The Kount Remembers June, 19 1992 (hailstorm)
It is 7:00 P M June 19, 2000 Me Digs in Wichita Kansas --- I am reminded of the Wichita Kansas June 19 hailstorm of 1992. This particular hailstorm is the worst one I have ever seen. There were portions of the city in which softball sized hail ripped holes through aluminum awnings. Hundreds of Thousands of dollars if not millions were lost in this storm. I had $7,000 damage to my car alone. Many cars lost their windshields that day.
I just happened to have my camera to snap this spectacular moment of the hail before the 80-degree air had time to melt the fragmented ice.
Here is what my friend Danny remembers:
Kaz-
I remember that storm well. I had just started working as a shopper on the 777 (Boeing) and my kids were with a babysitter when the storm hit, and I left work as soon as I saw that it was on its way. I didn't get very far when the storm arrived- I was in my car on 47th St. and by the time I reached the Arkansas River bridge I couldn't see the road, so I stopped... ON the bridge. I couldn't even see the hood of my car. All I could see was rain- and even then I couldn't see it falling, just a gray flow of water over the windows, strong winds rocking the car and a constant drone from all of the smaller hailstones (golf-ball size and smaller) with loud thuds from the larger hail hitting my car once or twice a second. I had my car radio tuned to KFDI but couldn't hear it at all, even though it was turned up all of the way (140 watt amp & (2) 8" woofers...). Many people have asked me if I was scared- and, looking back on it, I probably should have been. I remember that the emotion that I was feeling at the time was not fear at all- it was anger. Anger with nature and God for keeping me away from my children. The storm itself passed fairly quickly, but my journey home took a long time- about 2 hours- because of the many flooded roads and stalled out cars... mine included once or twice. I had to wade in the water to get under the hood of my car. It was such an odd sensation- sweat on my brow from the warm, humid air and standing in freezing cold water. When I finally got home the weather had passed, my children were ok and it turned into a nice, peaceful day...
Thanks for the picture, Kaz... I'm sure that all of us that were there will carry memories of it with us for the rest of our lives.
-Dan
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