I have lived in StL all my life, and had never seen a tornado, until I spent a few weeks in Cimarron NM! Of all the places to be hit by a tornado...it was the small town near Raton in the NW corner of NM.ON July 25, 1996 After 2 grueling weeks of backpacking almost 100 miles (in 10 days) with all our goods/ shelter (tent)/ foods etc. We set out in our rental car in a downpour to eat in a restaurant (a 1970's diner from what I remember called Heck's Diner).
Upon leaving, since I knew my way around, I was attempting to guide the driver from the backseat to the ice cream parlor, but we soon looked behind us to see a funnel cloud barreling down behind us. We sped out of the lot onto the streets of town, regardless of turns, it stayed with us swinging roofs, and trailer parts around, snapping power lines, tearing through the bank and post office (with pieces of a mobile home) before chasing us out of town at as fast as our car could accelerate on the windy wet streets-some gravel, some paved. We eventually made some distance on the main road out of town, and about 5 minutes later the tornado had gone back up into the sky to leave a rain of debris falling from the sky.
We made it out, but saw some scary stuff, no deaths, and the town was put back together after a few months. Funny thing was that when the police arrived soon after we came back into town, the post office was guarded before the bank! people were scurrying about picking up letters instead of $$!
Overall the F2 was about 50 yards wide at its peak and caused $1.7 M in damages.
We are the tiny peck of a car in this photo...
