1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak

Confirmed tornadoes

June 2 event

June 3 event

Notable tornadoes

During the early afternoon hours of June 2, several powerful thunderstorms formed in eastern Illinois, and tracked southeastward into Indiana. These storms produced a total of five tornadoes across its track through Indiana, starting from 1:00 pm EDT, to around 3:00 pm EDT. Funnel clouds were first reported in Benton County near I-65 at 11:12 am EDT, and near Mellott in Montgomery County at 11:25 am EDT.

The first tornado touched down at around 1:00 pm EDT near the town of Covington in Fountain County. The tornado tracked into Covington at 1:05 pm EDT, and immediately demolished the top story of a hardware store. The tornado also damaged or destroyed 7 homes in town before leaving to the southeast. The tornado was last seen south of Veedersburg, paralleled to I-75. The tornado caused $5 million USD (1980) to the town of Covington, and an additional $9 million USD (1980) in rural areas. Two people were injured, with only one injury noted to be serious. The tornado was rated as F2.

The second tornado was spotted near Waynetown in the northwest parts of Montgomery County at around 1:15 pm EDT. The tornado was described as dipping up and down as it tracked southeastward at a rapid speed. The tornado did little damage until south of Crawfordsville, where the tornado rapidly intensified as it approached the Moore Heights subdivision. Several homes in the subdivision were heavily damaged, with nine being completely destroyed at near-F4 intensity. Then the tornado struck the Rock River Feed and Fur Company, completely destroying the structure. The tornado continued south towards the town of Ladoga, where the tornado struck several mobile homes, killing a mother and injuring her son in one trailer that was scattered over 30 acres. The tornado lifted north of Ladoga at 2:00 pm EDT after tracking for 18.1 miles (29.13 km). The tornado caused an estimated $2 million USD (1980), claimed the life of one, and injured 16 others. The tornado was rated as F3.

At 2:20 pm EDT, the third tornado touched down in the city of Indianapolis. The short lived but powerful tornado touched down along East Pleasant Run Parkway South Drive, instantly destroying a camper in the driveway of a home, and a six foot diameter oak tree was split in half in the backyard. A stop sign on the corner of Marianne Avenue and Arlene Drive was bent to the ground. The tornado then destroyed the garage of a home on Marianne Avenue before rapidly intensifying and destroyed four to six homes on the corner of Marianne and Richardt Avenue at near-F3 intensity, with a dozen other homes receiving lesser damage. The tornado threw debris from the homes onto I-465, causing a car accident. The tornado then lifted after crossing the embankment of I-70 and I-465. The tornado was rated as F2.

At 2:30 pm EDT, the fourth tornado touched down near the town of New Palestine in Hancock County. The tornado first struck both the elementary and high schools in the southern part of town. The tornado removed huge sections off while breaking several windows from both schools. The tornado also ripped a gaping hole in the high schools agricultural building while throwing bleachers across the football field. Cars in the barking lot were moved, with one having its roof removed. The tornado then struck the J. B. Clayborn Shoe Store on Bitter Road, completely leveling the structure. Then the tornado struck structures on Main Street, with every business having its front windows blown out and multiple having chunks torn out of the structures, with one grocery store being un-roofed. Then the tornado struck two trailer homes, flipping both. The tornado then tore apart multiple homes at near-F3 intensity. Then the tornado uprooted several trees along Sugar Creek before leaving town to the southeast. The tornado continued to track along U.S. 52 before striking the Carleton Apartments, tossing a boat into one of the 16 units. Every window of the apartments were blow out before the tornado then turned due north, where it struck a farm, shredding the barn and grain silo. Parts of the silo were thrown up to a quarter-mile away. The tornado lifted shortly after, tracking for four miles. The tornado injured four people and caused $2 million USD (1980) in damages. The tornado was rated as F2.

The last tornado touched down in rural Rush County southwest of Rushville at around 3:00 pm EDT. The brief tornado uprooted several trees, with one falling onto a vehicle, injuring one person before lifting. The tornado was rated as F0. The tornadoes in total caused more than $18 million USD (1980) in damages, claiming the life of one, and injuring a further 27 over the estimated 2 hour duration.

