I second this. I was napping most of the day and just woke to find that tornado alert in Edmond and the eye of the storm head in this direction (Cushing), but it looks as though it is going to scrape by us in a more easterly fashion.

Please be safe and God be with everyone in it's path. May OKC weaken it!!

Bonnie

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. The Edmond tornado touched down two streets over from our house. Thankfully it moved to the north/northeast. We have emerged from out shelter as it continues to move to the east. We had no damage but will pray for those that were impacted by the storm.

Reed

I don't know about anyone else's location relative to the tornado, but I have been talking to Reed in Edmond. He and his family are fine now. I'll let him share the details of his experience whenever he's back on line. I'm just glad they are okay.

Prayers, thoughts and hugs to everyone in the storms' path, especially in Edmond which already was hit and in Arcadia and Luther which have had tornado touchdowns in their vicinity.

We are watching TWC where Jim Cantore is out with Reed Timmer, and one of the chopper pilots from OKC area is sending back incredible video where you could see the multiple vortices and even the debris in the air.

I hate, hate, hate days like this, but if we can post info that helps people find out what is happening, then it all is good.

If you believe in prayer in any shape, form or fashion. The Edmond-Arcadia-Liuther storm now looks awful and is headed toward a town that sounds like Fallis? Perhaps near Wellston? Cantore is 200-300 yds from this one giving us play-by-play.

I have never seen coverage of something so up-close and scary as what TWC and KFOR are showing.

I hope and pray all our forum members, their loved ones, friends, neighbors and community come out of this mess of storms as well as can be expected given all that is occurring.

Dawn

Looks like its headed our way. Might go a bit south of our location.

Mike

Damon Lane is saying this tornado is approaching EF5 levels as it moves east/northeast. It is said to be .5-.75 miles wide. Take cover if you are in its path.

I am fine. Not even a drop of rain here. I am south of the area that got hit. Sharon should be fine too.

So... basically our experience was as follows:

Damon Lanes and crew are on our television as we watch to stay updated. The storm looks like it's going to skirt to our north and we'll be fine. It was windy.

Then, the wind stopped and it became very calm. DL then says that they have rotation over 15th, which is one street up from our house on Memorial. He says to take cover so we head to the bathroom, taking the laptop to stay updated. The rotation kept up and went right over our house as the storm took its right turn and began moving east. It touched down two streets over on Coltrane and has continued to move to the northeast.

Prayers for those in Norman. The storm has just taken the tell-tale right turn.

Lisa, Sorry you were cheated of rain but glad to know your area and Sharon's area is untouched.

Reed, I about had heart failure when I heard how close it was to y'all. The KFOR chopper video is incredible. It was your lucky day because it missed you.

Paula Mac, I hope you had Reed's good fortune in terms of making it through the storm.

The video of damage from the Wellston and Arcadia Lake areas shows very bad damage. I hope Plantermunn is okay there near Wellston.

Other states are having tornadoes too, but I am focused on OK's.

Kudos to KFOR for great coverage that was included in TWC's coverage. The chopper pilot must have nerves of steel. What an incredible service they provide the public at times like this.

Dawn

Reed, I have a student going to school at OC (Memorial and Bryant)...I was texting him madly to make sure he was paying attention and taking cover.

Just got on here - I'm good, and Katie and Greg are, too (they're close to MacArthur and Hefner (Ski Island area) in OKC)...praying for Norman just now - hoping that Paula and her family are quite aware (!)

Sharon

Well, I consider myself supremely blessed this evening. I will most certainly give the credit to the man upstairs for looking out for us this evening. He should have, ha ha ha as I was talking to him the whole time.

Good to know, Reed....I was down here talking to Him for you, too!!

Sharon

This post was edited by shankins123 on Sun, May 19, 13 at 18:57

Paula was in shelter. Storm passed. Came out. Another cell headed her way. Sirens went off again. Paula back in shelter. Whew!

Bonnie, Michael....anyone else in the path of storms....y'all still okay?

