My husband and I lived in Centerville, OH at the time and we had a 3 month old baby. My husband was closer to the tornado on his job than I was - had lots and lots of rain and hail and I stood at a window and watched it all develop.
Moved there from CA and had no experience whatsoever with that kind of weather. Clueless! We did have lots of tornado warnings on TV for a couple of days. Had a big walk in bedroom closet and never thought to take refuge in there with the baby. Lived in a large brick apartment building and I figured it was a pretty safe building until I saw piles of bricks that used to be homes and apartments and office buildings.
Moved back to CA, went through some rattling and shaking there over the years and then retired to GA where hurricanes and tornadoes are commonplace..Not as clueless anymore!!!
i was in Michigan the day of this outbreak...we had i think 6-8 twisters in the state....none near me. But i will remember the sky that day as long as i live...the clouds were so low, almost tree top level..and the layers were going all directions at once..and going at least 50-60 MPH...you just knew something very bad was happening some place....
I was 7 and it was terrifying.
My mom had us in the bathtub with couch cushions to cover us.
I'll never forget the continuous warnings coming from channel 7 with Gil Whitney.