Two more tornadoes touched down in the northeast portions of Indiana on June 2, both being rated as F1, and causing a combined four injuries.

Natrona Heights–Apollo–Vandergrift, Pennsylvania

At 12:30 pm EDT, a tornado touched down in Allegheny County in western Pennsylvania. The tornado tracked east-southeastward where it tracked into Natrona Heights. The Heights Plaza Shopping Center in Natrona Heights, a horse-shoe shaped mall of around 50 stores, was directly struck, resulting in two stores and a restaurant being severely damaged. A quarter of Fishers Big Wheel discount department store was left completely destroyed, with a majority of the structures roof being completely removed.

Reedsville–Kingwood, West Virginia/Crellin, Maryland

At 2:30 pm EDT, a tornado touched down Ridgedale in far eastern Monogalia County in northeast West Virginia. The tornado tracked east-southeastward into Preston County, where it struck Reedsville, a community that had a population of 400 at the time. The Reedsville fire hall had its roof completely torn off by the tornado, and the new fire hall which was under construction at the time, suffered significant damage to one side of the structure. The tornado then continued southeast where it struck the southern sections of Kingwood. The Kingwood Mobile Home Village took a direct hit, where extensive damage occurred. A two year old child in the mobile home park was thrown into a pasture a mile away from her trailer. She suffered a fractured leg and various head injures. The tornado continued to track southeastward where it passed 2.5 miles south of Terra Alta.

The tornado then crossed into Garrett County, Maryland at 2:55 pm EDT. The debris filled tornado demolished two mobile homes near the state line, with a man from one of the trailers being thrown 50 feet while attempting to seek shelter. The tornado then impacted rural farms before striking the community of Crellin. 15 homes in Crellin were damaged by the tornado, with one home being destroyed when a tree fell through the roof of the home. Several trees were uprooted as the tornado destroyed buildings on 12 farms across its track in Maryland. The tornado continued southeastward until it crossed Backbone Mountain when the tornado lifted.

In total, the tornado tracked for 29 miles across three counties in two states, 24 miles of the track was in West Virginia, with the remaining 5 miles in Maryland. Damage in West Virginia was estimated to be $4 million USD (1980). 28 homes in West Virginia being completely destroyed, 42 suffering major damage, and 60 suffering minor damage, alongside 13 businesses and 9 public buildings being heavily damaged by the tornado. Total property damage in Maryland was estimated to be $300 thousand USD (1980), with additional crop damage adding an additional $40 thousand USD (1980). 19 people were injured by the tornado, 15 in West Virginia, and four in Maryland.

This tornado was the most destructive and devastating to strike the state of West Virginia since June 23, 1944.

Grand Island, Nebraska tornado family

During the late evening hours of June 3, a slow-moving but powerful supercell in Nebraska produced seven tornadoes in and around the city of Grand Island, Nebraska over the course of 2 hours and 45 minutes, starting from 8:45 pm CDT, and concluding at 11:30 pm CDT. Three of the seven tornadoes were anti-cyclonic, and every tornado had highly erratic paths due to the slow forward speed of the parent thunderstorm complex.

The first tornado touched down at 8:45 pm CDT around 11 miles northwest of Grand Island, or 3 miles north of Prairie Creek. The tornado impacted several farmsteads northwest of Grand Island before causing significant damage to the Capital Heights subdivision. The tornado remained on the ground for 45 minutes, injuring 25 people, and claiming the life of a woman trying to drive to a relatives farm. Despite having a straight-line path of only 7 miles, the tornadoes highly erratic and twisting path lead to the tornado tracking for 14.5 miles. The tornado was rated as F3.

The second and third tornadoes touched down near Webb and Airport roads at 9:00 pm CDT and 9:05 pm CDT respectively. Both tornadoes were anti-cyclonic and initially tracked north-northeast before shifting due south. At around the same time, local resident Rod Gartner captured a photograph of the second and third tornadoes on the ground. The second tornado lifted at 9:12 pm CDT, as the third tornado tracked into northern Grand Island, causing F3 damage around the VA hospital before lifting at 9:30 pm CDT just north of downtown. The second tornado was rated as F1 and injured 5 people, and the third tornado was rated as F3 and injured 40.

