Dodging The Edmond Tornado
For the most part tornados don’t scare me.
I tease my friends who live out of state that a tornado warning in Oklahoma is a signal to go outside to see the twister.
That’s going to change. Tuesday I was in Edmond doing interviews for news stories when I heard the tornado warning for west Edmond on the radio. That’s exactly where I was, so I decided to try to drive home ahead of the storm.
I’ve seen lots of tornados. One went over my house some years ago as a neighbor and I stood in the street and watched it pass by about 100 yards away. My job has been to follow a distance away and file stories as they happen. But Tuesday I felt differently.
As I stood near my patio window, the wind suddenly stopped. Everything got very quiet except for the sound of distant sirens. Then without warning the wind began to blow fiercely. I could hear trashcans in the neighborhood being blown away from houses. And for the first time in a tornado warning I did something I’ve never done before. I got inside a closet.
Minutes passed when I decided to drive outside my neighborhood to see if there was any damage. Driving north up Santa Fe I saw several cars stopped just north of Covell. To my left were downed power lines and a man sitting in his truck. He was trapped between the shoulder of the road and the downed lines. To his left was the Kanaly’s North Country addition. Several people were in the street assessing the damage to their homes.
There I met Lisa Brady. Her home was missing roof shingles and several large trees in her front yard had been uprooted. In a way she seemed relieved that nothing more happened. She told me she took her dogs to the closet when she first heard the warning sirens.
Next door Rick Early also lost shingles and trees. Parts of a metal shed wound up in his swimming pool, he told me. By this time police and utility crews had arrived to block off the entrance into the addition. I had to wait until power was terminated before crossing the street back to my car. It was then that large hail and rain began to pour. One of the residents of the neighborhood graciously allowed me to sit it out in his truck.
From there I filed a report back to the newspaper and eventually made it home to download my photos to NewsOK.com.
Later I went out again, this time to interview managers of local hardware stores to see if they had a demand for certain items due to the storm. Without question, flashlights, batteries and generators were in demand.
Reporting demands getting the story fast and accurate and safely. Going to a place of shelter was the right move for these residents and me. Fortunately I can only report on damage and not deaths in Edmond. Now the story moves on to the rebuilding and the healing.
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Wow, that’s a crazy story. I think I would wet my pants if I was 100 yards away from a tornado. How were you not running away for safety. I am totally afraid of tornados. I live in florida and have to deal with hurricanes which do sprout tornados but not always. I’ve seen some major damage done by tornados so I’m totally freaked out by them. Interesting post. Glad you are safe and unharmed.