LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With more than 1,000 homes damaged, the tornado that touched down on May 28, 1996, was one of the most destructive in the Louisville area's history.
Twenty-five years later, and the memories of that storm are still fresh for the people who lived through it. Lacey Napper was just 7 years old when a tornado destroyed her family home in Pioneer Village, but her memories of that day are still vivid.Â
"After my mom and I were in the basement, I remember hearing my dad thundering down the steps," Napper said. "They were crying out in fear for their lives. To be quite honest, for all of our lives."
Like so many of her neighbors, Napper's house was mostly destroyed as the EF-4 tornado blew through just before 7 p.m. In what was one of the most destructive and dangerous storms the area has seen, no one was killed. Ten people were injured.Â
Destroyed home in aftermath of 1996 tornado (Courtesy: Bill Napper).Â
"You think the worst," Southeast Bullitt Fire Chief Erik Butler. "I just knew we were going to find bodies and stuff like that. I was just in awe of all the destruction that there was. There was an S-10 pickup truck sitting there. And a shingle from a roof was through the side of a truck."
Butler was a firefighter with Mt. Washington when the storm hit.Â
"There were telephone wires and everything down on 44," Butler said. "I was just in awe of all the destruction that there was."
"In so many ways, I was grateful I was so young," Napper said. "Because I think about how much more difficult it must have been on my parents."
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