The fourth tornado touched down near Highway 34 and Shady Bend Road and initially tracked southwest before turning north and lifting just south of Highway 34. The tornado was the last anti-cyclonic tornado of the family and was rated as F1.

After a 26 minute period of no tornadoes, the fifth tornado, often nicknamed the "South Locust tornado", touched down in the Eagles Lake and Crystal lake areas of east Grand Island. The tornado tracked due west just north and along Bismark Road, striking Meves Bowling Alley. The bowling alley suffered significant damage as multiple non load-bearing walls collapsed along with significant portions of the metal roofing being stripped off. The tornado then became violent as it turned southwestward, tearing through residential areas along Bismark and Fonner Roads. The tornado then turned due south, striking the business district on South Locust Street where the tornado obliterated homes and businesses at peak intensity. The tornado began turning southeast before crossing Highway 34, weakening in intensity as it tracked another half-mile southeastward before lifting at 10:28 pm CDT. The tornado was the strongest and deadliest of the family, claiming the lives of 4 people and injuring 110. The tornado was rated as F4 with winds of 250 miles per hour.

The sixth tornado touched down at 10:25 pm CDT east of Shady Bend Road, tracking southwest near Stuhr Road before turning southeast and traveling south of Shimmer Road before lifting 1 mile south of the Hall/Hamilton County Bridge. The tornado injured 18 people over its 4 mile long track, and was rated as F2.

The last tornado of the family touched down southeast of the Hall/Hamilton County Bridge. The tornado tracked east-northeast for 13 miles over rural farmland before lifting south of Phillips, Nebraska. The tornado injured 2 people and was rated as F1.

1,038 homes and 35 businesses in Grand Island suffered minor damage, 415 homes and 23 businesses suffered major damage, and 531 homes and 49 businesses were completely destroyed. Outside of Grand Island, 20 farms and 80 farm buildings suffered minor damage, 11 farms suffered major damage, and 35 farms, 48 farm buildings, and 100 grain silos were destroyed, along side 17 square miles of farmland being affected. Resulting damages totaled up to $305.1 million USD in 1980. ($1.24 billion USD in 2026). The tornadoes claimed the lives of 5 people, and reportedly hospitalized 250 others.

Aftermath

The tornadoes in Grand Island, Nebraska killed five, injured 200, and caused an estimated more than $285 million (USD) ($1.02 billion 2022 USD) in damage. In Nebraska, tornado warnings allowed people to get to safety in time, which prevented a higher death toll. The South Locust Street area in Grand Island was hardest hit, struck by the fifth tornado of the night (a high-end F4 tornado). Much of the rubble and debris left by the tornadoes was placed in a landfill that now forms Tornado Hill, a popular biking and sledding spot in Grand Island today.

Fictionalized accounts of the event

Book

In 1984, a semi-fictionalized book version of this significant tornado outbreak by children's author Ivy Ruckman, a native of Nebraska, was released under the title Night of the Twisters. The book told the story of Danny Hatch, a pre-teen and his family, and what happened to them as the event took place.

Television film

The book inspired a made-for-cable television original movie of the same name, that premiered on February 14, 1996, on The Family Channel (now Freeform). The movie version still centered on the Hatch Family and most of the characters in the book were adapted to the film. However, there were several discrepancies from the movie and the book version. The most notable being the town in the movie is changed from Grand Island to the fictional town of Blainsworth, which Ivy Ruckman reportedly was disappointed about as it took some of the reality out of the actual event. Danny's father's name is changed to Jack in the film (played by John Schneider) and is mentioned to be his stepfather as Danny's real father is revealed to have died in a plane crash when Danny was six years old. One somewhat prominent character in the movie was Bob Iverson (played by David Ferry), who was not included in the book.

Danny's mother's occupation is also changed to waitress. The last scene in the film in which the Hatch family tries to outrun a tornado in a car lent to them at a shelter was added specifically for the film and was not in the book, either. Danny and his friend Arthur's (played by Devon Sawa and Amos Crawley) ages are also changed to their mid-teens (though their ages are never mentioned in the film).