May 3, 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak Question?
Jun 30, 2009
in
Tornado Questions
I was wondering if anyone lived through that horrible day in Oklahoma, and how has the city recovered since then? I am doing research on tornado’s and am looking for information. My heart goes out to anyone whose family went through that day. Thank all of you!
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3 comments
Jersey on June 30, 2009 at 9:28 am
It was Moore, Midwest City, Del City, OKC mainly. Theyre doing fine now. My mom was living in Midwest City at the time but i was in Guthrie. I had to go help her pick up debris that had blown all over her yard from houses about 5+ miles away, it was craziness. It was devastating at the time though. She is a teacher and it missed her school by a matter of feet, the buildings next to her school were either completely gone or half gone with boards sticking out of concrete walls and stuff. Alot of the buildings have been rebuilt or fixed back to normal now.
do_sctc145 on June 30, 2009 at 9:28 am
hmmm i was lucky enough to be about 40 miles NW of OKC when it hit, havent been back, but i think Midwest City, Del City and OKC are doing just fine now….my father was stationed at Tinker AFB back then but had just been transferred to Naval Air Station-Norfolk VA and was in the process of moving.
Rebecca M on June 30, 2009 at 9:28 am
My great aunt lives about half a mile from where the tornado hit in Moore. She said she could hear it when it came, and was hiding in her closet. I’ve been back to visit her since, and the neighborhoods that were demolished have been rebuilt. You can totally tell which ones were new, because they have no or very young trees in the yard.
I would imagine that cities respond to these types of threats with increased measures to decrease casualties, such as tornado drills in schools and offices and increased construction of tornado shelters, private and community. It’s really the only thing they can do, since people will continue to live in Tornado Alley with no way to stop a tornado once it’s bearing down.
You may or may not know about the tornadoes that hit central Texas in May of 1997, particularly the deadly tornado that hit the town of Jarrell. I was living in north Austin at the time, in the town of Cedar Park that got hit by a smaller tornado which hit a neighborhood subdivision two miles from my house and also collapsed the roof of the local Albertson’s grocery store, where people were hiding in the freezer section. After that we practiced tornado drills in school. We didn’t have a tornado siren, but I would imagine that Moore, Oklahoma did, and I’m sure the town runs regular siren tests. I would suggest contacting the City of Moore, e.g. the chamber of commerce, utility companies, school districts, or other sources that could give you more information about how the city is coping and growing.