JAN FALSTAD Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Thursday, June 24, 2010 4:43 pm
Panhandler Andy Day was taking a Bud Light break under some cottonwood trees along Alkali Creek late Sunday afternoon when the rains, hailstones and finally the tornado struck. A woman and a second male transient sat 10 feet away. As the hailstones hit, Day ducked under some branches. “I didn’t know there was a tornado, so I ducked in here and held on the best I could,” he said. “I was under here and I’m catching them hails in my hand.” As the winds grew dangerous, Day grabbed onto the base of one tree and started yelling. “They were latching on over there and I told them, ‘Just hang on, hang on, hang on. Don’t move,’ ” Day said. “Cause something was happening and I didn’t know what it was.” For the next 15 minutes, as the sky turned dark as night while the tornado stripped the roof off the nearby Rimrock Auto Arena, the trio clung to separate trees. “I was hanging on just to the bottom branches and I was watching all this stuff fall down,” Day said. “It was kind of scary. I made it. I hung on for dear life.”His focus was on survival, not fear. “I’ve been through treatment and they asked me, ‘What are you afraid of?’ ” he said. “I’m not afraid of nothing, and I’m not. Read the Bible. There’s no sense in being afraid.”
Young, good treesIf the three had lost hold, a chain-link fence behind the Subway on Main Street might have caught them. Or not. “The tornado might have caught me,” Day said. Winds that reached at least 135 mph eventually toppled the tree Day was hugging. “When I heard it coming down, I stuck my arm out and that’s what messed my arm, and the branches messed up my eyes,” he said. Luckily, he had grabbed onto a younger cottonwood and the main trunk didn’t hit him. Post-storm, the hillside was a cemetery of timber, including some huge cottonwood carcasses. After the brunt of the storm had passed, the woman and man left, bruised but alive, Day said. “It didn’t feel good, man. It was one of the worst I’ve been in,” he said. “I’ve been through some wind, but nothing like this.” His knees bruised, Day limped west, stumbling over debris, toward Main Street and Airport Road. Subway employees pounded on the window, yelling at him to get inside. Day obliged and then offered to wipe up the floor. “I was drenched, but I still got free coffee,” he said. The storm that destroyed or severely damaged 10 buildings, inflicted only minor human injuries, including a hailstone cut to a man’s forehead. Pointing to a “tribal tiger” tattoo on his upper right arm, Day said his arms and knees are “all messed up,” but his cuts and bruises are healing. “I had two black eyes and that’s about it. Could be worse,” he said. “There is a God. I actually might have been in Wyoming.”
Saved by no shelter
Monday after the tornado, Day ducked under the yellow police tape and tried to find out what happened to his tent. He camps behind Greg Pekovich’s Salad Creations’ headquarters at Main Street and Airport Road and east of an old storage building that the tornado ravaged. But Billings Police Department officers saw him and turned him back. On Wednesday, he tried again. Spotting his sleeping bag hanging from debris, Day started climbing around tree limbs and over building trash before finding his tent. When the hail and winds hit, Day fought an instinct to run to his tent to stay dry. “Somebody told me to stay put,” he said, pointing both hands to the heavens. His collapsed pup tent lay under sheet metal and tree limbs. “If I’d moved over here, they’d be digging me up somewhere.” Since moving to Billings from his native Anaconda two years ago, Day has been working odd jobs, but mostly panhandling and living as an “on-and-off” homeless man. His black backpack carries enough stuff to get by camping along the creek and, every few days, Day heads back to a family home, of sorts, in the Heights. “It’s my ex-old lady, her old man, a friend and my son, and sometimes it’s not a comfortable situation, so I choose to be outside,” he said. Forty-five minutes after the tornado passed, Shane Weinreis, who runs the U.S. Water Rescue Dive Team, and two other Billings divers were wading in the torrential creek, searching for five or six homeless people that were reported missing. They searched until dark, using their legs and sticks, covering a quarter-mile of Alkali Creek from Main Street to the pedestrian/bike trail bridge. The transients had all escaped harm, but that was a long couple of hours, Weinreis said. “It was basically sewage water filled with chemicals and biological contaminants, dead animals, garbage, oil and fuel from cars,” Weinreis said. “It was nasty, nasty water.”

