Raleigh Tornado 1988
Twenty years ago on this date a killer tornado unexpectedly touched down in Raleigh in the middle of the night. It flattened a K-Mart and killed two people in apartments, it lasted 2 hours killing another two further to the northeast.
That weekend was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I was working at WTVD at the time and had been off for the last four days. I watched the weather that Sunday night to make sure everything was fine and to get caught up to speed before going back to work that Monday morning. (Remember there was no Internet back then.) I remember that night that the weather was eerily warm and humid for a November 27th.
The phone rang around 1:30am informing me that a strong tornado had struck near Umstead Park in Raleigh. It was a surprise, since the chance of a tornado had not been mentioned as a possibility the night before.
Needless to say I got in to work in a hurry and we broadcast reports on the tornado continuously until 12:30 pm. Later that week I got to fly over the damage; and it is, to this day, the closest I have ever been to the damage of a killer tornado.
Anytime that I drive down US-70 and pass the Walmart near Pleasant Promenade; I remember that storm. I think how unbelievable it seems that that storm literally flattened a massive store that was a Kmart and took the lives of people, all without any warning. I will never forget.
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