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Oklahoma tornadoes: Rare term used in Monday's storms

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:20 -0500

BY BRYAN PAINTER bpainter@opubco.com

NORMAN — Two men mentioned one rare phrase.

David Andra and Scott Curl, of the National Weather Service in Norman, were both working when an F5 tornado struck the Oklahoma City metro area May 3, 1999.

Andra, now the meteorologist in charge, and Curl, a senior forecaster, were also working Monday when a tornado of at least EF4 strength struck some of the same areas.

Curl was the warning forecaster on that F5 tornado in 1999 and again on Monday's storm.

Both times the rare term “tornado emergency” was used to warn the public of a dangerous, long-track tornado.

Monday, they used the regular warnings, but added this phrase to that.

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Oklahoma tornadoes: Moore Medical Center damaged by tornado

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:19 -0500

BY GEORGE LANG glang@opubco.com

MOORE — Most of the second floor of Moore Medical Center is now gone, and dozens of the cars owned by patients and caregivers are crumpled beyond repair, some piled in a heap at the center of the facility's parking lot, stacked by the force of Monday's tornado.

Residents and area workers stepped over downed power lines as they surveyed the damage from the tornado, which cut a wide swath through Tom Strouhal Little River Park along SW 4 Street and into the medical center.

Police blocked outsiders from entering the devastated residential areas on SW 6 Street and Kings Manor.

“It's just all hands on deck right now,” said Kelly Wells, public information officer for Moore Medical Center.

“As far as Moore Medical Center, all the staff has been accounted for there, and to my knowledge, all the patients have been accounted for, as well.”

For some eyewitnesses, the memory of the May 3, 1999, tornado was echoed in what they saw Monday afternoon.

Angela Glenn, 36, who lives five blocks away from the medical center, lived in the area during that first disaster.

This time, she was picking up her three children from school when the tornado pushed through from the west, and she decided to outrun it.

“I knew we shouldn't have done that,” Glenn said.

“But I didn't know what else to do.”

Curtis Cargile, 55, of Del City, also lived through the 1999 tornado, but Monday he was checking on young relatives, including a first-grader at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was hit by the storm.

Back then, he lived two blocks from the tornado's path.

“It's just all over again,” Cargile said.

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Oklahoma tornadoes: Six tips for tornado survivors

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:19 -0500

BY NOLAN CLAY nclay@opubco.com

Here are tips from my own experience after the May 3, 1999, tornado leveled my Moore home:

You may need a tetanus shot.

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How to help tornado victims

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:18 -0500

How to help tornado victims

Several nonprofits are collecting donations for tornado victims.

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Relatives arrive at hospital in frantic searches for loved ones in Oklahoma

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:17 -0500

BY NASREEN IQBAL niqbal@opubco.com

About 30 people gathered in the waiting room of OU Medical Center on Monday evening as more poured in, concerned about lost loved ones or their own wounds.

A distraught and shaken husband, 21-year-old Gage Bellman, sat wide-eyed in the back of the room and waited for news about his lost wife, who was working at a 7-Eleven on SW 4 in Moore when the tornado struck.

“I called her 15 minutes before she was supposed to get off from work.

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Oklahoma devastated by second round of twisters

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:15 -0500

BY RANDY ELLIS rellis@opubco.com

A monstrous tornado killed at least 51 people Monday as it roared through Moore and south Oklahoma City — leaving rescue workers frantically searching into the night for missing children at the devastated Plaza Towers Elementary School in the Moore School District.

At least 20 children were included among those killed, and the death toll is expected to rise, the state medical examiner reported.

More than 100 were injured.

President Barack Obama issued a federal disaster declaration late Monday.

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Oklahoma tornadoes: Rescuers search into night for Moore schoolchildren

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:14:14 -0500

BY ANDREW KNITTLE AND ZEKE CAMPFIELD

MOORE — In a drizzle under hastily erected bright lights, dozens of emergency workers searched into the night Monday for the missing children at the flattened Plaza Towers Elementary School.

“They're looking for life, but they have not had any hits recently, so they're in recovery mode now,” Gov.

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Family reunites at Moore church, prepares to search for missing relatives

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:11:01 -0500

BY CARLA HINTON chinton@opubco.com

MOORE — The hugs and the tears conveyed a message all too familiar for the Lambert family Monday.

Cecilia Lambert, with tears in her eyes, hopped out of her husband's pickup and rushed to hug her son, Joseph Lambert, as the family reunited in the parking lot of First Baptist Church of Moore.

Lambert family members said they live in several Moore housing additions and experienced the tornado outbreak of May 3, 1999, and another on May 8, 2003.

