Just wanted to share with y’ all our personal story from May
20, 2013. It’s not a story of human loss or property, but of a mother trying to
learn to trust God above all and in all circumstances, through PCS (Permanent
Change of Station) orders and in fatal F5 tornadoes. From Newcastle, to South
Oklahoma City, to Moore, we all have a story of Monday, May 20, 2013, this is
ours.
In Oklahoma, we know about God, college football, severe
weather and tornadoes. My husband and I are Okies, born and raised on red dirt,
raised wearing crimson and cream and raised to know about severe spring time
weather…including when to stand outside and watch or when to take shelter.
Monday, May 20, 2013 was a day to take shelter. In fact, we knew days ahead of
time that it could be a potentially deadly day thanks to the many superb
meteorologist we have in our state.
If you are not from around here, a few words that should
catch your ears are “supercell tornadic activity” or “large, long tracking
tornadoes” the combination of those words should make you pay close attention
and have a plan. Tornadoes are not like earthquakes, which hit with no warning.
The beauty, if there is any beauty in a tornado, is that we are warned days in
advance, with technology combined with experience, our meteorologists are
almost always accurate when it comes to predicting large, long tracking
tornadoes. Then we have experienced
storm chasers who give play by play, street by street, breakdown of the path
which gives people time to take shelter if they are “weather aware” which
includes having a plan and paying attention to the weather reports on the local
news stations. Unfortunately, eleven days after May 20th, some of
the best storm chasers lost their lives in another F5 out in El Reno, Oklahoma;
which says that even with the expertise and technology, tornadoes can do some
strange things and should not be played around with.
Another phrase you should pay attention to is “you have to
be below ground to survive this, act now”, that means get to a storm shelter,
yours, ours or mine…it doesn’t matter. Amazingly, people survived above ground
in the direct path, there were many injuries and the ones I know that survived
above ground have horrific stories and are even experiencing nightmares and
posttraumatic stress disorder and rightfully so.
Finally, outside of keeping together a “go bag” with you of
your important papers and medicines, another important piece of information to
know is what county you are in and/or live in because this is one way the local
meteorologist call out warnings by. Another tip, is wear boots or tennis shoes;
and if you can’t get below ground put on a football, bicycle, or motorcycle
helmet on, goggles, and if you have a thick wool coat put that on too. You
might look crazy but if you can’t get below ground these things may save your
life.
Back to Monday, May 20th , we knew a couple of
days before there was a high probability that we were going to see long
tracking tornadoes. We even knew about what time they would hit, close to the
hour of day that schools would be letting out. I was at work huddled in the
stairwell with my co-workers as the sirens were going off in our area, we were listening
to the meteorologist describe the path this monster tornado was taking. He
said, “This is heading into Moore, extremely dangerous if it doesn’t lift, it
is red line, center line for Moore if it stays on track it is heading towards
Westmoore and it is on the May 3, 1999 track.” Then we were dismissed out of
the stairwells back to our offices only to be turned around to go back and take
cover yet again. Then I heard, “It’s not letting up and folks need to be below
ground to survive. If you can’t get below ground, get out of the path of the
storm.”
Once again, we were dismissed back to our offices, where I
heard the next update, “if it doesn’t change paths it is now heading towards
Moore High School. Tracking on SW 134 continuing to track east mile wide wedge
into housing additions – east side of MHS, S. 4th Street, crossing
Bryant and just north of 12th
St.” It was time to get home those are all streets surrounding our neighborhood
and at a mile wide, it would hit my daughter’s school and our home! Our home is in that mile section just left of Mike Morgan's hand, to the right of MHS, right above the word Moore; and where the M of Moore is, is Darya's school.
The week of May 20th has been the most physically and
emotionally draining week of my entire life; watching lives and homes ripped
apart…hurts. The fact that we did not lose any family or our home, I feel is a
miracle, the tornado missed our home by less than ½ a mile; but it hit Darya’s
school, Highland East Jr. High. For days, most people probably didn’t even know
a third school, a junior high, in our school district was hit. That is okay
with me, because that means…thankfully there were no deaths, only a few
injuries. I am amazed when I look at this map to see how wide the tornado was and how it shrunk down to almost nothing right before hitting Highland East Jr. High. I hope you can see it. The red square next to the red path is Highland East.
