The Tornado, 83

I read this author's book about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, A Weekend in September and found it very compelling, so when I found "The Tornado" (originally published in 1977), I immediately bought it. This book tells the story of another natural disaster: the F5 tornado that flattened the business section of Waco, Texas and killed 114 people on May 11, 1953. The heart of this book is formed from the survivors' narratives, but Weems doesn't jump immediately into this part of the story. Instead, he spends quite a bit of time describing the hours before Waco's downtown was churned into mud, bricks and bodies by the huge funnel cloud, as he worked on his father's cattle ranch, nearby. Texas was in the grip of a drought that spring, and as he and his father repair the farm's windmill under darkening skies, Weems veers off into a description of the science, history, and mythology of meteorology. In 1953, this author worked as a newspaper reporter, so when his editor called him up at the ranch, he grabbed his notebook, pencil, and camera, and started to track the path of the tornado. We are then treated to a history of Waco, and are over halfway through this book, and into Chapter 8 ("Approach on Downtown") before the F5 twister and the author head on into the city, itself. The remainder of "The Tornado" focuses on the eyewitness accounts of the survivors, "based mostly on information given immediately afterward, when the details were still vivid." These survival stories are indeed gripping. I just wish the author had gotten to them a little sooner. This book's black-and-white photographs show the destruction an F5 tornado can wreak on a large city's downtown. If you had somehow assumed that city centers are immune to Nature's most violent storms, "The Tornado" will definitely change your mind.

I picked up this book about a week ago, with no idea that the deadly run of tornadoes from Arkansas to Tennessee and Kentucky was forthcoming. That tragedy shows how this book endures as not just the story of one unusually deadly tornado in Waco in 1953 but as a guide to the horrible power of all tornadoes. By describing his own experience of that tornado and painting a solid panorama of the way Waco's citizens experienced the tornado and its aftermath, Weems gives a sense of how chaotic and haphazard its damage was. Often people lived or died based on seemingly trivial things like going outside to wait for the bus despite the rain or going home to get a replacement pair of pants. Weems starts off by surveying the history and science of tornadoes circa 1950, then moves in to survey life in Waco before the tornado, and then the tornado itself. The book gets somewhat repetitive toward the end with its detailed descriptions of the damage. But, its story of a specific tornado gives us a strong feeling for what it's truly like to experience a tornado. Instead of simply barraging us with tornado data and an anthology of notorious tornadoes, it blends history and culture with some solid skepticism and a bit of autobiography to create a solidly grounded drama. The Tornado does extra duty as a depiction of Waco's history (the name comes from a subtribe of Wichita Indians) and the city's status in 1953, a history of tornadoes, and even offers some advice on possible ways to survive a tornado.

Many believe that tornadoes are a rural phenomenah that don't strike cities, but this has mostly to do with how little space is actually taken up by cities. A city is actually as vulnerable as anywhere else, as is clear to anyone reading this book. In May of 1953, during a decade of intense storm activity, Waco Texas was devastated by a powerful twister that smashed the downtown and killed at least 110 people, in spite of an Indian legend that said the area was immune to such storms. Weems does a reasonable job of telling the story here, although his writing is not as gripping as that delivered by truly great authors. I liked the first half, with its discussion of tornado lore and the city of Waco just before the disaster, much better than the second, where we find ourselves amidst endless blocks of debris and broken glass. But while this may not and should not be the last word on the calamity, it's a fine book to pick up if you are interested in tornadoes or Waco.

If you haven't read this book you don't know what a best seller is about. It was pure fact, electric and mesmerizing. I couldn't put it down. The author interviewed the survivors first hand. Not some fictional made-for-TV slop.

This book is a must have for anybody interested in tornadoes. It tells in detail about the lives that were forever changed when a massive tornado ripped through Waco Texas in 1953. This is one of the few times a tornado has hit a downtown area head on. This may happen again, especially with the huge population growth. It is also rumored to be the theme of the sequel to the Twister ! movie.