Tornado Blew Through My Hometown

Although I was born in Norman, Oklahoma, home of God's team -- The Oklahoma Sooners -- I lived the first 7 years of my life in Moore, OK. The local news crews and storm chasers go live whenever severe weather hits, so I watched with anguish as the meanest tornado I have ever seen in Oklahoma tore through my home town. I live 200 miles away now, but I feel for the people of the town. The tornado destroyed the home my mother grew up in and just missed my uncle's house. I have a lot of history there.

Tornadoes are really scary events. At least the tornado doesn't last real long unlike the hurricane/typhoon. My Oklahoma experiences have been in the "just passing through" variety including one instance of tornadic activity. The ex and I were traveling west by automobile in '75 and stopped at a hotel in the Oklahoma City suburbs just off the Interstate for the night. We slept like rocks (of course aided by copious amounts of cannibus) and awoke refreshed the next morning. We went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast and all the help was acting real freaked out. It turns out that a monster tornado missed the hotel by a block in the middle of the night. The other real memorable overnight experience was in Norman in 1971. I was driving east by myself from San Diego to Philadelphia and decided to pick Norman as my stopping point since I needed to do the drive in two days. I managed to find the wife of a friend of mine at the local head shop and she invited me to overnight at the farm house they were renting. We drank so much wine and smoked so much pot that I passed out in a hammock strung between two humongous pine trees in their front yard. I awoke to the and the songs of a million birds. Went into the house, hit the head, and 26 hours later pulled up into center city Philadelphia at some cousins' house.

Great. I'm stuck on southwest and two oxygen masks fell down. Now mechanics are on the plane. I hope we take off soon.

Never experienced a twister. Sounds horrible

I really enjoyed living in the south, Jonesboro Arkansas, home of ASU, but the 6-8 weeks between seasons could be nerve wracking.
My buddy built in his master bedroom closet a shelter for his family.
I have no explanation for why when tornado activity was around, my home was a safehaven for many of the locals. I'd wake up in the morning and there'd be 2-4 sleeping in the living room or spare bedroom. Must of been my cooking.

My current home in Indiana, gives me a tremendous sense of security, as there's over 20,000 bricks in the wall around the house. I've been pulling problematic weeds from around the wall, with my truck.
The roof was built with special anchors to withstand extreme winds.
When storms blow through, I have nothing in my yard as the brick wall stops everything.
We're about done trimming all the hedges, maybe I will bore everyone with pictures. I love this home. But it's a lot of maintenance. Acres and acres of constant work.

Mobile home parks. Trailer parks. Aluminum rancher farms. Ever notice the frequency at which these get hit by twisters?

SoonerBS wrote:Although I was born in Norman, Oklahoma, home of God's team -- The Oklahoma Sooners -- I lived the first 7 years of my life in Moore, OK. The local news crews and storm chasers go live whenever severe weather hits, so I watched with anguish as the meanest tornado I have ever seen in Oklahoma tore through my home town. I live 200 miles away now, but I feel for the people of the town. The tornado destroyed the home my mother grew up in and just missed my uncle's house. I have a lot of history there.

It's mind-blowing when tragedy strikes so close. Your story reminds me of the time I landed at O'Hair in Chicago on the very same runway where once an airplane had crashed. And it was flown by the same airline I was flying.

It all just hangs by a thread, doesn't it?

SoonerBS wrote:Although I was born in Norman, Oklahoma, home of God's team -- The Oklahoma Sooners -- I lived the first 7 years of my life in Moore, OK. The local news crews and storm chasers go live whenever severe weather hits, so I watched with anguish as the meanest tornado I have ever seen in Oklahoma tore through my home town. I live 200 miles away now, but I feel for the people of the town. The tornado destroyed the home my mother grew up in and just missed my uncle's house. I have a lot of history there.

been watching the news while on business trip in Grand Rapids MI.... horrible news, it just told us one thing about the anger of mother nature.

Tornados are strange animals. Bout 40 years ago one hit our place and took out a pole barn. Pulled the poles out of the ground but left a box of grease rags sitting on a planter that was inside the shed.

Wow....it must take great resolve to live in any area where tornadoes can hit.

Healing vibes going out to all those caught up in natures' worst.