When Darryl learned that Darya was being detained at school
and the buses were not leaving, he drove up there to pick her up. He arrived 35
minutes before it hit, but the Moore Public Schools (MPS) had already put the
schools on lockdown and would not let him check her out. Darya told her teacher
my dad is here to get me; she said you will be safer here. Darya told her no
she wouldn’t because she has a storm cellar at home. Many people said, “I would
have just went and got her and left, nobody can keep me from my kids.” Needless to say, Darryl did not know exactly
which classroom she was in or he would have went and claimed and taken his
daughter. I understand not releasing students to walk home and/or out on the
buses; but not releasing them to parents?
While at our friends school,
Briarwood Elementary (same school district), one of the schools that was
demolished, allowed my friend to take as many kids as she could. Obviously the
school district needs to reconsider their policies. Another metro school
district, the Mid-Del school district sent out a message to parents that
because of the impending weather, they could pick up kids early beginning at 1
pm without any penalty; Mid-Del made a good call. Since we live in tornado alley, I am an advocate for school districts to have "tornado days" just like we have "snow days", make sense - since we have the technology and expertise to predict severe weather.
Once my co-workers and I were released back to our desks, a
co-worker of mine who has children in the Moore school district was leaving to
go home and I was not far behind her; not that we could stop an F-5 tornado,
but we needed to be near. As you can see from the text messages below, I left
at 3:08 p.m. with a promise of coming and I love yous. I drove south on I-35 in
driving rain looking at the blackness in the sky as it roll over the area where
my family and home are, listening to the meteorologist call out familiar
landmarks and neighborhoods of family and friends. The tornado was traveling on fourth street and
they were reporting on the radio at that time that it was 2 miles wide! My
heart sunk to the very pit of my being as I called out to God and begged him to
take our home but not my family.
My heart was being squeezed inside my chest as I realized
the life and property that was being destroyed of my family, friends, and my
community. Then the meteorologist said what I did not want to hear, it just hit
the Junior High. The Junior High is where my daughter and husband were. I did
not know what I was going to find once I arrived in the blackness I seen off in
the distance. I continued to drive through rain, fighting back tears and holding
on to hope. My sons were at home in the storm cellar, I knew they would be safe
so I traveled to the Junior High, but could not get through fourth street
because of all the downed power lines and destruction. I decided to go through
my neighborhood to get to the school the back way. I picked up my sons on the
way thankful our house was standing; although, I didn’t care about that. I just
need to know my husband and daughter were okay, as the last text I received
from her was at 3:08 p.m. saying “We are taking shelter, I love you too!” Every
attempt of a text/call after that was incomplete and it was now after 4:19 p.m..
Somehow I made it to the school through the tears and
shaking, jumped over the electrical poles/wires to cross the street and get to
the school. As you can imagine, parents and kids were everywhere, then in the
distance I saw my daughter and husband standing. As you can imagine my heart
jumped out of my chest as we ran to embrace each other. It was approximately an
hour and 10 minutes since her last text until I found them, not knowing was the
worst experience, I never want to relive. I ache for the parents that didn’t
find their children living, how horribly heart wrenching.
Once we were reunited I learned, since the school officials would
not allow Darryl to have Darya he was going to stay with her, he told me, “I
wasn’t going to let her die alone.” That was so hard to hear. Darya said, “Dad
came in my room and got on his knees and started praying.” The rest of the
class was watching the coverage on a TV, then they lost the feed and the Principal
came over the intercom and said "I need you to take cover immediately. We
are out of time." Darryl said as the rumble drew louder, the building
begins to shake and he was waiting for the roof to lift off. Darya said it was
very loud and scary, her ears were popping and she came home with a horrible
headache, but she came home. Darryl said she never cried until she walked
outside and saw all the devastation.
Our pastor’s daughter, Katelyn, was substitute teaching that
day and her class was in the gym, the part of the school that took a direct hit
and they had to dig and climb out of the destroyed building. I struggle with
why they didn’t bring them in to the main building instead of leaving them out
in the gym, but they all survived only a few injuries, which is simply amazing.
