About the 1974 storm, I was living in Cincy, and was working overtime, and didn't know what was going on, until I left for home. They hit the Civil Defense sirens, which had not been done before except for air raid drills, and then I see this funnel cloud pass overhead. Just as I got home, I got stuck in the car as the largest hail stones I had ever seen started pounding around me. When a break came, I ran inside, the local TV channels started explaining what was happening, and the rest of the night was spent hunkering in the basement.
Now, if the population and its distribution back then been similar to today's, the loss of life would have probably been even more horrific, for people were ignorant at the time. Advances in Radar, better communications, and education of the public is so much better today because of the lessons learned in 1974, and those things saved lives yesterday...
