July 2nd, 1980 Derecho that hit Franklin County

by Steve Dunford

The cloud signature of a formation of a Derecho in Oklahoma in 2011. (Storm Prediction Center photo.)

NOTE:  I wrote this piece for a blog that I used to have called Steve’s Ramblings in 2013.   It was only one of the few things in a Google search that came up for this storm.  Next year, I will do some microfilm research of the Benton Evening News, West Frankfort Daily American, The Southern Illinoisan, and Marion Daily Republican.

On June 29 1980 Southern Illinois was hit with a derecho with high winds.  I am writing this from memory because I was only 10 at the time.  I believe that Jackson County was the hardest hit.  WCIL lost their tower in the storm.  I remembered they did not go to full power for a long time.

In Thompsonville, we were without power until the next Monday morning.   This was the beginning of miner’s vacation.  The economy in Franklin County was built around the coal mines at the time.  The UMWA always had a scheduled shutdown around the Fourth of July.

The June 29 wave hit about 11 pm that evening.  Our neighbor at the time Gene Lager lived in the house that Gary Fravel lives in now.  B.G. and Cindy Dial lived there for years.  This was on Main Street in Thompsonville.

Mr. Lager had cattle.  The cattle tried jumping the fence.  It was the same action they did during the Thompsonville tornado on April 27, 1971.  My dad remembered this and had us get in the hallway of our house.  There were trees uprooted and no phone service or power.

My dad was also the pastor of Rescue Free Will Baptist church at the time.  Up in the Whittington/Ewing area, the damage was not as bad. We spent the afternoon with Tom and Jane Harmon and Paul and Cathy Lingle.

We went to Nashville the next morning for a couple of days.   We went to Opryland on July 1, and it was unbearably hot and humid.  The temp was around 100 with high humidity. The motel swimming pool was the highlight of the trip even though it was hot.

We pondered on staying at Kentucky Lake a day or two on the way home.  We stopped and ate at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Calvert City.  People began talking about how bad the weather was supposed to get in there.  We decided we better head back to Franklin County.  At the truck stop, we filled up at on the way home, the thermometer was showing 107 outside.  This is where the Pilot and Arby’s is now.  At the time this was the KFC and the truck stop were the only two establishments right off of I-24 there.

Going up Interstate 24, W3D began what they called their weather watch back in those days.  They always played music in the background that sound like doomsday was coming.  I remember that Randolph County was under a Tornado Warning.  This was during the days that Tornado Warnings were not issued very often.

They began continuous weather coverage with Tom Redicas (sp?) Dutch Doelitz, and I believe Jay Pearce and Steve Land.  The sky had a terrible look to it, and we stayed ahead of the storm.   Pulling in our driveway, Franklin County was put under a severe thunderstorm warning.  The power went off half way while the garage door was closing. We had to shut it manually.

Within ten minutes round two hit.  That was July 2, 1980 around 4:30 pm.  We were huddled in the hallway of our house with a guy that was on a motorcycle heading to Pittsburgh.  The house was cracking and popping.  Trees were being uprooted.  Marion was also taking a big impact.  I remember the NWS (don’t know if it was Cairo or St. Louis then) upgraded all the Severe Thunderstorm Warnings to Tornado Warnings.

There were several unconfirmed sightings of Tornadoes throughout Southern Illinois.   I remember suggesting we start praying.  All at once we hear some explicatives on W3D that was not FCC material.  The tower came crashing down in the middle of the station and silence was heard.

There were straight line winds of 80-100 mph that lasted 45 minutes.  We were without power and phone service for several days.  The following days did not bring any relief from the heat.   The Thompsonville festival was postponed.   We went and checked on my maternal grandparents and my relatives that lived north of Akin.  It took a while getting there dodging trees.  Damage was severe, but they did not take the brunt of the storm like we did.

My paternal grandpa Charles, was an EMT with the old Thompsonville Ambulance Service.  They had a cabin out at West Frankfort Lake at the time.  After getting home from Akin, I rode out at the lake with him.  He was on standby to go to West Frankfort for mutual aid.  There were some injuries there.

He kept hearing reports on his radio how bad Zeigler was as well.    There was crappie that was on the ground everywhere.  We picked up the ones that were alive and he took them home and cleaned them.  There was parts of two five gallon buckets full.

After he made sure the cabin was ok, we went to Zeigler to check on my uncle Chuck and his family.  There were check points at the city limits of both West Frankfort and Zeigler.  They let him go through because he was an EMT.

I remember there were businesses with blown out windows on Main Street.  The Farm Fresh sign was out in the road.  They were building the shopping center at the time.  K-Mart was nearly completed.  There was still enough daylight left to see the twisted steel of Kroger, in which they recently started construction on.

The six mile stretch on Route 149 between West Frankfort and Zeigler was a long one, dodging downed trees and power lines.  My uncle and his family had some damage, but was OK.

I remember that ice was being distributed at the Thompsonville Fire Department.  We had a big feast on the fourth, trying to salvage what we could of a cow that was in the freezer, the crappie, and fixed homemade ice cream with a old style crank freezer.

We also stopped at a fireworks tent in Tennessee on the way home from Nashville, and shot off what we purchased.   It was strange as it was total darkness with no street lights, etc.

Jackson, Williamson, Southern Franklin, Saline and Southern Hamilton County had extensive damage. (The same areas impacted by the May 2008 storm) There were trees uprooted, homes lost roofs and windows.   There was not one television antenna standing.

In fact, the only local station that was able to broadcast was WQRX (now WQRL) at the time.  They were operating on emergency power, and I remember Jake Seymour was the outlet of information that we had.

I would like to get any information on this storm possible for next year.  Feel free to share any pictures etc.