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The Kitchen Table

Huge tornado just struck OK

13 years ago

Moore, OK, which was devastated in 1999 by a big tornado was just struck again. I was watching CNN and the devastation is just unbelievable.

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Comments (18)

brightonborn
13 years ago
OMG I am watching this....my prayers and thoughts are with these poor folk having to endure this disasterous situation.
jemdandy
13 years ago
I have an Aunt who lives SE of Shawnee. I'm wondering how she fared. She'd in a century old farmhouse, but she may have a storm cellar outside the house.
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Suzie, It is a sad story about the firefighter. They haven't released a lot of details, but I think he was involved in a fire truck burnover, which is when a wind-driven wildfire overtakes a firetruck and literally burns right over it/through it/around it. My husband and our Asst. Chief survived one of those a couple of years ago and it happened while I was watching. The only "good" thing about it was that the fire moved so fast that by the time it registered in my brain that fire had overtaken his truck, he'd driven out of the fire safely and the fire was running towards the interstate and he turned and 'chased' it from behind. I hope to never see anything like that again. The big fire west of Fort Worth is near Possum Kingdom Lake in very rough and rugged terrain. The last I heard, about 30 homes there had burned and over 200 more were at risk and had been evacuated. Possum Kingdom State Park had been closed, and some roads were closed. There's also a huge complex of fires in the Wichita Falls area that involves at least 3 separate very large, major wildfires. Homes have burned there and evacuations have occurred. Some Love County firefighters are in the county next to Wichita Falls helping fight a different fire complex near Henrietta, TX. Before today's fires, Texas had had about a half-million acres burn just in the last 7 or 8 days. There's no telling what that number will be after they total up all the acreage today. Our VFD only had two brief fire calls today so I consider us very fortuante indeed because it could have been so much worse. Our county's burn ban expires next week and I hope the commissioners renew it (though I don't think they will because burn bans are very unpopular with some of their constituents). Carol, Our mesonet station goes out every time the wind gusts over 20 mph. It is out even when no one else's stations are malfunctioning. It drives me up the wall. Our wind was like a ocean today....choppy and full of big waves interspersed with periods of calm. As sundown approached, it seemed to calm down a lot...then began gusting really hard again. It can't seem to make up its mind what to do. The little wildlife puddle in our driveway had little choppy whitecaps. The birds bathed in it anyway. There was a big wreck on I35 in Gainesville this afternoon caused by the wind blowing tractor-trailer trucks around. Gainesville's highest recorded gust was 53 and ours was 54. Our weather is very similar to theirs, so when the Burneyville mesonet station malfunctions, I just check the station at the Gainesville Airport. I'm watching the 10 p.m. newscast and Steve LaNore just said we'll have near-record lows here tonight. Oh good, just what we needed. Also, he said the wind returns Sunday, so I'll try to get a lot done tomorrow in case Sunday's weather is yucky. Dawn
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Hello, everyone. I thought of you all during the storm and hoped and prayed that everyone would be all right. Our storm hit about 6:15 AM and the power went out immediately. The rain was horizontal, or all over the place, hail, and very big wind. I guess the Silver Creek siren sounded but it was so noisy (train sounds YIKES) I didn't hear it. The all clear blew at 8:00 AM but I didn't get power until 5 PM yesterday. I had small stuff all over the yard, but no trees or big live limbs. They were just hanging limbs that fell harmlessly. All my little beautiful plants were out on the driveway and lived through all of it. I was so sorry for them in the hail, but the wind and rain was so hard there was no damage. My daughter in Duquesne had three large oaks down (away from house). It was a tornado. And power was out so she came to stay the night with me and brought my two little GCs. They didn't get here until Midnight and we were all so stoked I don't know what time we made it to bed! My DSIL is a paramedic and he was on duty. One good thing -- all that wind and water sure brought down the oak bloom! Yea! Some of my neighbors still don't have power. There are some very large trees down all around me and I'm so grateful everyone stayed safe. It was bad to have Internet Withdrawal! CableOne was out until this afternoon. That was a terrible picture of the storm in Springfield, Violet. All those yellows and reds -- scary. Bonnie, I know how you feel about getting your power back. Christie, I saw the schoolbus going out of the village during some bad stuff. Glenda, sorry about your spruce. Please do just rest and get over the cold -- most things really can wait. Helen, I'm glad you're okay. I hoped you would be. Marian, you are sooooo lucky! Where is ceresone? I can't get back to see if she checked in. Hope she's okay. Take care - Sunny, who cannot, for the life of me, write a short message -- lol
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Whew! I'm tired just reading. DH and I got married in our late 30's and had to combine stuff. My son and I were moving into "his" condo and it just didn't occur to him to do any more than push some clothing down the rod. It was more like he gave us the space of an overnight guest. It took us several years to really make the transition. Of course, my biggest interest was in getting rid of his bachelor funiture and he fought me all the way. I just got rid of the last piece this summer. Much easier to decide which coffee pot was the newest and best to keep. But deciding if my fabric got space vs his books? Oh, man, that caused a few go-arounds. Luckily, he had an office building and we knew we would be househunting fairly soon, so quite a bit went into storage. I really shouldn't have kept any of it. Gloria
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I live in one of those areas hit by the tornado. I was returning from taking my GD to the dentist. In a snap, the traffic got jammed so I took an exit to avoid what I thought was a wreck. Turns out that several others had the same idea and we had to skirt trees in the road and saw cars with windows blow out. It was raining hard and the wind was strong and I had seen dark clouds but did not actually see the funnel. I immediately realized that we had just barely avoided getting directly hit by the tornado. The worst hit area was near the hospital which is at that exit. There were sirens and emergency vehicles everywhere and emergency people on the run. GD and I were caught in the traffic for over two hours then had to take a very long way home because of downed trees and power lines everywhere. It was so quiet other than sirens and so unreal but it was very real. What should have been a 45 minute trip home turned into four hours. Thus far, 200 injured, one death and huge amount without a home, many businessses completely demolished. Neighborhoods are being evacuated, school closed tomorrow and the area is now in a state of emergency. Never been that close to a tornado before, hurricanes many,many times but there is hardly any time to react to a tornado. I feel bad for those hurt by all of this but I was ever so glad to get home to a standing house.
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marie_ndcal
13 years ago
Yes, we need to keep this state in our prayers. 2 schools are gone, Please just keep all these people in your prayers, and according more tornados warnings
pam_25f
13 years ago
I am watching the news now, The destruction is unbelievable.
ntt_hou
13 years ago
Oh my.... The term "levelled" is so literal in this case. It's really scary and sad to watch it.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
omg that is massive devastation. I was just talking to a friend there that had to leave to go pick up his son at school because the storms were kicking up again. I am praying for all of the people there. I have so many friends in those areas.
So sad. In tears.
Missy-may-2
13 years ago
I've been following this story. So tragic.
OklaMoni
13 years ago
This one is way worse than the May 3 1999 tornado. All TV stations are reporting on this. It is really bad.