Roll call... (funny, not funny...but I can see Paula popping out and then having to run back in again!)...still praying for all in the path.

Sharon

If anyone from the area between Tulsa and OKC is reading this, some of these storm cells have been on the ground a long time and still are headed your way. They have a history of damaging winds, hail and tornadoes.

Please remain aware.

If you are in Shawnee or Bethel Acres, the storm cell that was warned near Norman and then passed over Lake Thunderbird is headed your way. TWC is calling it a large and dangerous tornado. Take shelter.

Storms wont hit my area until around midnight from what i can tell, but things keep popping up and fizzling out fast. I pray all the people near Bethel Acres, Shawnee and Pink are safe and in shelter as this tornado has been on the ground for about 30 minutes according to the station im watching.

New rotation near drumright, shamrock and cushing area has just been reported. They say 5 miles SW of Shamrock.

Emma

This just passed us about fifteen minutes ago with sirens ablaze and I noticed probably 55mpg winds. We hit the shelter and it passed quickly. We were only on the EDGE of it.

It's moving FAST. THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE IT COMING. IF IT'S NEAR, HIT THE DECK. It's lightening fast and gaining MOMENTUM and growing in size in certain areas.

Starting to worry about those in its path now. It's like it was just getting started as it passed over us in Cushing.

Bonnie

I heard from Paula (P-Mac).

The people are fine.

Their area has suffered tremendous hail damage. Their power is out.

The row cover is totally shredded but her plants have survived. She did not describe the plants other than to say that they are okay.

Many sirens in her area, presumably emergency responders.

She wanted me to pass on the info that they are alright.

Now, let's pray for Shawnee and the other areas in the path of storms.

Emma, I'll be thinking of y'all tonight. If you are able, let us know how y'all are after it is over. Hoping for the best for you and yours. It is going to be along night in OK, KS and surrounding states.

The Shawnee storm just crossed I-40 and KFOR describes it as a stovepipe tornado at this point. Power lines down near Shawnee. About 2-3 miles west of Shawnee Mall. Everyone needs to get underground. Very dangerous storm on the ground.

Dawn

I rode my bike through Dale earlier today

Got home, before the sh*t hit the fan...

Daughter was in the bathroom with 3 home stay students.. all is fine at her house.

The second round of tornado's turned more east, and bypassed me. My tornado gear was in the closet... I was ready.

Hope all fare fine.

Moni

Glad everyone is ok! We had baseball size hail, and it looks to be building to our immediate north, Harrah watch out!
I am about to check the garen during the hail break.
Luvabasil

So glad everyone is safe so far. Its going to be a long night. There was already a brief touchdown about 20 miles west of me near Skiatook, but the whole storm fizzled put fast.

Again, its going to be a long night.

Glad to hear so far everyone is okay, some shot nerves. Coutinued prayers through the night.

Debris from The Bethel tornado is falling in stroud. 75 mph winds at 177 and I-40.

This tornado keeps disappearing and reappearing. Stay aware everyone. This is very volatile, and as mentioned can be little to no warning.

Emma

We were watching debris fall in glenpool. mainly leaves. But they did say an OKC newspaper fell in jenks.

I had three Saudi boys with me. I had already told them to get their passports and wallets. I put a pair of shoes for each of us in the bathroom. We were all in the living room listening to Gary England when he said it was at 2nd and Coltrane...the intersection I can SEE from my backyard. So, I turned the volume all the way up and my Saudi boys, my dog, and I all crowded into the tiny little bathroom and waited. We could hear things hitting the house. We listened to them talk about what all was being hit on I-35, but I didn't let them out until it was well into Acadia because I was worried that it would circle back or something.

Feel really freaking lucky. Second street is visible from my house. There's just a greenbelt between it and my house. The boys were very freaked out and on edge and until five minutes ago, stayed in the living room with me after that.

Don't want to do that again.

Wow. That is all I can say about that.

