6 minute read
Edmond Life and Leisure - May 9, 2024
Monster hit 25 years ago
Last week was the 25th remembrance of the May 3, 1999, tornado. It was also the remembrance of me having no house, no clothes, no stuff of any kind. But my kids were all safe and well and even though you hear folks say it all the time, the stuff in your life really does not matter. Your family and friends are what matters. It is hard to recall what happened 25 years ago in my life, but this is a day I will never forget.
I made a decision that day to load everyone in our house and my inlaws into cars and leave. We ran like scared children. I had always been told that this was not the thing to do but when I heard weathercaster Gary England say, “You cannot survive this tornado above ground,” I made the call and hoped like heck it was the right call. I was 40 years old, and it was the first life and death decision I had ever made. It turned out to be the right call, but it could have gone the other way as well. This is where I give God the credit.
It was a very violent F5 tornado that hit the Bridge Creek and Moore areas of Oklahoma on that evening. It had the highest wind speed ever recorded at 301 miles per hour (484 km/h). A total of seventy-four tornadoes touched down across the two states in less than 21 hours. At one point, there were as many as four tornadoes reported on the ground at the same time. The strongest tornado, rated a maximum F-5 on the Fujita Tornado Scale, tracked for nearly an hour and a half along a 38mile path from Chickasha through south Oklahoma City and the suburbs of Bridge Creek, Newcastle, Moore, Midwest City and Del City.
As the skies cleared, the states counted forty-six dead and eight hundred injured, more than 8000 homes damaged or destroyed, and total property damage of nearly $1.5 billion. This tornado was so deadly because it started near Chickasaw and kept building speed and getting wider. It did not let up until well past the Oklahoma City metropolitan area.
The tornado made a pivot north on top of my house when it was headed for Tinker according to the Del City fire chief. There was no way we would have survived it if we had stayed. England was right on the button with that call. There were no bathrooms, tubs, closets or walls left. We never found the bathtubs they tell you to hide in. There was just a water line sticking out of the ground where the tub had been squirting water.
The yard was full of rubble but not necessarily our rubble. It had been blown in from miles away. The winds had blown so hard that the metal handles of my golf clubs had been imbedded with insulation. It had become a permanent part of the golf club. We left the newest car in the garage and took my company car thinking it would be safer for the new car. Turns out no hail on the company car but the new Honda Accord was no longer in the garage and a tree had split it down the middle.
Cars had been lifted up and thrown two blocks away like they were toys. I did find one of my neighbors walking along the street looking for the crab her child took care of for her school. She hated that crab. When she told me what she was doing I suggested to her it was fair to say it got away. Odds are the thing was banged up beyond repair. The funny thing is that she found the darn thing alive and well.
There was not much point in going through the rubble. There was nothing there. Everything was torn to pieces. The clothes on our backs were literally all we had to our name. We had just gotten back from Mexico and my shirt said “Hogs breath is better than no breath at all” on it. I wore it when we were interviewed on Larry King live.
Here is a blatant plug for State Farm folks. They were incredible and I will never have another insurance company, ever. They were so on top of our situation and made sure we got the help we needed. The next day, our agent called me and said come pick up a check for $5,000 so you can get clothes and other items. Gary Baccus represents State Farm in this area, and I would encourage you to call and get a quote. Other family in the area had horrible things to say about their insurance companies but State Farm was more then a good neighbor to us. They truly treated us like family.
One piece of advice I can give you is to review your policy now with your agent. After the tornado hits is the last time, you want to think about reading your policy. We had just done that in April before the May tornado. To upgrade the homeowner’s policy, we had a total of $165 for the year. I wrote the check and thought nothing else about until after the tornado. The increased benefits turned out to be worth more than the $165 check. Best investment I have ever made.
If it does happen to you or any other disaster another piece of advice is to keep moving. If you stop and think of yourself as a victim, it will bog you down. Make a list and get organized. Divide the duties up and get after it. Each family is going to be different with different priorities but do not over think it. Just move.
We were lucky in that my parents had room for all seven of us. I will note that after the first week they decided to leave and vacation in Colorado for a couple of weeks. They claimed it was a vacation that had been planned but it was they could not stand to see the chaos. It was better that they got out of the way.
I had always heard that after a disaster the Red Cross, FEMA and other groups would be around to help. Do not trust it folks. These organizations were of little to no help. You are on your own. The churches in the area were the most helpful and had boots on the ground. Other big nonprofit groups just used the disaster as an opportunity to raise money and that was proved later by their use of 911 funds. You can count on your friends but do not be afraid to ask for help. I was not used to it and discovered that I needed it.
As we enter this next tornado season, stay weather aware, hug your loved ones and get your insurance policy reviewed!
(Ray Hibbard may be reached for comment at ray@edmondpaper.com.)
