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I Was There: Plains Tornado Outbreak, May 3, 1999 (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) ~Part One~(By Tommy Wayne Tucker, aged 17) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Rated "PG" by the Author.
A survivor of the Plains Tornado Outbreak of May 1999 shares his memories about the event. He lost his family, but he managed to survive by hiding in the storm celler. The family didn't get to the storm shelter in time, and they were killed by the flying debris and ferocious tornadic winds.
I still get the willie-nillies whenever there is even the SLIGHTEST mention of storms forecasted, and whenever I see the clouds building up to the west, north, or south of OkCity (where I live) or hear the chilling call of thunder or see lightning slicing the sky, I get nauseated, and right away I am transported to THAT day four years ago when my life changed forever.
It started out normally enough..hot, humid, partly cloudy skies, typical for spring in our region of the country..., but the weather prognosticators were calling for possible severe weather in our area, as the air was very unstable, with higher than normal dew points, and they were saying that storms could form, with the possibility of large and damaging hail, damaging downburst winds, and possibility of tornadoes. Yet the sky really didn't give any hint of bad weather: it was bright and sunny out, with high, cirrus clouds streaming across the azure blue Oklahoma sky; and a rather refreshing (but warm) breeze blowing from the south.
My name is Tommy. Tommy Wayne Tucker. I am now 17 years old; this happened four years ago, when I was just 13 years old, barely a teenager. I remember I was in school, looking forward to next month, when we would be going into summer break (and vacation!! YIPPPIEEE!!); I was looking forward to three whole months, 12 glorious, fun-filled weeks, with nothing to do but fool around or hang out with the guys, playing B-ball or skateboarding at the park not far from where we lived; or annoying the hell out of my little brat sisters, Jackie Raye, 5, and Velda-June, who was the older girl at nine. My parents would probably get sick of me and my brat sisters being home all the time, but I also bet that they would be happy to know that we all cram a lot of activity in one day during the summer, and we could always find something to do out of the house. We lived in a huge metropolitan area, and something exciting or neat was always going on. We had the festivals and fairs to look forward to, and I especially enjoyed the fairs and festivals because I played the fiddle as part of our family's bluegrass troupe, and we would spend the weekends pickin' and singin' and spending the weekdays at home, where I would hang out with my friends if I wasn't annoying the flop out of my sisters!
I was a very active boy, and besides playing the fiddle, I loved skateboarding, rollerblading, playing B-ball, or just hangin' out with my buddies, and I also loved to sleep in as late as possible during vacation times. I was always outside, and I had a very healthy tan by the time May rolled around. I got plenty of exercise, which probably explained my skinny body and my lanky frame. I was 13, but I looked older; I was pushin' 6' tall, and I favored my daddy in looks: long, unkempt sandy-colored blond hair, squinty eyes of pale green, and dark, tanned skin. I could pass as his twin, we looked so much alike.
After school that day, I noticed the skies were growing cloudier and cloudier by the minute; and soon, storm clouds were building fast. But I didn't pay no nevermind, not even when the teachers said for us to be careful upon getting home, as we were under storm and tornado watches. I wasn't overly concerned: after all, we LIVED in the middle of "Tornado Alley", and tornadoes were common here, especially during the springtime months before the long, hot summer would set in. Yet, we had a celler we could go to whenever "it came up a cloud", and we would then wait out the storm and pray that our house would be spared.
When I got home, daddy told us that we were under tornado watches and that storms were building up fast to the west, supercell storms, which were the worst kind of thunderstorms. He said that we would not be going anywhere today, not with the skies lowering, or the threat of severe weather approaching. Mom was worried, too, but she tried to hide her fear by smiling at us and telling us that everything would be okay. Of course, Velda-June and Jackie Raye were just little kids, girly girls, and they were terrified by the increasing winds and rumbling thunder that now sounded in the distance. But I told them that it was nothing, that we would be okay, and not to worry about the storms, as I, their big brother, would protect them.
Famous last words.
About a half hour later, the sky turned as black as pitch, and the wind screamed; and soon we heard the terrifying sound of the tornado sirens blasting the already noisy air and the sound of the wind howling, and also the sound of "things" being rolled about outside. It was lightning every few seconds, it seemed like, and the thunder boomed constantly; and it all hurt my already sore ears. The air pressure was incredible, and it felt like it was going to squeeze all the air out of me. Soon, I heard the distinct "loud, low rumbling", like that of a runaway freight train, and I feared the worst: it was the sound of not a train, but an approaching tornado; and from the sound, it sounded like it was a big one.
Whereupon, I told the family to get to the storm shelter located in our yard; and as I flung open the door, I got in, and I hoped my family were behind me; but all I could hear was the howling wind and the crashing thunder and the hail, which sounded like a million golf balls slamming into the ground. I looked about me, and saw that I was alone; my family was nowhere to be found. All I heard was the howling of the winds and the crashing hail and driving rain, and also the deafening thunder, which sounded as though cannons were going off right beside me. The sounds were terrifying, and my heart threatened to leap out my throat, and I am sure my eyes were as big as saucers: I was never so terrified in all my 13 years!
Just as suddenly as it had started, the awful noises of the storm soon abated, and the skies lightened; and when the rain let up, I emerged like a turtle from its shell; and I was horrified to see that the area about me looked like a war zone. The yard was littered with debris..cars, trees, branches, wires, garbage cans, dead animals, even dead people.., and I couldn't imagine what had happened (oh, yeah. A TORNADO. THAT's what happened! I remember thinking), and I was amazed that I had managed to escape with nary a scratch or mark anywhere on my body. I still couldn't see my family anywhere, and I remember screaming their names over and over again, in the hopes that one--ANY--of them would answer me. But nobody did. That's when I saw the horrible images of my mother in a tree, her middle impaled by a branch, her eyes open and mouth hanging open in what appeared to be a scream, and also the bloodied, broken bodies of my father and sisters lying naked and haphazardly in crazy, unnatural positions; and from one quick look, I knew that my family was dead, and I was the only one out of my family who had survived.
(((((Karen))))
I certainly wouldn't do well living in the storm zones, this was well written, but scary, to think of what a tornado can do...
God Bless
Michelle~
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