Book Reviews

Oliver Anklam

F5:  Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the Twentieth Century.  By Mark Levine.  New York:  Miramax Books, 2007.  ISBN 978-1-4013-5220-2.  Illustrations page 180.  Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgments page 277.

 

Mark Levine, in his book F5, revisits the outbreak of tornados that took place on April 3 and 4 of 1974 in the southeastern United States.  Those two days saw 148 recorded tornados, killing 315 people and injuring over 5,000 more.  But it was not simply the number of tornados that was most astonishing, also the size and strength.  Smaller tornados, F2, F1, and F0, accounted for 84 of total tornados.  There were a reported 35 F3 tornados, 23 F4 tornados, and 6 F5 tornados which boast winds of more than 300 miles per hour.

Levine tells the story of one small community in Alabama.  Limestone County and neighbors fell victim to an F4 tornado and an F5 tornado within a half an hour of each other.  F5 recounts the story of this small town, following the experiences of five people and their familes who were impacted directly from the terror that is a tornado.  Donnie Powers and Felica Golden were driving in Donnie’s mustang when they crossed paths with “First Tanner.”  Marilyn and Vergil McBay were taken away by the storm while seeking refuge with her parents and their two children, Jason and Mark, aged 2 and 6 days.  The Green family, Lillian and Annias and their three boys, Ananias Jr. (Rabbit), Titus, and Amos, were swept along with their home into a neighboring field.  Sheriff Buddy Evans is portrayed as courageous yet humble when he takes on the two tornados and still manages to organize rescue crews.  And finally the McGlocklin family, Walter and Ruth and their four children, Grace, Nancy, Walter, Jr. and Sandra, were taken off guard when Walter was called away to work when the twister struck his family’s home.

Levine jumps from person to person within a matter of paragraphs, changing the perspective without allowing the reader to breathe.  I mean this in a good way as the book is fast paced, changing direction without warning.  The style in which he writes compares to the nature of a tornado itself.  Levine breaks up the sequence of events with intruding chapters that offer context of the times or provide information of the formation and nature of tornados.  He bases a chapter and much of the epilogue to Dr. Tatsuya Fujita, whose extensive research has allowed for the classification of tornados as well as a better understanding of their formation.  Levine also writes a chapter called “Supercell,” in which he breaks down the process of how a tornado is formed, explaining that they emerge from supercells, which are very powerful thunderstorms.  The combination of rising warm air with descending cool air from intense rain expands the mesocyclone that is present in the supercell storm to form the tornado. The book also follows a local radio DJ, Spencer Black, and his team as they follow the storm, tracking its movement and broadcasting live over the air to warn those who need to seek shelter.  This was the beginning to some of the advanced warning systems that we have today, including sirens and storm chasers. 

Levine bases these accounts off of actual interviews with those who experienced the tornados in 1974.  The epilogue is where he allows the reader to see them as they are now, some thirty years later.  Annias Green, having lost his wife and youngest son, remarries and regains use of his legs.  Walter McGlocklin still feels the pain and guilt after from that day, convinced that had he been there he would have been killed and the lives of his wife and children spared.  Finally Felica and Donnie ended up marrying each other shortly after the event and now sit with Levine in their living room discussing the tornados that nearly claimed their lives. 

Through firsthand accounts, juxtaposition, and a rapidly shifting focus, Mark Levine is able to capture the horrific events of April 3 and 4, 1974 in a beautifully written piece that reads quickly as it encapsulates the reader with suspense and imagery.  By personally interviewing those who experienced this event, Levine adds an element of authenticity to his story.  If I didn’t know better I would have said he made the story up based on the 1974 tornado outbreak.  Nature makes for a compelling story, one that Levine has captured in a compelling, well written book.