Memorial Day Tornadoes: Remembering the devastation, destruction 7 years later

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Trees, homes, and several businesses were damaged.

Both 84 Lumber and Scene 75 were also hit in the storm.

Almost 4,000 properties across Montgomery County were damaged.

Kurt Althouse, Vandalia City Manager, was the police chief back in 2019. He said what sticks out to him more than the destruction was the way people came together to help.

“The Miami Valley pulled together like no other time before that I can remember. Neighbors were helping neighbors. Other cities were providing dump trucks, front loaders, and emergency resources,” he said.

Chad Follick, Vandalia’s Fire Chief, said that it changed the way they prepare for emergencies.

They learned how different city departments lend a hand in a large-scale event.

“We’ve put an emphasis on emergency operations and planning. We’ve done a lot more training. We’ve got a lot of prep work,” said Chief Follick. “We’ve worked with a lot of the smaller groups in the city, so like our public works department, that aren’t typically used to emergency response. What their role was, our parks and recreation division kind of handles our mass care part of this, sheltering, things like that.”

Many places have either been rebuilt or torn down since the Memorial Day tornadoes.

People can drive around many of these communities and still see reminders of those tornadoes.

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