Dublin Core
Title
Lee A McCree : Tornado Oral History
Subject
Lee A. McCree
Mesopotamia, Ohio
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Narrative
Submitted: March 7, 2007
Lee A McCree
Ohio
I lived in Mespo Ohio in 1985.I had been back home from the US navy for a little over 2 years. I had gone to Bloomfield park on that day to hang out with some friends. The weather that day was very windy also humid and then we would get these drops in temp. and sprinkling rain. some of us were saying it looked like It was gonna be a rainy day.
I joked that it was going to Tornado ( we thought that was a great joke we had never seen or heard of a tornado in Mespo-Bloomfield)
We Left the park as it started to shower harder , and ended up at "Brite-Spot" It was a little gas station/candy store with pool tables in the back. As we lounged around we noticed a couple cars stopped in the road where Rt 87 and 45 cross. The people were standing in the road looking west towards Mespo.
We stepped out it was raining and the wind was very fast. I looked to see a large black whirlwind coming down rt 87. We could see parts of trees and other items being blown around and away from the cloud. As we watched the tornado started to travel towards the north passing across 87 about 4 miles away.
Very close to my parents home
I started to run towards home, after about 1/2 a mile one of my friends caught up to me in a car .
we able to drive to just before Coombs Rd where the road was blocked by several trees.
I jumped over the trees and started home
as I approached our house I passed the Saddler's home it was on fire it had been hit by Lighting.
When I got to my house I was shocked.
My parents had two dwellings on this land
the house was gone with only the roof lying on the ground. The mobile home my parents had was gone, only some twisted parts of the frame wrapped around a broken willow tree in our front yard. Near the end of the Drive way I saw my father standing by a tree he seemed to be in shock.
I asked where my brothers, sister and Mom were. He replied they are at the Biles house next door. I looked at the Saddler's house burning then at our house totally broken and thought my father was in shock and that my family had been in the house and were trapped under the roof.
As it turned out they were next door the storm had spared the Biles Home.
However my Family was in the house when the Storm knocked it down (By the Grace and Mercy Of God they were spared any harm) the roof of the house was moved about six feet before falling down. a wall had trapped my mother for a short while. That night my family went to Warren and I spent the next week sleeping in a Car at the sight of my Car
Side note I went to work for The Warren Trumbull community service Agency helping other victims in the area In Dec of 1985 The Youngstown newspaper did a story on my life after the storm
Lee A McCree
Ohio
I lived in Mespo Ohio in 1985.I had been back home from the US navy for a little over 2 years. I had gone to Bloomfield park on that day to hang out with some friends. The weather that day was very windy also humid and then we would get these drops in temp. and sprinkling rain. some of us were saying it looked like It was gonna be a rainy day.
I joked that it was going to Tornado ( we thought that was a great joke we had never seen or heard of a tornado in Mespo-Bloomfield)
We Left the park as it started to shower harder , and ended up at "Brite-Spot" It was a little gas station/candy store with pool tables in the back. As we lounged around we noticed a couple cars stopped in the road where Rt 87 and 45 cross. The people were standing in the road looking west towards Mespo.
We stepped out it was raining and the wind was very fast. I looked to see a large black whirlwind coming down rt 87. We could see parts of trees and other items being blown around and away from the cloud. As we watched the tornado started to travel towards the north passing across 87 about 4 miles away.
Very close to my parents home
I started to run towards home, after about 1/2 a mile one of my friends caught up to me in a car .
we able to drive to just before Coombs Rd where the road was blocked by several trees.
I jumped over the trees and started home
as I approached our house I passed the Saddler's home it was on fire it had been hit by Lighting.
When I got to my house I was shocked.
My parents had two dwellings on this land
the house was gone with only the roof lying on the ground. The mobile home my parents had was gone, only some twisted parts of the frame wrapped around a broken willow tree in our front yard. Near the end of the Drive way I saw my father standing by a tree he seemed to be in shock.
I asked where my brothers, sister and Mom were. He replied they are at the Biles house next door. I looked at the Saddler's house burning then at our house totally broken and thought my father was in shock and that my family had been in the house and were trapped under the roof.
As it turned out they were next door the storm had spared the Biles Home.
However my Family was in the house when the Storm knocked it down (By the Grace and Mercy Of God they were spared any harm) the roof of the house was moved about six feet before falling down. a wall had trapped my mother for a short while. That night my family went to Warren and I spent the next week sleeping in a Car at the sight of my Car
Side note I went to work for The Warren Trumbull community service Agency helping other victims in the area In Dec of 1985 The Youngstown newspaper did a story on my life after the storm