Bad Twister Hits Oklahoma City Area

[ChromeDome]

Just got in and watching the news that a F4 or F5 Tornado just went through Moore, OK a suburb of OK City. Hope all our OK members are doing good.

[Scott in Ok]

We're safe here.  Not sure of others that might live in Moore.  Its as bad as I've ever seen.  I believe its worse than the May 3rd 1999 tornado that also hit Moore. That tornado was an F5. Less than a mile difference in the path this time.

At least one elementary school has children unaccounted for.  School is completely destroyed.

Its unimaginably bad.

-Scott

[Scott in Ok]

Local news just reported that even though the tornado path was shorter than the May 3rd '99 tornado, early reports are that there is 3 times the damage.  As it crossed I-35 in Moore, the debris ball picked up on radar was 2.25 miles wide. 

-Scott

[RainMaker]

Watching the news about this.  Prayers being lifted for Moore and continuing for Granbury and West.  It's too much for us but we have to trust in the Lord.

[flamingobabe #44]

Scott...good to hear ya are safe....a Spyder friend his brother and niece lost their houses last evening in Shawnee..too much going on...trust in the lord

[czuch]

May the good Lord hold and protect you all.

[BigAlOfMD]

My daughter lives 1/2 mile south of the destruction path.
She left work early to pick up he son from school but they wouldn't release him to her.
So she went home to her underground shelter.
After the storm pased, she had to fight heavy trafic and debris to get back to the school.
Boy is she pissed.
Her whole naborhood is without power.

[Jeff K]

This is a tragedy beyond imagination. I get chills looking at the pictures and video. 

[Serk]

Watching live TV outta OKC (Go to http://kfor.com to get a live stream of news tonight) and I might be a big guy but I'm not ashamed to admit I've been in tears tonight. Rounded up and was holding as many of my kids as I could and just broke down.

I sure hope the early estimates are high, but the pics of the schools, or what's left of them, aren't promising.

[Curley Wolf]

Scott, couldn't wait to hear from you and Joni regarding your safety through the tornado.  Pleased to see your post that you are O.K.  TV news now reporting at least 50 dead.  My prayers are with you as you work through the bereavement and rebuilding.

[HayHauler]

Thanks for posting Scott.  We were worried about y'all down here. 
Prayers for the people of Moore.   

Hay
Jimmyt

[Lyn-Del]

Glad to see that Scott's OK.  When I heard about OKC and Shawnee, I nearly panicked, called a good friend in OKC ... she wasn't home at the time, but it didn't get near her.  And the other friend I thought lived in Shawnee actually lives in Pawnee, and is quite safe. 

Heard reports of teachers holding up walls to keep them from falling on kids in one of the schools that was hit .... making me rethink a bit about some of the things I've thought about teachers of late.  Apparently, some of them actually DO care!

Everyone, be safe. 

[ragincajun]

My sister in law was about a 1/2 mile from the F4 in Shawnee.  So glad she's ok.  Hope everyone else is doing well in that area as it looks horrifying on the TV.

[PAVALKER]

My daughter lives 1/2 mile south of the destruction path.
She left work early to pick up he son from school but they wouldn't release him to her.
So she went home to her underground shelter.
After the storm pased, she had to fight heavy trafic and debris to get back to the school.
Boy is she pissed.
Her whole naborhood is without power.

WTF ?  I hope her son is OK.  What reason did they give refusing to release him to her?

Thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Tornado.


Tornado death toll is lowered according to CBS news....   Amazing how that happens, obviously people didn't come back to life.... so I assume it was inaccurate reporting to begin with (but the news agencies won't point the finger at themselves).

[RainMaker]

My daughter lives 1/2 mile south of the destruction path.
She left work early to pick up he son from school but they wouldn't release him to her.
So she went home to her underground shelter.
After the storm pased, she had to fight heavy trafic and debris to get back to the school.
Boy is she pissed.
Her whole naborhood is without power.

WTF ?  I hope her son is OK.  What reason did they give refusing to release him to her?

Thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Tornado.

They probably thought the school would be a safer place - most schools around here are considered safe places for a tornado.  Obviously, the larger the storm, the less likely this is to be true.

Glad they are both safe, but otherwise just overwhelmed watching the reports on TV.  Tears come pretty frequently thinking about all of those people who were killed or hurt as I watch.

[Rams]

My daughter lives 1/2 mile south of the destruction path.
She left work early to pick up he son from school but they wouldn't release him to her.
So she went home to her underground shelter.
After the storm pased, she had to fight heavy trafic and debris to get back to the school.
Boy is she pissed.
Her whole naborhood is without power.

WTF ?  I hope her son is OK.  What reason did they give refusing to release him to her?

Thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Tornado.

Precisely what I was thinking.   What authority does a school think it has over a parent.   Unless a court is involved, this is nuts.   Yeah, I'd be pissed also.   If I wanted my child to come with me, it would take several large warriors to keep that from happening.   I sincerely hope this is not swept under the rug with all the other major things going on there.

[doubletee]

Sure glad to hear you and Joni are OK, Scott. Thanks for the update. Thoughts are with all who are affected by this.

[old2soon]

Horrific does not begin to describe what happened in the O K C area. Prayers up for everyone affected by this natural disaster.  As far as that child NOT being released to the parent-WRONG frikkin answer. Had that been my child trust me when I tell you the child would have gone home with me. I to hope this is not swept under the rug. It needs to be addressed and a protocol put in place that everyone understands. BUT lets get the rescue done and the healing then look at this issue. RIDE SAFE.

[Serk]

Official death toll has been DOWN to 24... It will probably go up, but a revision down in the death toll is a good thing!

[donaldcc]

  nice story about an older lady who finds her dog after house crashes down on her.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/21/tornado-victim-barbara-ga_n_3312226.html

[RainMaker]

My wife performs programs at preschools and libraries.  Today, one of them cancelled their performance because they decided to close all day due to the potential weather threat in the DFW area.  That Moore twister has people scared.

[LadyDraco]

A buddy of mine  posted this up on another site..

56 yrs  of Tracking  

[old2soon]

A buddy of mine  posted this up on another site..

56 yrs  of Tracking  

I'm thinking tornado alley be a tad might wider than a LOT of folks thought it was. One of my local stations(K Y-3)just ran a comparison on the Joplin Mo. tornado and the recent Moore Ok. tornado and very minor differences-time on ground width of destruction path length of destruction path and both of them were E F 5s. The death toll was the largest single difference-Joplin-154 perished and Moore up til this point-24 perished. The weather guy on K Y 3 thinks as often as Moore has been hit they are better prepared with more safe rooms and other emergency response protocols. But that map for the last 56 years sure casts a different light than I thought I knew. RIDE SAFE.

[cookiedough]

that tornado tracking wasn't what I was expecting.   However,  hard to tell for me anyways from the map, but the worst F4/F5 tornado's seem to hit the OK, TX, KS areas more so than others, but could be mistaken? 

They said on the news that Oklahoma most residents don't own basements because of the soil being mostly clay with basements becoming wet and moldy over time.  We have a lot of clay soil in WI but must be different type of clay?  Why not spend the extra 1000 bucks or so and put black dirt all around the basement foundation then?  I don't know where I would put all our stuff if it wasn't for a full basement being 24x48'.  I suppose a huge storage building outside would do for storage but a basement is safer than no basement in a tornado unless you have a storm shelter underground.   The extra 15K to build a concrete based basement I would think would be money well spent? Or, of course, a storm shelter being 7-10K or so.