Blackwell's first storm spotters: a lasting legacy

Blackwell marked the 68th anniversary of the 1955 tornado on May 25. And although the tornado that leveled the city’s eastern side was gone in a flash, its lasting effects can be heard about every other Friday – when the city’s storm sirens are tested.

Though Blackwell had no formal storm warning system at the time of the deadly twister, that changed within a matter of days. Former Blackwell Civil Defense Director Bob Roberts and Chief of Police George Morgan were the forefathers of the city’s storm warning system, which today includes multiple sirens placed throughout the city to warn residents of impending tornadoes.

Morgan’s daughter, Lynda Richards, was 14 when the Great Plains Tornado Outbreak devastated Blackwell and Udall, Kansas. In the moments before the storm arrived, her father and other policemen were speeding in a patrol car to Nardin, a small community east of Blackwell, to warn residents of the storm.

“On the way back in [to town], he heard the police department hollering ‘mayday,’” Richards said. “That’s how he knew that we were in trouble.”

FAST ACTING

For weeks after the storm, first responders and organizations from across the state descended on Blackwell to help with rescue and recovery efforts. The tornado killed nearly two dozen people and left hundreds injured. But city leaders didn’t wait for another disaster before they set out to warn citizens about future storms.

In her 2020 book “Without Warning,” Blackwell native Ginny Goresen wrote that city officials implemented a primitive storm warning system “within a day or two after the storm.”

“It was decided that five short blasts would be sounded on the fire station siren, the power plant whistle, and the zinc smelter whistle to signal a tornado warning,” Goresen wrote.

Two days later, the system was put into use for the first time when four tornadoes were spotted across Kay and Grant counties, Goresen wrote. City leaders also mounted a speaker on a truck and drove it around town to broadcast storm warnings. According to The Blackwell Journal-Tribune, residents took cover, though no storms hit the already storm-wrecked city, Goresen wrote.

In addition to the city’s work on its siren system, Morgan – who was assistant police chief at the time – was put in charge of assembling the city’s first team of storm-spotters. He spoke with famed Oklahoma meteorologist Gary England to learn more about tornadic weather, and he visited the National Weather Service in Norman for more information, Richards said.

Ever since then, the city has sounded the alarms when bad weather strikes, and spotters have helped residents know when inclement weather is approaching.

EFFORTS PAY OFF

The development of the city’s storm siren system was chronicled in 1960 by The Tulsa Tribune, which reported that the city had “one of the best Civil Defense groups in the state” under Roberts’ direction. By that time, the city already had sirens throughout town, and other infrastructure was in place to help mitigate the effects of a natural disaster.

Civil Defense organizations were created during World War II and oversaw bomb shelters in U.S. communities. During the Cold War, they were responsible for maintaining nuclear fallout shelters. In the 1940s and ‘50s, municipal fire departments often were tasked with Civil Defense measures. Civil Defense lettering was placed on fire engines, and some were repainted blue and white, the official colors of the Civil Defense program.

Especially in the Midwest, Civil Defense organizations also took on duties as storm-spotters and responded to natural disasters. During the height of the Cold War, Blackwell’s Civil Defense program installed Thunderbolt-brand sirens, which were painted yellow and rotated when sounded. The sirens were meant to warn residents about nuclear bomb threats and natural disasters.

The sirens bore Civil Defense stickers. They were the second group of sirens the city installed and have been in use longer than any other type of siren.

LEAVING A LEGACY

Municipal Civil Defense organizations gradually were replaced by Emergency Management organizations, some of which still use a circular logo bearing resemblance to the iconic Civil Defense logo. But in Blackwell, some of the work the Civil Defense program did remains.

Though most of the city’s aging Thunderbolts have been replaced, three still remain in use: one behind the fire and police department, one at Riverside Park and one attached to the city’s street department, which used to be the 45th Infantry Division armory.

Blackwell native Brian Muret is the city’s Severe Weather Operations Department director, overseeing the city’s 13 storm sirens and its team of storm spotters. He said replacement parts are nearly impossible to find for the aging Thunderbolt sirens, but they’ll remain in use for as long as they work.

The city continues to test its storm siren system every other Friday, weather permitting. Sirens aren’t tested when clouds or other weather conditions could confuse residents, Muret said.

Morgan became the city’s Civil Defense director in 1972. Although he retired as police chief in 1979, he maintained his Civil Defense role until his retirement in 2003. The city’s police and fire department radio tower was named in his honor, and after he died in 2009, the Blackwell City Council voted to declare Oct. 22 as “George Morgan Day.” He was called “Blackwell’s hero.”

All through his retirement, and even in the last years of his life, Morgan never forgot about his work as a storm-spotter, which began on that fateful night in 1955.

“He didn’t quit,” Richards said. “He’d get his little walker, and he’d go to the door during a bad storm, and he’d say, ‘I should be out there.’ … He fought very hard to protect Blackwell.”