St Louis and a portion of Missouri had been hit a few days earlier with heavy
damage, and we had been chasing in the panhandle of Texas. This was a down
day between tours and we had been washing the vans, getting things set up for
the next tour. I had gone to lay down and Todd & Bill were in
the van looking at the weather, getting email, and forecasting for the next few
days. Bill came pounding on my door and said to come on and we were going
chasing. We headed south out of Oklahoma City on I44 and then off into the
country. The radar was showing that the storm would be coming from the
southwest moving to the northeast. We positioned ourselves south of the
storm and could see the local and weather helicopter on the TV saying he was
seeing a lowering wall cloud. We could see the helicopter but not the wall
cloud. We heard the siren start and then shortly realized the haze had
hidden the wall cloud and it passed by us. We then took off heading toward
Moore, Oklahoma and got behind a emergency management vehicle which helped clear
the path of vehicles. As we were south, we kept heading northeast and came
up on the tornado. We were within about 1 mile of the tornado when the
skies cleared for a moment and the light colored tornado was visible. It
was very wide at the top and narrowed to a point on the bottom. The haze
then covered the tornado and we were starting to get to debris fields.
First it was mostly tree limbs and a few downed power lines. We then
turned back on the interstate figuring it would be quicker. The tornado
had crossed the interstate and it was grid locked. We got to an exit and
we were seeing heavy smoke from the area. The tornado had hit a shopping
center, and then a gas station, igniting the gas pumps. Cars had been
overturned on the interstate with people still visible in their seats bleeding
from their injuries. The fire/rescue personnel were almost to them, so
there was very little that we could do. We then exited and saw a pickup
truck with half of the windshield pushed into the vehicle. The lady
driving was just leaving the area, even if the windshield was pushed in.
All of this occurred within a 7-10 minute time frame and I almost forgot to take
pictures due to the magnitude of the event. These are the highlights of
what I took.
|
|
The first sighting of the tornado when the clouds
opened. It is to the left the windmill. |
|
|
The second picture of the tornado was over the
garage in the center of the picture. It was white which made it
difficult to see with the haze and only appeared for a short time to us. |
|
|
Going up the interstate, there was heavy smoke
from our left. We were not sure what caused it, but kept going
towards it. |
|
|
We finally saw flames leaping in the air and
closer to us we could see where signs had been twisted on their bases. |
|
|
People were coming back up the ramps the wrong
way to get out of the area. Traffic came to a standstill as
police/fire/rescue units sped to the area. We moved away from this
damage, following the debris path. |
|
|
The first sight of the debris in large
quantity. Their were heavy power transmission lines down in
the roadway which we were navigating around. We saw this huge pile
of debris, not knowing it was the GM paint plant which was in the direct
path of the tornado. |
|
|
The building was just a large heap of
debris. We wondered out loud as to what the building had been. |
|
|
Power poles were in different state. One
pole leaning and then next snapped off. |
|
|
A water main at the plant was ruptured and
spewing water high into the air. |
|
|
The end of the plant was about all of the
building that was standing. |
|
|
Metal as wrapped around poles as the storm
raised and lowered, missing one side of the road, and hitting the
other. The truck in the background had been rolled over. |
|
|
Power poles had been snapped and trees in the
background twisted. |
|
|
A vehicle that was in the roadway was rolled
over a few times. Rescue workers on scene were giving her aid as we
passed. |
|
|
The direction of the tornado was going had
backside of storm to us. I can't confirm if that was the lowering
wall cloud in the center of the picture. At this time it was hitting
a residential area. |
|
|
It was just like the pictures of items high in
the trees. It is just hard to imagine the air with all of this debris
flying and not hitting and killing anyone. |
|
|
Another picture of the debris along side of the
road. |
|
|
More metal round the pole and another damaged
truck from the storm. |
|
|
Wood from people's home littered the road and
sides with small pieces of wood. Nails were sticking up causing flat
tires on numerous vehicles. This was taken on the interstate. |
|
|
This tractor trailer was hit by the tornado and
flipped. |
|
|
This truck was in front of the tractor
trailer. It too had also been hit. |
|
It was hard to imagine this much damage in such a short
period of time. The ominous wail of the sirens and the look of fear in
people's faces as they drove away from the damaged area. There were
104 people injured but no one was killed. The tornado was unusual as
it was very narrow, being between a 1/8 of mile to 1/4 of a mile
wide. An F-3 tornado happens only a couple of times a year. Of
the 1000 tornados a year, 992 will be F-0 to F-1 and the other 8 will have
a higher magnitude. This tornado followed almost the identical path
of the 1999 tornado that killed 40+ people. The biggest difference
was the warning. There was about a 20 minute warning which people took
seriously. The GM plant had it's main building hit, and then the GM
paint plant destroyed. They had gotten everyone in the plant to a
safe area which definitely saved many lives.
This year has been abnormal as there have been 480+
tornados so far this year. Last year was below normal with only
about this many for the whole year. On May 9, the sirens
started again as members of the chase team were at the hotel. This
tornado was between a F-0 to F-1 in magnitude, but the power lines arcing
still made for an impressive night. It was too dark to chase as you
could not see the tornado, and there was little lightning to highlight the
funnel. |