Billings Gazette Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:15 pm A dive team has searched East Rosebud Lake in Carbon County for a Columbus man who was reported missing at the beginning of the week.  Authorities have been scouring the Beartooth Mountains for David K. Krueger, 53, since family members reported him missing Monday evening. Carbon County Undersheriff Dan McJunkin said this week that family members last spoke with Krueger on Nov. 21 and found his pickup truck parked at a trailhead in the East Rosebud Lake parking lot. Initial efforts focused on the Elk Lake area and included search and rescue crews from Carbon and Stillwater coutines, at least two canine teams and an airplane.

Billings Gazette Posted: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:20 am BASIN, Wyo. - Divers have recovered the body of an Indiana teen who was missing for nearly two weeks after he fell into a roaring mountain creek in the Big Horn Mountains in northern Wyoming.  Big Horn County Coroner Del Atwood says the body of 18-year-old Jared Ray Hammack of Orleans, Ind., was found in the Dry Fork of Paint Rock Creek on Sunday. US Water Rescue Dive Team from Billings, Mont., helped recover Hammack. Atwood says Hammack's body was taken to Billings for an autopsy and results aren't expected for several weeks. Big Horn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn says Hammack slipped into the creek while taking a break during a backcountry horse trip. Hammack's body was found about 100 feet from where he fell into the water. Blackburn says divers used weights to hold themselves below the strongest part of the current as they extricated Hammack's body from the rushing water.

Billings Gazette Thursday Posted July 16, 2009 The woman whose body was found Wednesday afternoon in the Little Bighorn River has been positively identified as 39-year-old Crystal Williamson-Little Light. The information was released Thursday afternoon by Matthew Pryor, BIA Office of Justice Services special agent in charge. Pryor said forensic testing verified Williamson's identity, adding there were no signs of trauma to the body. Williamson-Little Light of Crow Agency was last seen by her mother in Crow Agency on June 30 as she was leaving with friends to go swimming in the river. After she was reported missing on July 2, officials conducted daily searches of the river.K.T. Irwin of Northwest Canine Search and Recovery of Cody, Wyo., with her cadaver dog Mia, were searching Wednesday about three miles downriver from where officials think Williamson was last seen when Mia alerted searchers. U.S. Water Rescue Dive divers, led by Shane Weinreis, helped to retrieve the woman's body from the river. Crow Fish and Game, Crow fire, Crow police and BIA and FBI special agents assisted in Wednesday's search. The Big Horn County Sheriff's Office also helped in the two-week investigation.A funeral service for Williamson-Little Light will take place 11 a.m. Monday in the Crow Agency Multipurpose Building. Interment will follow in the Crow Agency Cemetery.

Billings Gazette Posted: Saturday, June 6, 2009 12:00 am The body of a Billings man who drowned in Nelson Reservoir on Sunday has been recovered. James Root, 58, was found in about 18 feet of water close to where he disappeared while swimming out to retrieve his boat, which had drifted loose from its mooring. According to the Phillips County Sheriff's Office, the body was discovered at about 12:30 p.m. Friday using an underwater camera at the north end of the reservoir. Members of the U.S. Water Rescue Dive Team from Billings retrieved the body. The same area had been searched earlier in the week.

