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| Re-enactment of ‘92 tornado that hit Chandler and Lake Wilson to be televised March 15th |
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March 8, 2006 |
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Gerald Van Heuvelen spreads chocolate cake mix on himself at the direction of Producer Cody Rogowski. The cake mix was used to simulate mud. 
Chandler firemen pull Gerald Van Heuvelen from this wrecked car in a re-creation of the June 16, 1992, Chandler tornado. This scene was recreated to represent what happened to the Dave and Cindy De Jong family along Hwy 30 during the tornado. | The Weather Channel will be airing this show on Wednesday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. Central Time. |
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The following story is reprinted with permission from the Edgerton Enterprise following filming of the re-enactment
The Weather Channel will be airing this show on Wednesday, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. Central Time. By Brian Ward Edgerton Enterprise A muddy cattle yard, an old car, a fire truck, some firemen and a camera were some of the ingredients for the re-enactment of a scene that actually happened not too far from Chandler in the summer of 1992. The Dave and Cindy De Jong family was driving on Highway 30 just west of Lake Wilson when the storm overtook them and rolled their car into a neighboring field. While the actual events were part of a very traumatic period of time for this area, the re-enactment took place last Thursday afternoon under much more relaxed circumstances. Chandler was the place to be last week Tuesday through Friday. A videographer, a producer, an associate producer, and a few curious onlookers are what it takes to put together a scene for The Weather Channel's “Storm Stories.” Producer Tracy Ullman, Associate Producer Cody Rogowski and Videographer Adam Weltler came from Chicago via the Sioux Falls airport to spend some time in the Chandler area to film scenes about the 1992 tornado. The De Jong scene was actually filmed at the Van Heuvelen farm northwest of Chandler. Louise Van Heuvelen was there to watch the crew and reminisced that as a nurse, she actually rode in the ambulance with Cindy De Jong thirteen years ago. Cindy was thrown from the vehicle and emergency personnel didn't realize that she had been in the car. Louise mentioned that Cindy was pinned to the ground by wood pieces that had stuck through her clothing and had gone into the ground. She had to free herself to get up and walk for help. Everybody had been thoroughly covered in mud on that day in 1992 as well. Today, the mud on the ground was real, but the re-enactors were coated with a layer of chocolate cake mix. Chocolate cake mix is a little more pleasant if you get some of it in your mouth. The fire hose did a good job of cleaning everyone up after their scenes. At this scene, participants from the Chandler Volunteer Fire Department were Al Vis, Lonnie Clark, Gerold Van Heuvelen and Bryce Gens. The filming actually began on Tuesday, when the crew arrived in Chandler at 5:30 a.m. They filmed a filmed a beautiful sunrise over the wind turbines. The producers said the sun was a ball of fire and a great opening to their filming. On Wednesday, they filmed Doran Christoffels from his office at the State Bank of Chandler. On June 16, 1992, he was the one who pushed the button to blow the town's sirens. He was on the radio talking to the Slayton dispatch when the power went out. He had to dive under his desk for protection. Although, filming the scene was somewhat humorous with multiple takes and forgotten lines, the original scene was anything but. “I tried to act how I was that day, but I wasn't even close,” Doran said. He recalls that day and remembers how terrified he was. “There was someone watching over me,” he added, pointing to the fact that not a paper in his office moved, but just outside his office door, the bank was in shambles. On Friday, the crew filmed two children trapped beneath a bed. The footage was shot at the fire hall and the bed was actually a table with blankets over it. Camera angles and effects made the change in props look more authentic. Diedre Vander Woude and Travis Vander Woude were chosen to be the “actors” for this section of footage. The crew from Chicago was actually working for a company called Towers Productions, which does some production for the Weather Channel. Rogowski has worked on storm stories before, while Ullman has done other work for the Weather Channel, but this was her first storm story. For those who have watched the program on TV, they might be wondering if any of the recognizable faces were there. Rogowski said they put the story together and write the narration, and then Jim Cantori comes in later to do the narration that has been put together by the crew. Ullman said that people from the Weather Channel find opportunities for covering different weather stories and they determine which stories will be the most feasible to cover. They make some phone calls to make sure people will cooperate if they send out a crew and then they go from there. Ullman added that they have found a very cooperative group of people in Chandler, although they noticed that the camera managed to clear people out of the Chandler Café pretty quickly. Some are just a little shy of a camera, but she also noticed that some people still have a hard time talking about the events of that tornado. A few locals had a chance to get their film careers started last week. Some worked their scenes as firemen while others got roles as victims, bystanders or other participants in the events of that difficult time. Some even had the chance to be themselves. It was a little more exciting this time around because nobody's life was in danger and no property was destroyed, but it wasn't hard for many of the people involved to remember just a short thirteen and a half years back to the pain and destruction of the tornado that had ripped through the area on June 16, 1992. On June 16, 1992 numerous tornadoes ripped through Southwest Minnesota. Of these, one gigantic tornado that started south of Leota and continued north of Lake Wilson destroyed many homes, businesses and farms. Over 15 million dollars in damage, thirty-two people were injured and one person lost her life because of that storm. The tornado was the only F5 tornado in the United States in1992. This storm will forever be remembered as the Buffalo Ridge Tornado of 1992. |
©Murray County News 2010