My thoughts still turn back to the things I saw and wrote about last week after going out on the storm damage survey. The Weather Forecast Office in Norman has finally conferred with several folks and have given the tornado an EF-5 rating; the highest and most destructive rating for those wanting to give a firm number to a force of nature that covered a much larger range of damage than this. A debate continues because the rating was bumped up after some new radar measurements of wind speed were released from an experimental mobile radar that scanned the beginnings of my survey portion near the I-40/Calumet exit.
The continued focus on this storm keeps the images at the forefront of my mind. Colleagues at my place of employment are asking questions, want to know how they can take the lessons I learned and store them away in their mind for the unfortunate time they will be called to do a storm damage survey. My dreams are still occasionally filled with the images I saw across Oklahoma on the 25th; not nightmares but more of a reliving of the events that week. Images are occasionally triggered by smells or smells come back to mind from time to time. These events aren't debilitating or haunting, but more of a reminder of what has happened once can and will happen again.
Now that the rating has been released, I feel that it is O.K. for me to share with you some of the images to give you a poor glimpse of what was encountered. By no means is this inclusive; I took over 300 pictures and a few panoramics in there as well, but I feel these are images that have come in my dreams and to my mind the most.
First is this image of the remnants of some form of vehicle:
We found other pieces along the damage path all within about 50 feet of each other, but none of them could give us an idea of what kind of vehicle this was. As far as I know (and I truly hope), no one was in this vehicle. If this doesn't explain why you should not try to outrun a tornado of any type, I don't know what will.
In similar fashion is this picture:
You are looking at a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, or what used to be that vehicle. It was tossed 50 yards from the garage it was parked in onto this tree. A wrecker had to come in and pull the vehicle down. No one was in the vehicle; the owners fled into the nearest town because of the reports they saw on television on how strong the tornado was. They went into a well-built steel and concrete shelter they had at their place of employment.
This next image was a way too common sight; a hardwood tree, denuded and debarked by the tornado. Images of the tree from the movie "Poltergeist" come to mind.
Again, you can see the remnants of what used to be a two story home on the right side of the image. Some cleanup had occurred but the owners were still sifting through what little was left of their home. They were polite but you could hear the resignation in their voices that there was little left of their lives to find.
Southeast of Okarche was one of the more fearsome places I have been to.
Again, a two story home that very little was left. The door to the basement was nowhere to be found as I stood on the slab and peered into the dank darkness below. My curiosity wanted to go down into the basement, my respect for whomever's property this is kept me from doing so. There was also a sense of fear; a sense that going down the stairs would result in me imagining the sheer terror of hearing your home disappear above you in an instant. I have no idea if the lone boot was left there by the tornado or placed there by someone, but that was the only intact and "clean" piece of personal property left. We had to gingerly walk around this property because of the sheer number of nails, sharp objects, and countless pieces of splintered wood that were all eagerly awaiting the chance to slice, dice, cut, or pierce the skin. And all of them were coated in mud, dirt, grass, and Lord knows what else...
I will save you some other images of vehicles thrown over 800 yards, homes obliterated, and leave you with the one that comes back the most; I guess haunting is truly the proper word:
This was all that was left of a home. Behind where I took this picture was the location where Ryan and his brother once lived, once laughed, but were tragically taken before their time. You are looking at a safe room, a specifically built structure designed to withstand the strongest of tornadoes. We were told by the Search and Rescue incident commander that a family did ride out the tornado in the shelter. The homeowners were willing to spend the extra $3-6,000 to install this room, nothing bigger than a walk in closet, and it saved their lives. Outside of this safe room, all hell was literally taking place outside of that steel door (the homeowners found their quads and put them back on the property after the tornado).
Somewhere between 5 to 10 hours after this picture was taken, search and rescue teams found the body of 3-year old Ryan floating in the lake. That fact is something I continue to dwell on; there is NOTHING I could have done to find him or any way to know that he was in the water. Yet at the same time, I was there. Perhaps that is why this continues to be so real for me and why the visions of the damage continue to come back every once in a while in my dreams.
As for what I have learned or contemplated on...that will be for another post down the road once I mentally process all that went on that week I was there...
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