Heard more from Paula. Their property largely escaped damage despite being hit by baseball to softball sized hail. There is some damage, but you would expect some damage with hail like that. She has photos and I assume maybe she'll post them here when the power comes back on. They are headed into town to find something for dinner.

Everyone remain vigilent. This multiday outbreak isn't over yet. I hate the night storms worse than the day storms. At least during the day there's a good chance you'll see the tornado coming your way, unless it is rain-wrapped.

The photos from the destroyed trailer park in Shawnee are horrific, as are the photos of the semi-tractor-trailer truck and the cars tossed around on/off the highway. I am sure we'll see many more images of damage tomorrow after the sun comes up. Hopefully the loss of life will be minimal.

The whole state of OK needs a big hug.

Okievegan, So glad y'all made it through. What a story the boys will have to tell about the tornado they survived.

You sure you don't want to do it again? Because, um, you live in Oklahoma so if I was going to bet money on it, I'd bet one of these days (but maybe not for many years) you'll go through another one. There's just too many tornadoes in this state for your first one to be your last one.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think the OKC area gets hit by more damaging tornadoes than any other major metropolitan area in the USA.

Dawn

OKC does seem to get it bad. The storms always seem to die out right before Tulsa. I really think the topography and the fact its usually closer to night time that saves us. I hope everyone is OK and didn't get too much damage. Stay alert. Round 2 tomorrow.

Mike

Dawn, one of the first things I did after I let them out was to tell them to call their families because I knew this would eventually hit international news and scare their parents. I think they are okay without a repeat performance.

Yes, this was my first true close call. I was born here in Oklahoma and lived here for most of my 38 years and this is the first time that I took shelter. (I'm not counting any times that may have happened when I was too young to remember.) I think that most of my fear came from the feeling of responsibility I had for those three boys. I still would have been scared on my own, but it would have been just me and Cookie.

I hope to have a tornado shelter in place before this time next year.

I'm home and WE HAVE POWER!!! (duh...obviously!) Thank you ALL for your prayers and concerns. Dawn - what can I say? You are just so very dear to me. We do have some roof damage as well as damage to Ken's truck and the new patio awning we just had installed 2 weeks ago. My girl-truck was in the garage.

I've been holding off planting in the Original Garden for fear of this so most everything is still in cups up under the porches. However, I have planted cold crops in one of my raised beds and a week ago we put tomatoes in the other raised bed. The cold crop bed had summer weight cover over it. The mater's got the heavier frost blanket over it just for extra heat and protection. BOTH covers are shredded but everything underneath is fine.

I'll post pics tomorrow. We got soft-ball sized hail and it had SPIKES all over it. When it hit the cellar door, I just about jumped out of my skin. Yes, Sharon. You pegged me....I was almost like that silly chipmunk in that arcade game that you try to hit while he's popping up in one place then another.

Prayers for those in Bethel Acres near Shawnee. There's a command post set up not far from our home with LOTS of ambulances. It's really, really bad. Everyone else up NE - stay "weather aware". I've already called my dear friend Ilene to warn her it's headed her way. Scott - Carol - Chickencoupe - and others. Stay safe.

Jo-Ellen? OMG. Has anyone heard from her? I'm going to text and hit FB.

Jo - check in please?

Good idea to call the parents ASAP. News of the OK tornadoes was already up on the BBC website some time ago.

We moved here in the spring of 1999. We had been here a month or two when the OKC-Moore tornadoes hit on May 3rd.

Our rural low-lying area had such poor (as in almost nonexistent) TV reception and no cell phone service that we had gone to sleep with no idea that OKC and Moore had been hit. Then, I guess it hit the news in TX and all our friends and family were calling to see if we were okay. (Apparently none of them realized that Love County is not in central OK.....did they really think Tim drove to work from OKC to Dallas???? lol).

When the phone starting ringing off the wall, we were like "What? A tornado? Where?" We didn't have a tornado shelter or even a weather radio and since we couldn't see the news, we didn't know a thing about the tornadoes. Of course, the next day when we were able to see a newspaper, we found out all about it.