Kulr8.com Story Published: Jun 21, 2008 at 6:15 PM MDT s.  By Stephanie Domurat  BILLINGS - A Billings teen remains missing Saturday after Search and Rescue teams have been looking for almost 24 hours. The Yellowstone County Sheriff's department and U.S. Dive team are currently camped out at the Yellowstone River in the Worden area. They're hoping to find any sign of the 15 year old that disappeared in the river around 6:00 p.m. Friday night. It is a team effort Saturday, looking for a Billings teen who disappeared Friday. "We're searching for a 15 year old boy here in Worden where a boy was swept into the current and not seen again." says Sergeant Kent O'Donnell with the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Department. Police are not releasing a name, but say he is from West High, and described as athletic and a good swimmer. He was last seen by a friend when the two teens were swimming alone in a side channel of the river at Voyagers Rest. "His friend heard him struggling then went around to help, then he disappeared," says O'Donnell. About thirty minutes later police were called to help. Police say the boy's friend had been coming to the area for years, but the missing teen had not. More than thirty people and two boats are involved in the search. "Well were always hopeful, but the conditions of the river aren't to our benefit, theres lot so debris and it makes things harder," says Shane Weinreis of U.S. Dive Team. Officials warn people to avoid the river because of the strong current, and say to stay only in designated swimming areas. "This time of year the Yellowstone River is very dangerous, I ask the public to please stay out of it and go to places like Lake Elmo or swimming pools." says O'Donnell. Because of the muddy waters, crews are searching mostly on the shore. They are covering 12 miles up the river, and along side channels, hoping for any sign of the boy. "We're covering the shorelines and in debris and that's all we can do at this point." Officials say they will continue searching until dark Saturday night, and plan to have search dogs brought in on Sunday.

Billings Gazette Posted: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:00 pm
Emergency personnel search for a man presumed drowned at Lake Elmo State Park Thursday evening.
A 27-year-old man drowned while swimming in Lake Elmo on Thursday afternoon. The victim was identified as Gregory Williams of Billings, said Kent O'Donnell, a sergeant in the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office who also serves as a deputy county coroner. A Billings police dive team removed the man's body about 8:30 p.m., more than three hours after friends and family members called 911 to report that he had disappeared while swimming in the northeast part of the lake. He went down about 100 feet from a pavilion where the group had been picnicking. The man had said he would swim out to retreive a raft or inner tube that had drifted from the beach, O'Donnell said. The group saw him go under once and wave his arms, then disappear, he said. The body was found in murky water about 10 feet deep, not far from where the man was last seen, said acting Billings Fire Battalion Chief Les Solheim. Emergency crews began their rescue operation at about 5 p.m. Witnesses said by the time they realized there was trouble, four or five people were on inner tubes and inflatable rafts on the lake. Daniel and Kelly Hood, who had been sitting at a picnic table under a large cottonwood tree at the northeast corner of the lake, heard frantic screams and looked to the water. "They started screaming, 'Call 911!' " Kelly Hood said. She glanced at the group in the water for the first time and noticed one unoccupied inner tube, some distance from the others. Some in the group went diving after the man. "They were diving down and coming up and diving down again," Daniel Hood said. Billings Police Sgt. Casey Hafner said the man appeared to be in trouble while swimming out to the raft. He made it about halfway before turning back, Hafner said, and then he changed course again and went back toward the raft. Someone from the group asked if the man was OK, Hafner said. "He said he was all right, and then he just disappeared," he said, adding that the man had assured members of the group that he was a good swimmer. "It's cool water - hypothermia is an issue," said fire engineer Chris Kuhr, who assisted in the search. There are no lifeguards on duty at Lake Elmo State Park, and people are advised to swim at their own risk. Police divers who also operate U.S. Water Rescue Dive Team, a Billings-based water rescue service, joined Billings firefighters in the search. With fire trucks and emergency vehicles lining Lake Elmo Drive, the divers set up guide lines along the bottom of the lake and swam a grid. Firefighters in life jackets searched the depths farther out in the lake, and a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks boat also assisted. Water in Lake Elmo can be as deep as 20 feet, officials said. Harold Guse, warden captain of enforcement for FWP, said there has not been a drowning at Lake Elmo in the four years he has been stationed at the FWP office here.

