Fun Zone Tornado 10 Years Later
It was a day many in Montgomery will never forget. The day a tornado ripped through East Montgomery and destroyed several businesses.
November 15, 2006.
An EF2 tornado touched down just before 10:30 a.m. and left a nearly a seven mile path of destruction in ten minutes.
Karen Vanderhey says she was working in the nursery at Frazer United Methodist Church that day.
“It was scary. You just didn’t know what was going to happen. Kept praying, ‘Lord, just protect those people over there. Protect us, protect these children here.’ Parents are calling and you couldn’t answer anything because you didn’t know. We just had to stay put, make sure the kids were calm, and know that God was protecting us and we were all going to be okay,” said Vanderhey.
The tornado blew out all the lobby windows at the Winton Blount Post Office, hit the Taylor Crossing Animal Hospital and tore through the Saddleback Ridge apartment complex.
It also destroyed the Fun Zone entertainment center with dozens of children trapped inside.
“You know, there are only certain weather events in Montgomery that we all have a vivid memory of. That tornado of 2006 is certainly one of them. As a mom of a then 6 year old, what stood out to me was how devastated the Fun Zone. We spent so many birthday parties there and fun gatherings and to go by and see it was truly shredded and I heard people call it a ‘war zone,’ which it was true… And the fact they saved more than 30 children in a preschool there, that was miraculous. But, yes, that is a day many of us will always remember.”
Thankfully, there were no major injuries that day.
