home. They knew it was going to be bad when a deputy from the Ellis County Sheriffs Office prevented them from coming up the road. When they arrived at their house, they saw a shell of their home of 10 years. The windows were blown out, the roof was in pieces, and parts of it were missing.

Part of the manufactured home next door rode the winds and smashed into Faber's garage. "Rose Madder," a book by Stephen King, lay in his driveway. "I don't even know whose book this is," he said. He was busy salvaging some of his possessions Saturday. As he loaded some paintings into his minivan, he worried about his wife.

She was in a conference in Oklahoma City and hadn't seen the damage. His son was spending the night at a friend's and was dropped off Saturday morning to find his home destroyed. Jenny tried to put pieces of a dish together before throwing them back on the carpet of glass and insulation. "Oh forget it," she said. Faber said he didn't know whether he would try to rebuild his home.

"I'd like to stay here," Faber said. He glanced back at his home. "I'm glad we were out of there," he said. It happened so fast Jeanne and Vernon Riedel, aided by some friends and family, walked through the bushy hills of. Yocemento and looked for a few salvageable possessions.

Vernon had kept a close eye on the funnel cloud as it headed toward his home. As it got closer, he told his family of four into the storm shelter. "We weren't that frightened," Jeanne said. "We've been in that storm shelter many times. "It all happened so fast." They heard a loud noise, what sounded like some tin breaking and tinkling, and then silence.

The wind pushed a truck over their shelter, so the family crawled out from under the pickup and saw nothing except a pile of rubble. The wind carried a part of their home a quarter-mile into Faber's garage, and the rest about 100 yards. The rubble was in a large pile near the home, and only the foundation marked where it once stood. "I'm glad we had this shelter," Jeanne said. "We can rebuild.

Everybody is OK. That's the important thing." One friend found a jacket Jeanne had bought a month ago about a mile away. Other fragments of the Riedels' life, a Brillo pad, deodorant, a garden tool, lay about Yocemento. But in the corner of the pile, as family and friends silently rummaged through the rubble, an American symbol snapped in the crisp October breeze by the early morning light. The wind gave proof to one smidgen of inspiration for the family to rebuild.

That their flag was still there. Tornado and flooding kill four in Texas By The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO Drenching storms swept Saturday through Texas, spawning a tornado that killed one person in rural Texas and floods in San Antonio that killed three others. More than 15 inches of rain had fallen in some areas by early afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Meteorologist Larry Peabody said the chance for more flooding is "110 percent." "Every creek and river and drainage system and road and highway in the city of San Antonio are either flooded or about to be flooded," Peabody said. The three drowning victims a man and two women were washed away in cars stranded on flooded roads on the city's north side.

All three bodies were recovered. Just west of Corsicana, 220 miles northeast of San Antonio, a man was killed when a tornado slammed into his mobile home and ripped it apart about 10:30 a.m., Navarro County sheriffs Deputy Kip Thomas said. Mike McCormick, 33, was killed. His wife and three sons were in stable condition at Navarro Regional Hospital in Corsicana, said sheriffs dispatcher Rhonda Stephens. The family's trailer was destroyed, with nothing left standing but cinder blocks and a front wooden deck on which a welcome mat and flower pots remained undisturbed.

"We had no warning," Thomas said. "All of a sudden, the tones went out and they said it was on the ground." Southwest of Waco, a tornado in Oglesboy destroyed two brick homes, and a house and three mobile homes were destroyed in Harker Heights. No other injuries were reported. Flooding ranged from San Antonio in south-central Texas up to Austin and the Hill Country. Forecasters said there was little or no relief expected through at least late today.

Authorities in Austin and San Antonio spent much of the morning rescuing motorists from flooded roads, said Jo Schweikhard Moss, a spokeswoman for the Division of Emergency Management. She said some sections of Interstate 35 south of San Antonio were closed at one point by at least five feet of water sitting on the highway. The homes of about 80 to 90 families were evacuated north of San Antonio, sheriffs Deputy Art Scarbrough said. More than 100 residents of Wimberley, a Hill Country weekend hideaway about 30 miles southwest of Austin, also were evacuated. Frank and Charlotte Walters of Houston were driving back from their Lake Tahoe summer residence when they were stranded at an outlet mall in New Braunfels.

notice In our October 18th insert, the $149.99 computer monitor was incorrectly described as a 15" Packard Bell monitor The actual item is a 15" Pixie monitor We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our customers. Sat 8 4 827-5581 528 Kenwood Park Drive, Salina, KS Larson Storm Doors Over 30 years Experience "When you windows i TU In The Four Seasons Showroom 1900 S. Broadway Wayne Wetzel, Owner Doug Wetzel, Sales (785)827-5600 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday AFRICANS IN AMERICA This four-part series how Africans and Europeans' together created a new even as they bitterly struggled over the very meaning A A A A freedom. to; mi HILLS Monday "The Terrible 1 Tuesday "Revolution" Wednesday "Brotherly Love" Thursday "Judgment Day" i.

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He understands the importance of taking into consideration the long-term effect of legislation concerning the 67th District. Jerry Aday Mr. Aday moved from Wichita to Ellsworth in 1995. Mr. Aday has no permanent ties or roots in the 67th District.

Buffington The Hometown Choice!.