It was a scene of utter destruction.
Homes wiped out in seconds by winds up to 160 mph, the tornado among the most damaging locally on record.
For Mark and Dorine Phelan, the memories of the storm are as clear today, as the day it happened.
This was a very unusual day. In fact, this severe weather outbreak could be traced back to the Great Plains, where a tornado in Spencer, South Dakota was the most destructive in the state’s history. So it was no surprise that the National Weather Service placed us in a ‘High Risk’ for severe weather, something that hadn’t happened before or since. And for good reason, because this afternoon, the storms meant business.
As the winds picked up, it did sound like a jet engine cranking up on the other side of the house, then I heard first glass breaking and then that kind of took me out of it and then I'm like ‘oh, Dorine we have to go to the basement a storm is coming, a storm is coming!
“Dorine pretty much bear hugged this steel joist that’s mounted in the concrete and I wrapped myself around her and waited as the carnage occurred above us” says Mark . He continues, “the power went out and you could hear things crashing above our heads, I was like ‘we're going to die and praying at the same time and just very, very scared”.
The extraordinary level of damage was immediately evident in the wake of the storm.
The first thing I saw was total devastation and I looked up and said ‘that’s not good’, the roof was gone, I'm looking up at the sky from the first floor
Dorine noted when they opened the door and looked out, it appeared like a war zone. She recalls, "our neighbors who were in the house next door, there entire house was lifted off the foundation”.
There were 68 injuries but remarkably with timely warnings and media alerts, 0 fatalities associated with this tornado.
While on one hand, surviving such a storm brought a renewed sense of community and appreciation for life.
On the other, it certainly had its emotional toll. Dorine recollects,
Besides taking your belongings, it took a lot of relationships and that security of your friends
While some did not, the Phelans decided to rebuild and remarkably less than 3 months later, CBS 6 was there to celebrate the momentous occasion in August of 1998.
The Phelans are fortunate to be here to tell their story of triumph after disaster, surviving arguably one of the most intense modern severe weather events in the history of the state of New York.
25 years later Mechanicville is a case study that mother nature’s power can strike any where at any time and it is a must that we respect it, but also know that behind each disaster there’s more than statistics, there are victims and communities forever affected.
For more, check out Chief Meteorologist Steve Lapointe's article diving into the meteorology and his own personal recollection of the severe outbreak.