You’ll see pictures here of trampolines that were misplaced throughout neighborhoods, as well as homes with the roofs literally ripped off of them. I’ll add more photos throughout the week as more of the damage is uncovered.

Our prayers go out to those families who were effected by this storm, and we hope for a speedy recovery process.

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With the pre-conceived opinions many have, that our state suffers tornado damage every day of the year, I would imagine plenty of others out there will be just as surprised. Sometimes no news is good news.

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Many residents aren’t even aware this registry exists, but it’s in place to help emergency officials locate storm shelters that may be covered up or barricaded somehow after a severe storm wreaks havoc on your home.

It’s bad enough to have to spend time in a small shelter, but imagine being trapped in there with nobody even knowing to look for you there.

So, in addition to this registry, I also recommend getting to know your neighbors well and showing them where your shelter is.  Hopefully, if a tornado hit your area, your friends and family would know where to look, but be extra safe and make sure your neighbors and the emergency officials know where to look for you also.

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The city still has Danforth closed between Western and Santa Fe, while the crews work to get all the power lines back up in the air, and those folks who live in Valencia are still working to get things cleaned up and repaired.  Here are a few photos I’ve taken, for those of you interested in the mystery of what a tornado can do:

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You see, when I wrote this post, I had only been caught up in a tornado twice in my life.  At about 1:45 this morning, that changed.  I found myself, my wife, and my kids crouched down in our laundry room, riding out a tornado that hit dangerously close to home.

It had been a normal night for the most part.  I was up late working and had the TV on, just to keep an eye on the severe weather that had been buzzing around the state for quite a few hours.  Once the high winds hit our area, I started paying a little more attention.

You see, night-time tornadoes, IMO, are the most dangerous.  During the day, you can step outside, take a look around at the clouds and get a pretty good idea of what’s going on, but at night you have to rely completely on what the guys on TV are telling you.  Thing is, they’re going almost completely by what the radar shows because, big surprise, they don’t have any better vision at night than you and I do.

So, they’re showing radar coverage of the ‘hook’ and how this slow-moving storm is just dumping tons of rain and hail all over the metro.  Next thing you know, they’re fully geared up, talking about a ‘touchdown’ (do you know the two types of touchdowns that occur in Oklahoma?)around Danforth & Western.  Yep, that’s exactly one mile West of us, and this storm’s moving East.  Sounds like trouble right?  Yeah, that was enough for us to go get the boys out of bed and make a mad rush for a safe room in the middle of the house.

Long story short, we faired well.  This thing skated by about 1/8 mile South of our home, taking down power lines and snapping the poles in half.  The boys had a great time & I guess they thought we were playing hide & seek or something.  They enjoyed playing with the flashlights & stuff.

Later, we found out that several homes in the Valencia area (just west of our church, and 3 miles from home) got hit pretty hard, but praise God, there were no reported injuries.  One house in particular had almost the entire roof ripped off, with Mom & her twin boys inside. 

It was quite a site this morning, as I drove around checking on clients & friends and their homes.  Several of the main intersections were closed to through traffic as the power company worked to get the lines back up.  I couldn’t really get any pictures of the damage to homes, but you can see here one of those utility poles snapped in half.

By the way, I want to applaud those from my church who decided on their own to go over to Valencia this morning and help those residents any way they could, with cleanup and prayer.  What a great bunch of people!

So, here we are, a month after my first post, and I now have to increase my number by 50%.  Yes, it’s true, I’ve been in that crouching position 3 times in my 36 years.

Here are some of the local news articles on last night’s storm:

• http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
• http://www.koco.com/news/15747998/detail.html
• http://newsok.com/article/3223273/

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It’s actually the second thing out of their mouths many times.  “How are the schools here” is often followed with “Does this house have a tornado shelter?”  I can’t say I blame them.  It’s probably the same apprehension I’d be feeling if I were moving to LA, after seeing earthquakes and riots on the news for all these years.

Truth is though, tornadoes aren’t nearly as frequent here in Oklahoma as it may seem from the outside looking in.  Sure, every spring is ‘Tornado Season’ and we get the buzzing watches and warnings on the screen about every day or two, but more times than not, we get false warnings, or alerts from out in the sticks.  Let me put it this way; I’ve lived in the metro area my entire life.  Of that 29 years (OK, I lied, it’s 36 years), I’ve been in the crouching position during a tornado twice.  One other time, I got in the car and headed South, far from the path of the impending twister.

See, that’s the beauty of the whole thing.  While Oklahoma is known for severe weather, which includes tornadoes of course, our warning systems are the most advanced in the world.  Did you know that the National Weather Service is actually headquartered in Norman, Oklahoma?  This state is actually the crème de la crème when it comes to meteorologist work.  The weather guy you watch on TV each night probably dreams each night about landing the BIG job in Oklahoma.  Anyway, because of that, we have the best meteorologists, and the best actual tornado detection systems in the world, so we have plenty of warning almost every time.  From what I’ve seen, the more fatal twisters are usually in areas that have poor detection systems, so nobody has time to prepare.

So, here’s the deal; I’m not saying you shouldn’t fear tornadoes, and I’m in no way a weather expert of any kind, but based on my experience, I can tell you that if you live out of state, you probably have it built up much worse in your mind than it is in reality.  A healthy fear is good, but don’t let it scare you too much.

So, on to the fun part.  I love wikiHows.  I learn a lot from keeping up with them, and I stumbled across one today about how to prepare for a tornado.  I thought this would be a valuable thing to share with you, my readers, just in case you’re ever caught in one.  I hope you find it useful, but never actually have to use it, and I hope I’ve helped calm at least a few of your fears of twisters.

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