Pennsylvania's deadly tornado outbreak 30 years later

PITTSBURGH — This month marks the 30th anniversary of one of the deadliest tornado outbreaks in history, including in Pennsylvania.

On May 31, 1985, more than 40 tornadoes tore across three states and Canada, killing nearly 90 people, more than 5 dozen of them in Pennsylvania alone. Countless homes and lives were destroyed.

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Lori Reda survived one of the tornadoes. She told meteorologist Valerie Smock that the people and places still bear the scars from that day, a day that she’ll never forget.

"It's a traumatic ordeal and it's something that I think I still … to this day … it's traumatizing," Reda said.

May 31, 1985, was a normal day for Reda. She said she had just finished her last day of kindergarten and had spent some time playing outside.

Later that evening, while watching television with her parents, Reda said she remembers a tornado warning coming across the screen.

"My mom says that she felt led to get up and look out the side door,” Reda said. “When she did, there it was."

What they saw was a tornado that struck northern Beaver County. The funnel cloud ripped through the Jamesway Plaza and then picked up water as it rolled across the Beaver River. The Fox Run Golf Course was next in line, before the tornado tore down Gillen Road and right through Reda's childhood home.

"We made it to the bottom steps and everything blew in on us," Reda said. "When I was in the basement, I thought, 'I'm going to die.' I said the Lord's Prayer over and over again."

The house collapsed, and Reda’s father was trapped under the rubble. Both Reda and her mother escaped the basement through a window to find that her father was still alive, but going in and out of shock. Even though he survived, three people were killed in the tornado.

Reda said it was clear what had happened once she saw the destruction and what was left of her home.

"I remember her trying to shield my eyes from it,” she said of her mother. “I saw everything.”

Reda shared pictures with Channel 11 that her family took after the tornado. Piles of wood and insulation were mostly all that was left.

The Reda family chose not to rebuild but held onto the property for several years. A new house now stands in its place, but the trees, what Reda calls "tornado trees," still show the scars from that day.

There have been very few times that Reda or her parents have come back to the site of their old home. She told us that it isn’t a place to which they return often.

"It's a hard thing to come back and see it," Reda said.

Since May 31, 1985, only two tornado days have been deadlier in the entire United States.

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