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Started By
Message
25 Years Ago, May 3, 1999 F5 OK Tornado
Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:46 am
Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:46 am
Man, time flies. What a massive beast it was. I was living NE of Tinker AFB and saw it coming so got the family and hauled arse east then south. Luckily my house was still intact but had some damage (from a spin off tornado not the main one). On way back there were cars in ditches just mangled messes. No electric and no phone either. Didn’t have a cell back then so it was word of mouth and TV to find out info.
This is also where a young chaser got his real start, Reed Timmer:
This is also where a young chaser got his real start, Reed Timmer:
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Posted on 5/3/24 at 9:48 am to OU Guy
Nature be scary.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:13 am to SantaFe
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 10:15 am
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:14 am to OU Guy
1999 was 25 years ago?
Damn I'm getting old.
Damn I'm getting old.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:16 am to OU Guy
Ok, I guess I'll go watch twister for the 100th time.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:17 am to OU Guy
Tornado warning...........for this area...........please take.........appropriate....action........wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:20 am to OU Guy
When I hear or read about huge tornadoes, I always imagine what it must have been like long ago as an Indian out in Kansas, Oklahoma or the like, sitting on horseback up on a bluff, far away with a safe distance, just watching a humongous twister rip through the country side.
No radar, no warning, no shelter, nowhere to run...just watching something you have no chance to be prepared for come destroy the land around you. Makes sense that they built shelters that could be packed up in an instant and moved.
Part of me knows that they were so in touch with the natural world, with senses almost like when animals can feel danger coming, that they were aware that SOMETHING is coming, and it is bringing death with it.
Tornadoes are awesome and viscious.
No radar, no warning, no shelter, nowhere to run...just watching something you have no chance to be prepared for come destroy the land around you. Makes sense that they built shelters that could be packed up in an instant and moved.
Part of me knows that they were so in touch with the natural world, with senses almost like when animals can feel danger coming, that they were aware that SOMETHING is coming, and it is bringing death with it.
Tornadoes are awesome and viscious.
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 10:29 am
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:42 am to OU Guy
I drive through the area not long after. It looked like someone had taken an erasure to a line in the city.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:16 am to Ranger Call
Kinda wonder what happened to the people that were sheltered under the Overpass that didn't make it.
Debris getting slung through there?
Where there other people at that location, and just a couple didn't make it?
Debris getting slung through there?
Where there other people at that location, and just a couple didn't make it?
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:21 am to Mid Iowa Tiger
My buddy was an insurance adjuster that went out there. He was a contractor and got paid by the claims he processed. Said it was the easiest money ever. He would go to the ops center and get an address from the company rep. Drive to the address and not even get out of his truck. He said that in the main path even the foundations were gone in some cases. He would pull up, put TOTAL LOSS in the laptop and drive back to the ops center to pick up another assignment.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:30 am to OU Guy
I was with a study group at O'Connells and we watched it all unfold. It was heartbreaking. I also worked in downtown OKC and had to drive through Moore every weekday. There was a dry cleaner with a car impaled on their sign about 20 feet up for quite a while.
This video also came from that event. Still brings tears to my eyes.
Bridge Creek Baby
This video also came from that event. Still brings tears to my eyes.
Bridge Creek Baby
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:34 am to OU Guy
Kind of crazy at the beginning hearing those people cheering the formation of it now knowing how bad it was about to get
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:34 am to OU Guy
Those trees tell the story. Those are trees after an (E)F5. When you see it, there's no doubt it was a violent tornado.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:36 am to jbgleason
quote:
My buddy was an insurance adjuster that went out there. He was a contractor and got paid by the claims he processed. Said it was the easiest money ever. He would go to the ops center and get an address from the company rep. Drive to the address and not even get out of his truck. He said that in the main path even the foundations were gone in some cases. He would pull up, put TOTAL LOSS in the laptop and drive back to the ops center to pick up another assignment.
Same with Katrina. A friend of mine was brand new, working Katrina as his first storm. He had 100k in his bank account in 6 months working total loss claims in Plaquemine parish.
This post was edited on 5/3/24 at 12:38 pm
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:47 am to OU Guy
Here's one pic from the Hackleburg/Phil Campbell EF5
That WAS a two story brick house.
That WAS a two story brick house.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 11:57 am to REB BEER
quote:
1999 was 25 years ago?
Damn I'm getting old.
Wait till you say, "it was only 25 years ago."
Posted on 5/3/24 at 12:11 pm to OU Guy
One thing you notice it was on a beeline for TAFB and veered north last minute. Then new tornadoes set down NE of Tinker in MWC and Choctaw. It was flat out craziness my kids still remember to this day.
My neighbor was an old man and he stayed, said he was too old to worry about it. Said both our houses got saved and the tornado lifted just as approached in our back yards (we had 2 acre lots). Said he watched it take out some trees in my yard and his sat dish and part of his garage along with our fences. I had some roof damage and needed a new fence plus trees. Plus some missing kids things like trampoline and swing set. I had no phone for 8 days it took out the city telephone HQ.
My neighbor was an old man and he stayed, said he was too old to worry about it. Said both our houses got saved and the tornado lifted just as approached in our back yards (we had 2 acre lots). Said he watched it take out some trees in my yard and his sat dish and part of his garage along with our fences. I had some roof damage and needed a new fence plus trees. Plus some missing kids things like trampoline and swing set. I had no phone for 8 days it took out the city telephone HQ.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 12:44 pm to OU Guy
I was in the top floor of a wooden two story apt until Gary England said this was a killer and it was heading my way.
So I went down the street to a block grocery store, but they had locked the doors and put all customers in the back..
All I could find for safety in the small strip mall was a vet clinic. I rode it out in the back with the dogs.. it went by awful close.
There was a steel door between me and the tornado. I heard it. I wanted to see it. But I said to myself: "if you open that door, it may be the last thing you ever do."
So I went down the street to a block grocery store, but they had locked the doors and put all customers in the back..
All I could find for safety in the small strip mall was a vet clinic. I rode it out in the back with the dogs.. it went by awful close.
There was a steel door between me and the tornado. I heard it. I wanted to see it. But I said to myself: "if you open that door, it may be the last thing you ever do."
Posted on 5/3/24 at 1:09 pm to OU Guy
At the time it was the most documented tornado in history. It’s the reason we have Tornado Emergency now. Probably led to the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
KFOR had the best coverage of it IMO.
KFOR had the best coverage of it IMO.
Posted on 5/3/24 at 10:18 pm to Pisco
This stat gets lost in the shuffle but it was a crazy day
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