Tornadoes are the world’s most destructive force of nature with rotational wind speeds that can be in excess of 300 miles per hour. Most tornadoes are very small events with wind speeds on the bottom end of the Enhanced-Fuijita Scale, but every once and awhile nature unleashes its fury with a direct-strike against a populated area with the worst it has to offer – an EF5 Tornado. These are the tornadoes people write books about and perhaps one of the most infamous of all is the Topeka, Kansas tornado of June 8th, 1966.

I recently read Bonar Menninger’s new book And Hell Followed With It, which tells a very complete story of many of the people whose lives were forever changed on a day that started out not unlike most others in northeast Kansas.

The book itself is well thought out and planned. I can tell that Bonar Menninger spent a great deal of time, probably years, doing the research to write this book. Dozens of Topeka’s citizens tell their personal accounts of this fateful day in their history. One of the most famous – Bill Kurtis who has become one of the most notable journalist in America.

Kurtis was employed at WBIW television in Topeka and warned thousands of Topeka’s residents on June 8th, 1966 as one of the largest tornadoes in the state’s history took dead aim on the downtown area of the Kansas capital. Mr. Kurtis saved thousands of lives with his broadcasts and many of those very personal stories are contained in the 305 pages of this book.

As a storm chaser, I found the book exciting — it was a glimpse back in time, well before I was ever thought of and offered me a in-depth look at the account of this very well known event in Kansas history. The account is well told and complete with photographs of the tornado and even illustrations of its path through the Kansas capital.

If you’re a storm chaser or a storm spotter this is one book that you’ll enjoy due to the completeness of the account, and you’ll find it interesting as its told from many perspectives of different survivors.

As a person who partially was raised in Kansas the book also horrified me because I could relate so easily to the stories contained in each chapter. Particularly when reading about the children from various families being herded into the basement of a family home that was later wiped clean from it’s foundation.

I remember my own childhood on many evenings when we were under a tornado watch. I revisited my childhood feelings when in the cold, damp tornado cellar underground and not sure what to expect from the winds howling outside. This book brought back a rush of emotions that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

The book discusses some of the problems with early tornado forecasting and warnings — most people probably don’t realize that for more than 60 years the United States Government was against allowing its forecasters to create any kind of a “tornado forecast” because the government feared it would create more destruction amidst the pursuing chaos than a tornado itself.

Menninger also included how tornado forecasts became official policy due to the work of two USAF forecasters at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City who created the first successful tornado forecast in world history. And I was even surprised to learn how well the spotter network was organized in Topeka, KS in the mid 60s. It was an early adaption of today’s SKYWARN program and without the brave volunteers who would go to the edges of the city, such as Burnett’s Mound to watch for signs of trouble, many more people would have surely had been killed in this event.

I have provided storm chasing tour services to thousands of people, many who come from other countries to travel to Tornado Alley and I think this book would be a great interest to all of them. Most of the topics I talk about with my tour guest from early practices of tornado forecasting, to weather balloons to radar are all covered in this book, along with the lives of dozens of tornado survivors who explain how they felt about tornadoes before this event, during this event and after this event. The book is very complete.

I’ve read a lot of papers, blogs and books about tornado events and I’m giving this book an “A+,” it is simply the best piece of work I’ve read in regard to this specific tornado event and one of the best that I’ve read about any tornado event.

There is something in this book for everyone. If this was a movie, and if I were a movie announcer – I’d say this was the “White knuckle thrill ride of the year”. Once you start reading this book, you will not want to put it down!

Here is where you can get your copy: http://topekatornado.americommerce.com/

Tags: book review tornado topeka 1966