Family reason why tornado victim survived storm
10 p.m. Thursday, June 8, 2006
"One of the things I really remember was that all of the bird sounds and the cars and things like that, they were all gone,” said Bill McCarter, '66 tornado survivor. “It was something you remember, that's for sure."
Forty years after surviving the devastating F5 tornado that ripped through Topeka, McCarter talks about the twister that took nearly everything he and his late wife, Shirley, owned.
"It didn't spare anything,” he said. “We lost most of our belongings, but we were all together so we were fortunate."
Topeka tornado
- Family reason why tornado victim survived storm (June 8, 2006)
- Manhattan hit first by destructive ’66 tornado (June 8, 2006)
- City of Topeka prepared if disaster to strike again (June 8, 2006)
- Dealership owner beginning career when tornado struck (June 8, 2006)
- Former mayor recounts devastation after Topeka tornado (June 7, 2006)
- LJWorld.com: 40 years after tornado in Topeka, technology boosts forecasting ability (May 24, 2006)
- Washburn rebuilds from rubble (May 23, 2006)
- Tornado aftermath devastating (May 22, 2006)
- Survivors recall deadly twister of '66 (May 21, 2006)
McCarter's house was leveled, forcing the family to move into a trailer at Billard Airport like so many survivors.
"It was home for a while,” McCarter said. “Everybody was in the same boat."
In the days and weeks that passed, McCarter and the rest of Topeka looked for a way to rebuild their lives.
But during a time when so many could have turned their backs on each other, McCarter said one of the things he remembers most is how the city of Topeka suddenly became a family.
“People weren't saying I've got my own house to take care of, take care of your own. That was not the philosophy,” he said. “At that time, it was everybody help everybody."
But McCarter said his wife and children were the real reason he found a way to go forward.
"If I had been by myself, it would have just been gone, but having the wife and four kids, you got to pull it together and find a way to come up with something,” he said.
McCarter works for the City of Topeka in the engineering department, the same job he said he was heading to the night the tornado hit.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)