View Full Version : 10 Years Anniversary



Thunder
04-25-2009, 01:54 PM
Well, with all the discussion about the latest chances on severe outbreak for the state, there is also something else we need to keep in mind as well.

May 3rd 1999 - May 3rd 2009 - 10 Years Anniversary

This is a day that none of us could ever forget. Most of us was impacted directly or indirectly. That day, the death tolls was in the 40s (I think 44?), which could had easily been in the 100s.

Share pictures, videos, and stories from that day.

I was attending Kerr Junior High (now Middle School), but I can't remember if it was on a school week or during the weekend. I was 14 at the time. Mom was 42. Brother was 11.

We had 2 bunnies, Toby and Coco, or Coco and Thunder. They was outside in a homemade play pen that I've made for them. Brother was at home.

Mom and I went to Lowes on I-240 to buy flowers. At the checkout register, a lady behind us mentioned the tornadic storm that was coming. On the way home, we listened to KFOR on the radio.

We stopped by Subway for us and McDonald's for brother. After that, it started raining and upon the home arrival, brother had already taken in the bunnies. We ate while watching the weather.

A neighbor was going to the Del City High School shelter and asked us to come with her. We decided to stay at home. Brother kept screaming and crying, saying he wanted us to be at the shelter. The videos shown on the TV was very graphic and terrorizing.

As it had gotten closer, we had cleared out mom's closet (we didn't realize that this specific closest was not safe, but provided space). For me, I kept going outside to watch, even after the TV and electricity was gone. The bunnies, parakeets, and the hamster was inside the closet, along with the brother. Mom sat on her bed, told us all to be in the closet. She never went into the closet, because the space was for us and the pets.

That tornado was on a dead track toward us, but thankfully it kept shifting. It missed mom's sister's house by a couple of streets in Moore. It missed our location by a mile. Then it missed mom's parents by a couple of streets. It was that constant shifting to the east that missed all of us. It did affect Sunnyview Apts, where I am now living at. It affected mom's deaf friend, but thankfully the house was able to be restored.

The only person that I had known was killed was the Kerr's (the school) library lady. She was struck in the head in her own closet. A nice lady she was. The interpreter that I had in school lost her home and her parents was badly hurt.

Now, 10 years later, we have the possiblity of facing another major outbreak. I don't think OKC had seen an F5 since that day. It's likely we could see an EF5 (new scale) with the upcoming storm season. On average, a given area could see a tornado of this size every 5 years or so. Now, it is 10 years.

The entire country will be having their eyes on Oklahoma. All of this seem too concidence to happen at such a close time. As a visitor had stated on KOCO's weather blog, to quote, "the *Big Bang* is coming."

Thunder
04-25-2009, 02:04 PM
Here is some info on that day and the event planned.

NWS Norman, Oklahoma - Tenth Annversary of the Great Plains Tornado Outbreak of May 3-4, 1999 (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/19990503/anniversary.php)

PennyQuilts
04-25-2009, 07:44 PM
Last year I spent several hours cruising on the internet listening to news reports from that day. I can't remember which TV channel has the videos of the coverage but I found them and it was fascinating to listen to them, again, so many years later. That was quite a day. I was scared spitless.

venture
04-25-2009, 08:07 PM
I remember being out of town that day watching the coverage on CNN (they were running KOKH and KOCO live) and listening to KWTV online. Flew in the next day and the approach path we took was right along side the damage path. That day I gained a whole new appreciation for these things I was chasing and what they can do. The drive down I-35 back home was even more sobering. Visited friends in Del City, and remember their yard just being covered in debris...the path took it a couple blocks east of them.

Thunder
04-25-2009, 09:47 PM
Anyone remember the horses on the corner of Sooner Rd and 29th?

Not sure what the horses was there for, fun rides or something?

Some of them got hurt badly.

usmbubba
04-26-2009, 12:28 PM
The Tinker Riding stables