Found this about tornado of 1957
) Dave, it is fascinating to read the other accounts of that momentous day. As I said, I do recall it as a hot, humid, but clear day. I was 10 at the time and lived at 1130 13th St North, (now called University Drive.) At about 4 or so it started getting cloudy and by 5PM I believe WDAY television was giving storm warnings. The sky continued to darken, and the air was oppressive, but still there was a hint of a breeze. Mom sent me out to get the clothes off of the line, and as I looked at the sky, it was a sick greenish almost yellowish black color, and I recall the clouds roiling or sort of boiling. That's the best description I can come up with. Also, the air became dead still. I took the clothes basket into the house. We had eaten dinner, so we just watched out the west facing windows in our dining room. My mother was quite anxious, but dad kept us all calm. The TV stayed on until it blanked out. My dad and brother discussed the train sound, but my mom and I did not hear it. We always thought that the air pressure sucked out our ability to hear. My dad and brother did hear it, and we headed for the basement. We knelt against the west wall. I had my little sister in my arms, my dad was holding my baby sister, as we prayed! I remember him taking peeks out the window and he saw the garage lifted right off the car, and slammed down in front of the window. We heard wind, banging, glass breaking, a cacaphony of noise for what seemed like 3-5 minutes. Then it went silent and after a period of time deemed safe by dad, we ventured upstairs. The house was in complete dissarray. Windows broken, the clothes that I had taken off the line (and other people's clothes according to mom,) were strewn everywhere. then we looked across the street 2 large houses were totally leveled. Trees were down, electrical wires were sparking, it was dead still. Nick, my brother, and I went upstairs to the 2nd floor. We saw the sky above us as the roof was gone. Everything was topsy turvy. Then the rains came. My parents owned a large house just south of us down the block which had apartments rented to married NDSU students and their families. It was 75 years old at the time, so dad and mom were really concerned about the tenants. I will never forget the sight of dad jumping over downed trees and live power lines to run down to see what he thought would be complete chaos. Fortunately everyone in the apartment house was fine, and the old monster was knocked off it's foundation, but wasn't nearly as damaged as our home. In fact we lived in one of the hot little apartments for a time while our house was getting rebuilt. I know that the national guard was immediately called in. Until they were on the scene a couple of days after, my dad and brothers stayed on to guard the house, because there were stories of looting going on. The torrential downpour that came on the tail of the tornado ruined everything that would have been remotely salvageable. I remember the Red Cross being on the scene, in fact I think we were furnished with meals from them more than once. Needless to say, us kids had to stay away from the damage. But, stupid me, had to go pick my way through some debris and ended up with a tetanous shot for stepping on a rusty nail - the major childhood malady at the time. Stepping on a rusty nail was every kid's claim to fame that summer. To this day, when I see warnings on Television I take them seriously as I recall that day in 1957. But in all the years since then, I have never seen a sky or the cloud phenomena that I saw that night in the back yard.
Hi Kitn,
I've been following the story about Cade. I found this on the net at:
www.crh.noaa.gov/fgf?n=fargo57f5_comments
It mentions a 'Nick' that was a brother to the man who wrote this comment. Just wanted to post it.
I thought about something....is it possible to maybe contact some of the people who wrote posts on the comments section of this site, that witnessed the tornado and who lived there at the time, to see if anyone remembers Cade's family?? Just a thought.
Oh yeah, interestingly enough, the writer of this comment called the tornado the "old monster".
Thanks,
Melissa