When Weather Changed History

By Kelly Kazek
kelly@athensnews-courier.com

September 04, 2008 09:41 pm

— A production team that was in Limestone County conducting interviews for an episode of The Weather Channel Show “When Weather Changed History” said it likely will be spring before the episode airs.
Hugo Soskin and Nailah Sims were in town in August to interview Donnie and Felica Powers about the events of April 3, 1974, when Limestone County was struck by two of 148 tornadoes that swept through 13 states that day. The tornadoes that struck near Tanner were ranked F4 and F5 on the Fujita Scale in use at the time.
According to the Web site www.april31974.com/tornadodata.htm, which is dedicated to the Super Outbreak, 50 people were killed and more than 500 injured here that day.
Six storms that day were classified as rare F5s, including the one in Limestone.
Sims called The News Courier office this week seeking photos of the tornadoes. She said the episode is in post-production and likely will be completed this fall, but is not expected to air until spring, during the show’s second season.
The Powers’ story is one that will be re-created because they were a young couple whose lives were changed by the tornadoes. The then-teenagers were seriously injured when the car in which they were riding flipped but they recovered and later married.
“We make re-creations of a lot of the personal stories,” Sims said of the show. “But it’s not only about the personal stories, it’s also about how that event debunked some myths about where tornadoes go, how to prepare for tornadoes…it changed a lot of thoughts on tornadoes.”
For instance, according to the book “F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the 20th Century” released in 2007 by Miramax Books and written by Mark Levine, a tornado moved up Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville. Previously, scientists believed tornadoes could not move up mountains.
Sims said while in Limestone County, she and Soskin also interviewed Emergency Management Director Spencer Black, who was Civil Defense director in 1974, and Bill Dunnavant, who was a radio journalist at the time.
The production team also filmed segments in other cities hit by the 1974 storms, including Xenia, Ohio — the city hit hardest that day —Brandenburg, Ky., and Louisville, Ky.
Soskin, a New York City-based producer, has done work for The History Channel shows such as “Ice Road Truckers” and “Deep Sea Detectives,” and shows on PBS and The Weather Channel.

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