Clearwater, FL Tornado Hits School, May 1978

I was a 30 year old kindergarten teacher at High Point Elementary, and I will never forget that day. I was one of three teachers with our 75 students in the kindergarten pod, a separate building. We had returned from lunch and the children were having rest time. Most were sleeping. The force of the wind blew open a heavy locked door. I ran to put trash cans under leaks in the roof. Trees I had planted in the school yard bent to the ground. It was very dark when the lights went out at 11:47 a.m. Our pod had no windows - just glass doors. After what seemed like a long while a child covered in mud came to the front door and told us that a tornado had struck. Soon after the entire student body crowded into our dark building. Children were crying, but when parents arrived, the hysteria began. I lived just a block from the school. My house was undamaged. Directly across the street from the school was a trailer park where many trailers were completely destroyed. Jennifer, one of my students, had no home to return to that day. She had lived in the trailer park. I never saw her again after that day. Only the steps to her trailer remained. In the faculty parking lot cars were stacked on other cars. Teachers must be trained to know what to do and what to teach their students about tornado emergencies.
Carol Argence (formerly Carol Harris) Louisiana

thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us ..
Stu

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

I remember this day as though it were yesterday. I lived in the trailer park across the street from the school. I was in the forth grade at highpoint elementary during this tragedy. I clearly remember the windows in my classroom blowing in, and after the tornado being moved to the kindergarden building, and then being moved to the vocational school behind the elementary school until my father was finally able to locate me. I was so afraid that my parents had gotten killed in the devastation at the trailer park that all I could do was wonder around crying. I was delighted to see my father. As it turned out my trailer had been moved off of its foundation while the trailer directly across the street was lifted, spun, and set back down on top of two cars. The devastation to the trailer park as a whole was incredible many trailers were ripped to shreds some were just plain gone and the steel frame was the only thing left of them. The school was nothing less than a total disaster.
I will always remember that morning going to school at eight in the morning it was still dark out so that the street lights were still on. As the day progressed it got darker and darker just before noon when the tornado hit it was dark as night outside. All of my friends were talking about how wierd it was for it to be so dark during the day like it was. We u;timately found out why it was so dark. Ironically, immediately after the tornado hit it was light like a normal greyish rainy day again.

thank you so very much for sharing your stories and information with everyone
Stu

Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!

Although it was a long time ago, I remember this day better than any other day in my childhood. We were new to Clearwater, and I was in 2nd grade at the time. I remember when we were on the way to the cafeteria for lunch the sky was black. Being that young, I had no idea even what a tornado was, but remember thinking that it was strange that it was so dark that time of day. Our class just happened to be in the cafeteria when this happened. It was raining, thundering and lightning, but thunderstorms are frequent in Florida so I didn't give it a second thought. Not long after we were inside and had just about finished lunch, the power went out. It came back on, then went back out. We were told to get under the tables. I remember seeing the doors fly open and swing back and forth. They were very heavy doors that I could barely open. We had a few more drills of getting back up, then back under the table again. A lot of the kids were screaming, crying, or both. Kids were coming into the cafeteria with mud and blood on their faces. I remember my teacher saying to me "you're so brave," but I really had no idea what was going on, so I didn't know enough to be scared. Some people say that tornadoes sound like a freight train, but I never heard anything like that. It was over before we knew it, and we were eventually bussed to different locations.
My mom had no idea that this had happened, and she came to the school to pick me up, just like she did on any other day. She was pretty shocked to find out what had happened, and had no idea where to find me. I am not even sure where I was taken, but eventually towards the evening hours she found me. I don't remember being hurt in any way, but my sister said that I had some decent-sized bruises, probably from scrambling under the tables with the other kids.
Afterwards, we ended up doing split shifts at Belcher Elementary School. I never saw all of the damage until one day when I was walking home from the bus stop I went the wrong way, and instinctively went in the direction I knew towards High Point. I couldn't believe what I saw; there was almost nothing left of the building I stood in front of. I didn't finish out the school year because my mom was so freaked out by this that we ended up moving out of the area.
My heart goes out to the families of the three children that we lost in this tragedy. Although the article mentions two (Timothy Duval and Gary Staly), there was a third child (Scotty Wilmot) who died nine days later in the hospital.

We lived in the trailor next door to Jennifer and her mothers name was Peggy. They were good friends with my parents. It has to be the girl you were talking about because their trailor was a block away but ours was untouched except the roof collapsing on my bedroom. (i was at babysitters and my mother hid under dining table. Jennifer now works for the city of St pete, married, with one child.

My name is Scott Murphy. I was in 5th grade at the time of the disaster, we were in a portable class room when it hit. It lifted our class room up and it spun us around several times then it droped us to the ground. Iwill never for get it ! Then men from the vo-tec school behind us came to save us. We were traped in what was left of our class room, the aircondition unit was on fire. Thank god for there help

I was 7 yrs old when this happend ,I was home sick from school and I recall very clear walking outside and seeing what I thought were kites on the air ,I called my mom to look and she said those were boards!We found out later that the trailer park had been destroyed and thats what I was seeing flying through the sky it is still very sureal.

Hi Melody, I was also in 2nd grade and remember it exactly as you wrote. If I remember correctly I was in Mrs. Anderson's class and will never forget how dark it was that day, just like nighttime. Looking back going to lunch when we did was extremely lucky for us. I can still picture those big doors flying open with dirt and rocks flying into the lunchroom and the power going in and out. Scary at the time to say the least. I lived in the trailer park across from the school and about 4 trailers in from the street. The trailer next to us and closet to the school was total destroyed and ours had the windows blown out and the back almost ripped off. We moved to St. Petersburg and I finish the year at Belcher Elementary School also. I was at the new school last week looking around and I tell you I still get a strong feeling to this day from what happened. Thanks for sharing and good to see the same story I've been telling all these years from someone else who was there.

Someone just sent me an article about the tornado and I found this site. I was in 3rd grade at High Point when the tornado struck. I don't recall my teacher's name. The first thing I remember was we were at the table reading a Dick and Jane story. I could tell the teacher was getting nervous as the weather outside was getting bad and it was dark. She closed the windows and we continued reading. I remember hearing what sounded like a train, it being pitch dark outside and the windows bursting open and flying away. I remember seeing trash cans, etc.. flying by. I don't recall exactly what happened after that, but I think I left the room and went to the cafeteria. I remember kids crying and being under tables. I also remember my mom coming and walking through the halls and seeing bloody, crying children. She was panicking and looking for my sister who was in a portable. That portable lifted up off it's foundations and dropped on the ground next to it. We eventually found my sister at the Vo Tech center. I remember sharing a school (must have Belcher I see others say) and I read an article that said we went to an abandoned school after that. I realized that was the other school in my memory. I remember it being very old fashioned. All the classrooms opened up to the outside. I remember an art class and a girl in our class who was sucking her thumb and passed out or something. I was afraid of the dark and storms for many many years. It's good to be able to come here and talk about it.