CINCINNATI — April 9 marks 27 years since a deadly EF-4 tornado tore through the Blue Ash and Montgomery areas, killing four people and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
The storm touched down shortly after 5 a.m. that day, and businesses in Harper's Point and the Montgomery United Methodist Church took a direct hit.
Survivor Jill Cole and her family walked through their neighborhood in pajamas that morning. Her home was one of 38 in the neighborhood that had to be rebuilt.
"We heard the train engine, we heard the big roar and the house kinda crashed around us," Cole told us 27 years ago. "Then we heard water coming into the basement because, you know, the roof was gone."
Watch to see archive footage from the morning after the tornado hit:
Still, Cole said it could have been worse for her family — because for others, it was.
"It's gonna be a mess. But, you know, I heard that there are some people that were badly hurt and we're lucky a house can be rebuilt," Cole said in 1999.
I met up with Cole again for this story, to learn about the long-term impacts the tornado had on the communities.
"You know, it was such an amazingly horrible and wonderful thing to go through and you build a, it's like your tribe, you know, we used to walk around here every night, when people finally started rebuilding and check and see how people were doing and, you know, it was a tough few years," Cole said.
She told me the community grew close during those tough years of recovery.
"Mother Nature wins, but so does human nature, and in that time, human nature won out," Cole said.
Former WCPO 9 Chief Meteorologist Pete Delkus tracked the storms all night. He said he remembers the atmospheric conditions that night were just right for something to develop.
"And then you look at the radar and it's like, oh my gosh, you know, this, this looks really bad," Delkus said.
While he tracked the storm live on-air, his own home sat in a community in the tornado's path.
"We lived in Montgomery," Delkus said. "We lived right there across from Bethesda North. And so these are our friends. These are like family members to us. And so, you know, you have an obligation, you wanna help."
Delkus said as the sun rose, so did his concern about what the morning's reports would reveal about the damage.
"It really resonated with me when the sun came up that while we have something really bad that's just happened, and I just, you know, you just pray at that moment, please God, I just hope no one's hurt," Delkus said.
Unfortunately, we would learn that two of the four people killed were Montgomery residents: Lee and Jacque Cook.
Two drivers were also killed, and others were lucky when the tornado crossed I-71. A small truck was picked up and dropped upside-down on the concrete barrier in the middle of the highway.
The 1999 tornado is considered the worst natural disaster in the history of Montgomery and the surrounding communities, but it also remains a classic example of a community coming together.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
