Whenever Philip Rankin drives near 28th Street and Lawrence Avenue, his thoughts automatically return to June 19, 1981.

That’s where Rankin was, volunteering as a Douglas County storm watcher, when a deadly tornado roared through the neighborhood.

Philip Rankin, former volunteer storm watcher, survived a 1981 tornado that ripped through Lawrence, picking up his car and shattering the windshield.

“I saw a clump of hedge trees go straight up in the air, and then it was like a concussion,” Rankin said. “Glass was flying all over and hitting me.”

The twister picked up his car and threw it back down, shattering the windshield in the process, Rankin said.

The tornado, considered to be an F-3 on the Fujita measurement scale from F-1 to F-5, also hit the Kmart store near 31st and Iowa streets, killing one person.

Though it may not feel or look like it outside today, tornado season has arrived.

This week is Severe Weather Awareness Week in Kansas. A statewide tornado safety drill will take place Tuesday. In Douglas County, storm sirens will sound at 10:30 a.m. and again at 6:25 p.m., Emergency Management Director Paula Phillips said.

	6News video clips Lawrence residents remember 1981 tornado Weather spotter remembers devastating 1981 tornado

Last year more than 100 tornadoes hit Kansas, the third-highest total since 1950, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. They caused one death, 31 injuries and $47 million in property damage.

Direct hit

Though Lawrence and Douglas County saw several severe thunderstorms and the area experienced flooding last summer, no tornadoes were recorded here, said Steve Pryor, meteorologist with Weather Data Inc. in Wichita.

In fact, the last official tornado in Douglas County appeared Oct. 4, 1998, Weather Data records show. The F-1 tornado dropped to the ground 15 miles southwest of Lawrence and stayed on the ground for six miles. That twister destroyed one house and damaged about 10 buildings but no one was injured or killed, Pryor said.

Nearby communities haven’t been so lucky. On the night of May 11, 2000, a tornado struck Tonganoxie in Leavenworth County, destroying five buildings and severely damaging the elementary school.

That night Mike Vestal was dispatching and handling phone calls for the police department from his home. Weather spotters were out and tornado sirens had sounded, he said.

“We were warned. We knew it was coming,” Vestal said. “We just thought it would skip over us. I heard it coming, and it was really loud.”

Vestal’s house was not damaged.

Tonganoxie volunteer firefighters were out watching the tornado as it advanced on the town. As the twister neared and sirens shrieked, senior firefighter Jay Stauch and three other firefighters on his truck stopped at Mutual Savings in the downtown area.

Running for cover

The financial institution doubles as a public storm shelter and several people from a nearby restaurant were headed there, Stauch recalled. Stauch and Carl Folsom were the only ones still at the truck when the tornado hit.

A large limb struck Folsom’s side of the truck just as he was getting out and knocked him down, Stauch said. Both Stauch and Folsom then headed across the parking lot to Mutual Savings, Stauch said.

“The wind was pulling at me in every direction it’s hard to describe,” Stauch said. “I saw a roof lift off of a house and the awning ripped away from the True Value store. I was scared very scared.”

Stauch and Folsom made it safely to the shelter, where they joined the other two firefighters and about 25 people.

If a tornado hits Matt and Alison Bovee’s house in Baldwin, they hope to have taken cover in a special above-ground shelter. The shelter, which doubles as a walk-in closet off their master bedroom, has 8-inch concrete walls and a 4-inch concrete ceiling.

Built into an addition to their home a few years ago, the Bovees and their three children have taken cover in it several times, Alison Bovee said. No tornadoes, however, have hit near them.

“People still tease us,” about the family’s special precautions, Alison Bovee said.

Stauch and Rankin won’t be among the teasers. Rankin, who is blind in his right eye because of a tornado injury, said he wastes no time heading for cover when storm warnings are issued.

Stauch found it a little hard to go back out on another storm watch a few days after Tonganoxie’s tornado.

“I was much more apprehensive than I had been before,” he said.