It was May 3, 1999. We were living in Oklahoma. We were at a restaurant somewhere near Oklahoma City. A worker came to our table and mentioned that there was bad weather heading our way and that we might want to leave to get home safely.
When we went outside the clouds were dark and huge and we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance. We turned on the radio in the car to hear what was going on with the weather and started driving. It started pouring and the clouds were getting more ominous by the minute.
As we approached a gas station to get gas (we were running on empty), the radio announcer declared a tornado emergency (which means get underground as soon as possible without delay) near the area where we were located. (I was freaking out at this point, probably screaming in the back seat and crying hysterically.) The gas station was closed, but Dad went to the window and convinced one of the workers to let him pay for some gas. (It was before the credit card machines were on the pumps.)
It was windy, pouring rain, and at this point the tornado had been flying around for a while somewhere. We were listening to the radio trying to go in the opposite direction of where it was going (although it's hard to do, since tornadoes can be unpredictable.) The tornado ended up lasting for over an hour and a half and covered over 38 miles of land.
We made it to our home safely and thankfully the tornado did not come to our neck of the woods. We never actually saw the tornado but we saw the destruction it made afterwards. Clean up started the next day. Many people took off work for the next week and some even longer to help clean up. The next Sunday we only had sacrament meeting and all of the able bodied adults went to the places that were hit hardest to help with clean up and the younger peoples went to the Bishop's store house to make hygiene kits and food kits for those who lost their homes. The tornado destroyed some whole neighborhoods, like down to their foundations. 46 people lost their lives and hundreds of people were injured.
Dad, Mom, Kristina, Tim, Matt and whoever else might have been with us at the time, what do you remember about that day and the days after? You can either write it in the comments or I can add it on to this post.