Moni
Cherryfizz
13 years ago
Glad to hear you are safe Moni, and I hope your daughter and family is too
heather_on
13 years ago
My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected. The news also said that the hospital was involved. The pictures of the destruction are unbelievable.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
I have been on the phone with one of my best friends, her home was destroyed in the previous Moore tornado, she was crying, one of our good friends daughter was at school in one of the hit schools and they can not find her anywhere. And their home was leveled.
Please say prayers for all of these poor people !
User
13 years ago
Absolutely heartbreaking.

I called my sister in Arkansas a little while ago and woke her up. She just texted that she is in the closet.
pkramer60
13 years ago
I have been praying since I heard the news. I am waiting to hear back from some people in the area.

Moni, happy to see you posting. The cooking forum was asking about you, so I let them know you are ok and posting.

Even in Chicago, we are keeping an eye on the weather, as the storms are moving into our area later tonight.
Kathsgrdn
13 years ago
I'm glad you are ok, Moni. So sad. All those little kids in the one school.
MiMi
13 years ago
The storm fizzled out before it got here, Owasso just north of Tulsa. My nephew lives in Moore and my brother could not get thru to him for the longest time. When he finally got to talk to him all he could hear was every other word but got "we are ok we are ok"... house has damage, 50 yards away is total devastation...This is just so sad to hear about all the still missing school children, deaths and lost homes. Some people lost not only their child but also their home.... so so very sad.....
lindaohnowga
13 years ago
A niece lives in Moore. Using something called a Hotspot that plugs into electric, she was able to let me know that she and her hubby are okay. They have no phone or internet right now but did have electric.

I can't even imagine winds at 200 mph. The scenes on tv are just heartbreaking. My prayers are with all of the people in and around that area.
carol_in_california
13 years ago
We can all help by donating to The Red Cross or Salvation Army.
It is horrible seeing it on TV.....cannot imagine being there seeing the devastation.
dorothy_oahu
13 years ago
It is just devastating. I've been praying since last night and all day. A friend on another board lives right next to Moore but is OK so far. She said she will go there tomorrow to try to help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Many pictues and videos of Moore, OK by Mail UK

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