In March 1979, my wife, Cindy, four year old daughter, Lisa, and I lived in northern York County within 4.5 miles of the nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island. Cindy was eight months pregnant with our second child when the disaster began.
We had heard sketchy reports in the media during the day on March 28th that there was a “problem” at TMI but that there was no danger to the public. Life went on normally but we listened a little closer to the news for any word.
A Fairview Township police officer was slowly driving through our neighborhood and using the P.A. system in his squad car
I worked nights in those days at a trucking company in Strinestown, 5.2 miles from TMI and finished work at 7:00 a.m. Thursday night the media reported Met Ed was telling us the worst had passed and Cindy and I relaxed our guard a bit.
Neither of us recall the exact time we learned the crisis had escalated on the 30th, but we both clearly remember the words we heard that announced the emergency. A Fairview Township police officer was slowly driving through our neighborhood and using the P.A. system in his squad car to announce: “There is an emergency at Three Mile Island. As a precaution, pregnant women and small children should evacuate the area.” Those chilling words sent us scrambling around the house, grabbing a few essentials, and then rushing to the car to evacuate.
We all packed up our cars and headed to Pittsburgh
But where to go? How far did we need to go to be safe? Today’s siren system didn’t exist then and there were no annually published evacuation plans. News reporters on the radio said Gov. Thornburgh was suggesting clearing a ten mile radius for pregnant women so we eventually headed over to Cindy’s sister’s home in Mechanicsburg, which became an impromptu shelter for Cindy’s parents, siblings, and several pets. We all stayed there until the AP started reporting there was a possibility of a hydrogen bubble exploding. That was the final straw and we all packed up our cars and headed to Pittsburgh to stay with other relatives.
It was an eerie scene in our neighborhood
During the time we were on evacuation, I returned to our home once before leaving for Pittsburgh to grab more clothes, photo albums, and other valuables we had left behind in our haste to leave on the 30th. It was an eerie scene in our neighborhood, with no one there, no lights on, and a nuclear reactor poised to do heavens only knew what.
After the emergency, we returned home but an unease descended and remained until we sold our home and moved several years later. Our second daughter, Amy, was born on April 25th and thankfully has had no apparent medical issues related to TMI.
We then went through the prolonged waiting period of filing for insurance coverage with Met Ed’s carrier and waiting for a nominal sum to help offset the expense of living out of a suitcase for a week.
Kevin