Billings Gazette Posted: Wednesday, February 9, 2005 11:00 JAMES WOODCOCK/Gazette Staff.  Shane Weinreis, dive officer with the Billings Search and Rescue Dive Team, prepares to dive through the ice at Lake Elmo during a training session Wednesday afternoon. Billings Search and Rescue Dive Team member Michael Georgeson signals his team after surfacing in the icy water at Lake Elmo. Preparing to go under an inch and a half of ice covering Lake Elmo Wednesday afternoon, Shane Weinreis was burdened with so much equipment that he needed two other people to help him get ready. Besides his thick thermal underwear and dry suit, he was outfitted with hoses, tubes, ropes, flippers, a compass, a helmet and mask with a built-in microphone and headphones, and a knife and sheath strapped to his ankle. On shore, his assistants were tending air tanks, underwater cameras, life jackets, a television for monitoring live video and a battery-powered receiver for listening to Weinreis when he was under the ice. Weinreis, the dive officer for the Billings Search and Rescue Dive Team, didn't invite the press to Lake Elmo Wednesday just to show off the equipment during one of the team's regular practice sessions. He did so to illustrate how much it takes to field an underwater rescue team. The nine members of the team have purchased all the equipment themselves, Weinreis said, amounting to $25,000 to $30,000, and they are using a borrowed van to store and transport their gear. On top of that, Weinreis said he spends about $2,000 a year maintaining the team's equipment, and all members help pay for insurance, about $500 a year, and for training costs. Those expenses, and the need for new equipment, are behind the first appeal for public support since the team was formed in 1998. "We're growing and we're trying to really maximize our use," he said. Among purchases the team has in mind is a van and a dive control box, for consolidating all the electronic monitoring and communications equipment. Weinreis, who has been the dive officer since the team's inception and a Billings police officer for the past three years, said his group doesn't assist the Billings Search and Rescue with ground operations. "We do a pretty wide variety of training, but it all deals with water, strictly water," he said. The training session at Lake Elmo in the Heights involved having one diver, Michael Georgeson, pretend to get snagged on something while doing an underwater search, and then having Weinreis, already suited up, go in after him. Georgeson was about 35 feet out from shore when he gave four tugs on a rope, a message to a line tender at water's edge that he needed help. Weinreis, supported by team member Jen Jowe, staggered to the shoreline in his flippers and heavy equipment, waded out into the water and then slowly swam under the ice. All that was visible for a couple of minutes were his bright-green flippers flashing beneath the ice. He found Georgeson's rope and followed it to the end, then helped pull Georgeson to shore. This particular training, fortunately, has never been put to the test since the dive team was formed. Weinreis said the team has never been in any kind of ice search or rescue, but generally gets about four calls a year to look for underwater bodies, cars and guns. The most common call is for swift-water operations on area rivers, and retrieving cars or bodies from irrigation ditches. Whatever they're doing, Georgeson said, the teamwork on display Wednesday is crucial. "We don't go in without a backup plan," he said. "We've always got somebody else ready to go in." Ed Kemmick can be reached at 657-1293. Details Donations to the Billings Search and Rescue Dive Team are tax-deductible. For more information or to make a donation, call dive officer Shane Weinreis. The group's mailing address is P.O. Box 50626, Billings, MT 59105.
 

The most powerful earthquake in 40 years erupted under the Indian Ocean near Sumatra on Dec. 26, 2004. It caused giant, deadly waves to crash ashore in nearly a dozen countries, killing tens of thousands. A long stretch of Sri Lanka's coast was devastated by these killer waves, with more than a 40,000 dead and staggering 2.5 million people displaced. Although 1,600km from the epicentre, the waves struck with huge force and swept inland as far as 5 kilometers. Waves as high as six meters had crashed into coastal villages, sweeping away people, cars and even a train with 1700 passengers.  It was the worst human disaster in Sri Lanka history.

To learn more about this massive devastation, or Sri Lanka in general, please visit: http://www.lankalibrary.com/news.htm