The importance of keeping an eye on the weather and of being prepared for the worst could not have been emphasized more forcibly than it was in last week’s commemoration of the Grand Valley tornado of 1985.

Les Canivet, who spent five years as a Prisoner of War after the December 1940 fall of Hong Kong, described the devastation as reminiscent of that of the Japanese attack.

Two people in Grand Valley were killed by the tornado, and Librarian Shann Leighton was buried under rubble for two hours, she recalls.

At the commemoration ceremony, Jim Irvine outlined the horrors that befell the village and marvelled that he, a councillor at the time, was working at the Co-op store downtown and unaware of the devastation until he left the store.

Mr. Irvine paid tribute to the efforts of Vada McCrone, Liz Taylor and a long list of others for their efforts in organizing and staffing temporary refuge at the arena. The two small supermarkets, one of them owned by then-reeve Bill Young, donated food - and donations of clothing, blankets and money had come not only from within the community but from far away as well. The ham radio operators, based in Shelburne, provided emergency communications for about two weeks after the tornado.

ELGV Mayor John Oosterhof said the county’s present-day emergency planning arose out of the Grand Valley rubble.

“Keeping an eye” is not limited to watching the clouds forming, the winds gathering speed, the sheets of rain pouring down, but also involves listening to or watching the weather forecasts.

Even then, you might be lucky if you have 20 minutes of a potentially life-saving warning of a tornado, says Steve Murphy, the co-ordinator of emergency management services for Dufferin County. But he also said earlier that, in effect, you could pretty much predict the potential for a tornado well in advance of that.

Mr. Murphy organized a Tuesday night information session at the Grand Valley Community Centre that featured two meteorologists from Environment Canada. He said Wednesday the event attracted 31 persons - 12 members of Dufferin Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), based in Shelburne, and several

residents with photos and other information about the May 31, 1985, devastation.

ARES, praised by Mr. Murphy as a vital part of the emergency management network, is essentially organized as a communications tool when other systems are imperilled or down but its members also serve as weather spotters.

The non-meteorologist spotters might be as valuable to weather reporting as the amateur radio operators are to communications in times of disaster. “We are glad we have them.” Mr. Murphy added that the eyewitness reports of spotters is sometimes more reliable than the information gleaned electronically by Environment Canada.

Indeed, Environment Canada’s meteorological services might owe its existence to Canada’s earliest spotters. The first recorded was a Hudson’s Bay Company trader at Fort Churchill in the 18th century. But the serious weather reporting was begun, appropriately, by a Gunner (artilleryman), Lieut. C.J.B. Riddell of the Royal Artillery, at Fort York Armoury in 1840.

Saint Barbara, whose name is associated with lightning, is the Patron Saint of Gunners everywhere. The Gunners were trained and equipped to pinpoint locations of enemy guns by observing the flashes on the clouds.)

Things have become more sophisticated in all aspects of life and in the conduct of battle, but the weather spotters have remained vital in Canada after more than two centuries.

Mr. Murphy would like to see more people aware of the specifics to watch for as storms are building.

“We want to increase the knowledge and awareness of as many as possible,” said Mr. Murphy, while describing spotters as a key link in weather forecasting. “First hand reports are more reliable (than what is seen on radar).” He said Environment Canada combines the spotter reports with what they have electronically.

“You can pretty much tell if there is going to be a tornado today.” He said you might not be able to tell the time or the place, but with proper knowledge you know if one is coming.

And there is one coming - sometime. It might not be as severe as the 1985 variety, or it could be worse. The only difference this time would be that more people can be warned more quickly than then.

Storms can’t always be predicted well in advance, but even 30 minutes gives time to prepare a lot of people. Mr. Murphy hoped there would be at least two hours warning.