We immediately bought a weather radio and programmed not only our county but all the counties around us (both in TX and OK) into it. We then got internet service via DirectPC and TV via DirecTV. That all was probably within a month of the OKC-Moore tornadoes. By the following spring we had a tornado shelter.

All my life in Texas, I was aware of tornadoes but rarely saw one. Ever since we moved here, I see funnels right and left. It is frightening. One night we saw four funnel clouds in the air near us, though they never touched down. I was in the storm shelter. My husband and adult son were standing outside watching the skies. I have trouble convincing them that they belong in the shelter with the door closed. Gotta work on that one a bit! During our second year here, friends who lived 2 miles away called and said said "come over and watch the storms with us...there are funnel clouds and you can sit on the porch and watch them". I hate to admit it, but we hopped in the car, ran right over there and sat there on the porch high on a hill and watched a few small funnel clouds moving away from their home. The clouds never touched down and we never were in danger, but I still cannot believe we did that.

Being older and wiser now, we always have our weather radio 'alert' feature on, and our firefighter radios also have the NOAA weather channel on them. Plus, our county's Emergency Management Director has us on his notification list and automatically transmits weather watches and warnings as soon as he gets them. In this state, you cannot be too careful and the earlier the warning, the better.

Ironically, the year after moved away from Fort Worth, they had a tornado very close to our old neighborhood....a mile or so away. That was in March 2000. My brother's home was under the path of the tornado while it was still in the air. My mom's house and our old house were a mile or two further north. I cannot believe I lived in Fort Worth for almost 40 years and never saw a tornado close by and then left and, bam!---they had one.

I am an avid weather watcher now (it is better to know what's going on than to not know) but when we moved here, I basically looked at the forecast high, low and the chance of rainfall and otherwise ignored the weather. That was then. This is now. Now? I know you'd better be watching the weather in OK because anything and everything can and does happen here.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live in a area with perfect, calm weather....but I am not sure such a place even exists, though I have family members in San Diego who think it has the most perfect weather in the world.

I am glad it all worked out well for you. I think there are a lot of people whose hearts are heavy in various parts of the state tonight. If you don't have nerves of steel when you move here, you have to develop them or the weather would drive us all absolutely freaking crazy.

Dawn

Heard from Jo and she's okay also! Whew.....

All is well, here North of Tahlequah. Didn't even get rain.

George

Narrowly escaped some major damage but all is fine here! Many neighbors have huge trees snapped in half and a trampoline landed in our pool but no injuries- THANK GOD!

I hope everyone is safe and sound and that there are no storms tonight. How are everyone's gardens holding up? I have not gathered the strength to access mine yet...

Glad to hear from more of you and to know you're okay.

George, same here and we sure could use the rain but I hope it doesn't come in the form of large hail.

Trees, Wow. That was close. Glad you are alright.

After you make your garden assessment, please let us know how yours fared.

So far, the folks who have reported in are reporting surprisingly little garden damage. There's still a lot we have not yet heard from.

I hope everyone in the risk areas is ready for another day and night of this.

Dawn

So glad to hear so far that everyone that has checked in has made it out okay. So many close calls! So many effected. I haven't looked or heard this am, but last night when I went to be, they were saying so far, only 1 reported death. Is this still true?

Mike- I think the topography here near Tulsa changes the game for us vs. OKC

okievegan- I think being a parent in any sense of the word changes the game when it comes to tornadoes. In my life before kids, I would have been standing outside, watching, only hitting deck if I HAD to. I find tornadoes to be very fascinating, and I wasn't afraid of them. Now with 3 little people under my belt, when a tornado is close I am like a cat on a hot tin roof. Not bc my fascination has turned to fear, but bc I am responsible for making sure they are safe and will survive.

George- we didn't get a drop here either north of Wagoner. Which meant watering this morning a bit.

Stay safe today everyone!

