My photos of Moore 2013 damage
I was an OU student at the time living in Norman. I went to campus to deal with some university paperwork and only left when I saw the supercell going north of us. When I got back to my apartment and turned on KFOR the first thing I heard was “it’s may 3rd all over again”. I never got a good look at the tornado on their feed because of camera setting issues on their helicopter, especially because cable tv went out and I had to switch to a web feed. I hadn’t heard of a debris ball before that day. It was the first time I ever preemptively send an “I am still alive” message to my family.
I’ve never seen destruction like what I saw while volunteering doing cleanup. My group got lost near Plaza Towers (due to a confusing street layout, not just the damage) and ended up wandering around some of the worst destruction for an hour. I didn’t take many photos, but things I saw I can’t ever get out of my head. The empty field next to the elementary school that I only realized years later had been a neighborhood full of houses. A home with its second floor completely ripped off, spray painted
With “For Sale As Is New Floor Plan”. The frame to a doorway, the only remnant of what had been someone’s house. A VHS copy of Twister.