Cecilia Lambert said she couldn't believe their city had been struck yet a third time by a deadly tornado, wreaking havoc through the city.

“I think I'm ready to move,” she said.

Joseph Lambert, 23, said he left his Oklahoma City job when he found out the tornado was headed for the Moore area.

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Oklahoma Baptists prepare mobile kitchen site in Moore; other houses of worship respond to disaster

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:37:07 -0500

BY CARLA HINTON chinton@opubco.com

MOORE — Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief teams were headed to Moore late Monday as search and rescue efforts continued in the neighborhoods affected by a deadly tornado.

Sam Porter, disaster relief director for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, stood in the parking lot of First Baptist Church of Moore, 301 NE 27, coordinating relief efforts that will include a mobile kitchen and feeding unit set up at the church.

Porter said volunteers would begin preparing meals for the Salvation Army and Red Cross to distribute Tuesday, but he was unsure how many people they would feed.

“We may need 20,000 meals a day.

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Oklahoma tornadoes: How to help children cope

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:20:17 -0500

By Charlotte Lankard

“Unbelievable” was a word I heard over and over from TV journalists on Monday afternoon. If the devastation that resulted from the tornado is difficult for adults to understand, what do we say to the children, and how do we help?

“Children are good observers but poor interpreters,” professional counselor John Leverington says.

Children see, hear and feel the impact of the crisis and the reactions of their parents, teachers and friends.

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Report: NPS hantavirus response followed policy

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:00:23 -0500

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Federal investigators probing the hantavirus outbreak blamed for three deaths at Yosemite National Park recommended on Monday that design changes to tent cabins and other privately run lodging first be reviewed by National Park Service officials.

The report released by the Interior Department's Office of Inspector General found that park officials responded to last summer's outbreak appropriately and within department policy.

"When the outbreak was identified, NPS mobilized to contain and remediate the outbreak and to prevent further outbreaks," Mary Kendall, a deputy inspector general, wrote in a letter attached to the report.

Still, the report found that current policy did not require park officials to approve design changes made to the "Signature tent cabins" by concessionaire Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts, which had added rafters and wall studs to the structures.

Investigators determined that deer mice, which can carry the illness, nested inside the double walls of the new tents in Yosemite's family friendly Curry Village.

At least eight of the nine tourists who fell ill stayed in the tent cabins.

Because the changes to the cabins were considered routine maintenance, current park service policy did not require prior approval, the report found.

The report also recommended that the park service begin cyclical pest monitoring and inspections of all public accommodations.

While there is a current pest monitoring program at Yosemite, Delaware North was responsible for Curry Village, which was not considered at high risk for hantavirus.

The company issued a statement late Monday saying it would follow the recommendations in the report.

"DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite has consistently worked hand-in-hand with the National Park Service and public health officials on this issue," spokeswoman Lisa Cesaro said in the statement.

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Ark. treasurer accused of taking cash from broker

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:52:03 -0500

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas' state treasurer was accused Monday of taking at least $36,000 in cash — sometimes stashed in a pie box — from a broker who later came to manage a large share of the state's $3.3 billion investment portfolio.

Democrat Martha Shoffner, who made her initial court appearance Monday, said she had no plans to resign despite members of her own party joining Republican calls for her to step down.

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Obama declares major disaster in Oklahoma

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:51:58 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Oklahoma as the state recovers from a massive tornado that ripped through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, killing dozens and flattening entire neighborhoods.

Obama has ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

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Besieged Mexican town cheers arrival of soldiers

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:47:47 -0500

LA RUANA, Mexico (AP) — Residents of a western Mexico area who endured months besieged by a drug cartel cheered the arrival of hundreds of Mexican soldiers Monday.

People in La Ruana in Michoacan state lined the main road to greet more than a dozen troop transports and heavily armed Humvees with applause and shouts of joy.

The town's supplies had been blocked after the Knights Templars cartel declared war on the hamlet.

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President Obama declares major disaster in Oklahoma after devastating tornado

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:35:33 -0500

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama declares major disaster in Oklahoma after devastating tornado.

Guatemala top court overturns genocide conviction

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:35:26 -0500

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's top court overturned the genocide conviction of former dictator Efrain Rios Montt and ordered on Monday that his trial restart, throwing into disarray proceedings that had been hailed as historic for delivering the first such guilty verdict for a Latin American leader.

Constitutional Court secretary Martin Guzman said the trial needs to go back to where it stood on April 19 to solve several appeal issues.

The ruling came 10 days after a three-judge panel convicted the 86-year-old Rios Montt of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in massacres of Mayans during Guatemala's civil war.