I don't know about ya'll but I'm tired from yesterday. I'm NOT looking forward to another round today. Hope it's not like yesterday.

I'm glad to know everyone is Okay. Blessing be with you today, as well.

Bonnie

All OK with us. Saturday night was actually a lot worse for the garden than Sunday. Saturday's winds really blew things around, and we got about 2 inches of rain. Sunday morning we worked in the yard until about 1pm, then had a quick lunch and I floated around in the pool to cool off. About 2 or 3pm, I noticed it was getting a lot darker to the west, and was thinking I needed to go cover the plants that had their "hail hats" blown off the night before. Then we got lots of thunder, rolling thunder that just didn't let up, so I hightailed it to the garden to get things covered asap. We battened down the hatches as best we could and went in to watch the weather just in time to see that it was very near, about two miles north and headed towards us. Luckily, we greased out by being a little bit south of the track of the Edmond tornado. Was worried about my Deer Creek friends and family, though!

We got the tornado closet ready and watched the news (make sure to download a streaming app in case your power goes out, too!). I had KFOR's app streaming on my phone in my hand while I stood outside in the driveway and watched. Dawn, if it's not raining or hailing or lightning too badly, I like to stand outside to see what's going on. Feels safer than listening to the newscasters sometimes! I was definitely scared, but all was well. My in-laws live near Luther so was in touch with them, they were out of town in Dallas but when they got home last night their house was still standing and pets all accounted for. No power, but that's minor in the scheme of things.

It cleared out and the weather turned beautiful again, so we headed outside with a glass of wine to relax. Had no idea it'd gotten so bad in Little Axe and Shawnee until later. My boss lives in Prague near Shawnee. She said the debris came ahead of the storm, just floating giant pieces of sheet metal and trees down like feathers. When the wind died down and things became completely still, they ran and hid in an interior closet - came out and the corral roof was gone, as was a bunch of patio furniture that was missing entirely or shredded and trees down. They felt the roof of their house pulled up but it didn't come off. Scary.

Everyone be safe today!

Bre, They are reporting a second fatality this morning, but they haven't said where. I assume it will be near Shawnee since that is where the first fatality was reported.

It appears the NWS has assigned a preliminary rating to the Shawnee tornado of EF-4.

Mia, My spouse and child like to stand out and watch what is going on too. So, the usual scenario is that I am in the shelter nagging them to come in and they are standing outside saying dumb stuff like "Hey, come out here and look at this funnel cloud!". Honestly, I like to see my funnel clouds on video after they already have moved on. : ) You should feel free to watch outdoors all that you like, but don't expect me to be standing outside doing the same. I think you have a bit of a daredevil in you. (grin) Partly it is because of our trees. Since we are in a low-lying creek hollow in the already low-lying Red River Valley, depending on the height of the storms, we sometimes cannot see funnel clouds until they are within a few hundred feet of us. Now, if it is a big supercell with high towers, we can see it from many miles away and I'll sit in the yard and watch those. We were watching one in Whitesboro TX from our front yard several years ago and later learned it had spawned a tornado. It was the tallest supercell cloud formation type stuff I had ever seen. Even though it was a long way off, it just towered up high in the sky and I couldn't stop watching it...but our area was at absolutely no risk from it, and we were watching it under clear, sunny skies at our house.

The video, still photos and descriptions of last night's storms just sends a chill up my spine. Your boss's experience must have been nerve-wracking.

Maybe storms would go better with a glass of wine today. I think I need to go to the store and stock up on wine, beer for the guys and chocolates. A frozen margarita would be even better, but we don't have a bar or a margarite machine in our tornado shelter.

Dawn

Dawn- if you install a Margarita machine in your celler I will drive the several hours to ride storms out with you. :) of course a nice glass of wine sounds good too.

I just did get to turn off the Disney Channel and turn on the news and heard about the preliminary reports of an EF-4 and 2 deaths. Honestly while I am sad for the loss of life I can't help but feel lucky that it was only 2 and not more.