She, too, has her own story. She quickly changed shoes and ran to her home to
check on family. Their home was still standing, but a block over was nothing
but homes of rubble.
The main portion of the school was still standing and that
is where most of the students, teachers and parents took cover. The back side
of the school and the gym were demolished. Our SUV that was at the school was
totaled, but no significant losses in our family. It missed all 26 of my family
dispersed throughout SW OKC and Moore, we feel so blessed.
But then we begin to hear, one by one, over the next seven
days, the sixteen different families we knew who lost homes and family. Darya
has many friends who lost their homes; and two of her friends had family
members who died (a mother, and a child) – I can’t even imagine! Heartbreaking.
We had one of our friends (a family of five) staying with us because
they totally lost their home. They were still displaced a month later, but they
are alive. An F5 tornado sure can put what is important in life in perspective
and it’s not things.
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| Rebekah showing me the storm cellar that held her friend, her and 12 kids. |
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| What they saw across the street from their house. Where a neighborhood of homes once stood, all was rubble. |
Another one of my friends survived above ground, right in
the path of the F5, his home is behind Darya’s school. He posted a picture of
where he and his wife took cover and the only thing left standing of his home
was the hallway where they were with a mattress over them, at the end of the
hall was a cross.
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| Matt and his beautiful wife who survived the F5 above ground. What a story they have! |
The family that stayed with us was fortunate enough to shelter
in a neighbor’s storm cellar right before it barreled through their
neighborhood. Everyone has a story and this is ours. It still feels like we
live in a war zone as there are miles upon miles of destruction that we see
daily. It feels like we’ve been given a sand bucket and told to empty the
ocean. The time it takes to get around town is getting easier, most of the
“tourists” have left, and our hearts still ache for the families who lost loved
ones and for our community. We still need prayer. We still need help. While
most Oklahomans do not have to travel SW 148th or SE 4th Street in Moore, we
travel them daily. The endless destruction is a constant reminder of all that
people have lost. It’s painful. It’s daily. I heard a reporter on the national
news a couple of weeks after the F5 question an Oklahoman why they would rebuild
here, he said, “There have been four major tornadoes in Moore in the past 15
years, why would you want to rebuild here?” Their reply was, “It’s home.” Then
she went on to describe the heart of the people who unite together to give, to
share, to help. Well, it’s not just Moore, it is just as I have heard “the
Oklahoma standard”. We have big hearts.
This before and after picture is what was left of our first
home after May 20, 2013, 309 SW 148th Street. This was the first home Darryl
and I shared. We don’t live there anymore, but it is where we spent the first
seven years of our marriage together, although seven years isn't really that
long, we created many memories and celebrated many life events there. While in
that home we celebrated the birth of Darya and Jayden, we witnessed 9-11 unfold
before our eyes, celebrated many birthdays and anniversaries, it was also Senor
Harjo's first home, many Barney songs were sung, many games of basketball played
and our first tree planted. I wonder how our story would have played out
differently if we did still live there.
This is where my parents lived; again I wonder, if we would
have remained on SW 148th Street, would they have remained by us
too?
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| My parents former home |
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| Backside of my parent's former home. |
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| Looking from the backyard of my parents former home down to where our home use to be. |
So sad to see it…all gone. Every time I was over in that
area, I'd drive by just to check it out, to reflect and remember. Now it is no
more. Please remember Moore in your thoughts and prayers, especially those that
lost loved ones and all the others who lost property, we’ve got a long road
ahead of us, but we will be OK.
As Blake Shelton said on Healing in the Heartland, ”This one
knocked us down to our knees and this is a tough one, but we will be back up
running again.
As I said in the beginning, I am trying to learn to trust God above all and in all circumstances. I want to figure out how to do that without fail. Without wavering. Without fear. As Paul said in
in Philippians, "I have suffered the loss of all
things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in
Him" (Phil 3:8). He has been well fed and he has been starving. He has
lived in abundance and he has lived with nothing. His conclusion? That it is
all rubbish; the only thing that matters is Christ, that he be found in Him,
that he would know the power of His resurrection and the fellowships of His
sufferings. (Phil 3:9-11). Everything else is rubbish.
Thanks for listening, forever changed,
