30 years later, Lawrence residents remember 1981 tornado

It killed one man in the former Kmart store at 3106 Iowa, injured 33 others and caused an estimated $18 million in damage to homes and businesses.

"Although there's been advancements in research, they however have to start somewhere, so that's nonetheless a risk," Newton said.

I remember this day very so then, I had moved back to Kansas the prior summer and had just moved into a new trailer at Gas Light Mobile home park. My trailer was one of the lucky ones, myself and my daughter also. My trailer was the first trailer on the right at the far east entrance, the present entrance now. Across the driveway entrance from trailer 3 other trailers were not so lucky, gone! I was in my trailer then and the tornado pulled up afterwards taking out those trailers, went over mine and dropped again several trailers down from mine. My trailer shifted and tree limbs came through my living window. I crawled with my 2 yr daughter in accordance with me to the bathroom, I could not get out of my trailer as time goes by. I had been at the laundry mat at the corner across from K Mart, straightway the convenience store, I had gone back to the trailer to close windows because of the storm coming. I had not idea it was going to turn into a tornado I never heard sirens to get out in the course of time.

My future wife and I were sitting in the restaurant in front of K-Mart when the tornado came through. It blew out the windows of the restaurant and cut those who were sitting nearly the windows. We did not realize it had struck until someone told us that the K-Mart was damaged. We were both thankful that it missed us with a direct hit.