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Hospitals treat more than 120 after Okla. tornado

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:32:51 -0500

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Officials at two hospitals say they've been treating more than 120 patients, including about 50 children, since a massive tornado hit suburban Oklahoma City.

Spokeswoman Brooke Cayot (KAY'-ot) says nine of 57 patients who are being treated at the Integris Southwest Medical Center were listed in critical condition after Monday afternoon's tornado.

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Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:12:53 -0500

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph.

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FBI: Agents fell to deaths training off Va. coast

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:11:54 -0500

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — An FBI spokeswoman says two agents who died while training off the Virginia Beach coast fell to their deaths during a "maritime counterterrorism exercise involving helicopters and a ship."

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Missouri city aids tornado-ravaged Okla. town

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:08:18 -0500

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Officials in Joplin, Mo., have brought together a team of public safety employees they are sending to tornado-stricken Moore.

Joplin was devastated by a tornado two years ago that killed 158 people and injured hundreds more.

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Asia stocks muted ahead of Fed meeting

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:07:44 -0500

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian stock markets struggled to post gains Tuesday as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve to telegraph what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program.

The Fed is currently conducting the third round of massive bond purchases known as quantitative easing to help drive down interest rates and spur lending.

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Oklahoma state Capitol briefs for May 21, 2013

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:06:11 -0500

CAPITOL BRIEFS

Governor signs $7.1B budget

Gov.

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Indonesia mine collapse death toll rises to 21

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:02:22 -0500

TIMIKA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers recovered another four bodies from a collapsed underground room at a giant U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in Indonesia, bringing the confirmed death toll to 21, mine officials said Tuesday.

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Deadliest US tornadoes since 1900

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:02:04 -0500

A list of the 10 deadliest tornadoes in the United States since 1900:

— 695 deaths. March 18, 1925, in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

— 216 deaths.

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Twister season starts late, but starts nonetheless

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:00:54 -0500

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Deadly tornadoes that have raked communities in Middle America over the past week, including Monday's massive twister that carved a path of destruction through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, belie what had been a relatively quiet start of the 2013 tornado season.

In fact, this is the longest the U.S. has gone into May without registering an EF1 or stronger tornado, which are the types that can cause damage.

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Chesapeake donates to American Red Cross

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:58:09 -0500

Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Monday announced it would donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to aid in rescue and recovery efforts after the Moore tornado.

The Oklahoma City-based oil and natural gas company also is organizing hundreds of employee volunteers to help tornado victims as part of Operation Blue, Chesapeake's annual campaign to encourage volunteerism.

“Our hearts go out to the victims of these terrible storms, and Chesapeake and our employees are doing all we can to aid in the disaster recovery efforts in our hometown community,” Chesapeake Chairman Archie Dunham said.

“We are providing all possible assistance using Chesapeake equipment, machinery and resources and many of our people are already mobilized under the Operation Blue banner and assisting in the rescue efforts.

“We urge other local businesses and citizens to pitch in to help during our community's hour of need.”

Operation Blue, which allows Chesapeake employees to volunteer on company time, is being expanded to help the community after this week's deadly tornadoes.

Chesapeake employees have contributed more than 100,000 volunteer hours in the company's operating areas over the past three summers.

From Staff Reports

More tornado alerts in wake of deadly twister

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:55:05 -0500

MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Tornado warnings have been issued across much of the Midwest, stretching from Oklahoma to Illinois, following a second deadly twister in as many days in the Oklahoma City area.

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings Monday evening for several counties in southeastern Oklahoma and north and western Arkansas, along with parts of southern and central Missouri and a small slice of western Illinois.

The warnings are in effect into early morning Tuesday, with multiple tornadoes possible.

The warnings were issued after a massive tornado tore through parts of suburban Oklahoma City, flattening entire neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph and landing a direct blow on an elementary school in Moore.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office says dozens were killed, with the death toll expected to rise.

Capitol updates

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:53:04 -0500

CAPITOL UPDATES

Bullying

• At stake: House Bill 1661 adds cyberbullying to Oklahoma's anti-bullying laws.

• What happened: Signed by the governor.

• What's next: Takes effect in late August.

Public schools

• At stake: House Bill 2301 creates a process to deregulate public schools and eliminate many of the state mandates that are not required of charter schools.

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Oklahoma juvenile arthritis patient continues to excel

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:03:14 -0500

BY GINA STANLEY

When Rachel Howard was 14, she woke up in the middle of the night with red, swollen and extremely painful joints.

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High school turtle project is 'shellebration' of science in Oklahoma

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:00:07 -0500

BY STEVE LINDLEY

When Benton Shriver's students at Putnam City High put on waders and stride into a local pond, they're not just getting wet.

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