Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People
A full-color photography book showcasing Oklahoma paired with the histories of companies, institutions, and organizations that have made the state great.
A full-color photography book showcasing Oklahoma paired with the histories of companies, institutions, and organizations that have made the state great.
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This page: <strong>Oklahoma</strong>’s geographic<br />
location is in the eye of Tornado Alley.<br />
Opposite, left column and top: Disaster<br />
relief workers immediately rally after<br />
devastation caused by tornados—as<br />
shown here in Moore, <strong>Oklahoma</strong>.<br />
This relief crew camped at one of the<br />
few remaining structures in that area,<br />
which turned out to be a church.<br />
The relief workers set up RVs complete<br />
with showers, laundry facilites and food<br />
prep. In this case they used the church<br />
kitchen and fed both relief workers and<br />
storm survivors. Therapy dogs are also<br />
brought in.<br />
Opposite, bottom right: St. Anthony’s<br />
Catholic Church in Okeene.<br />
Because of <strong>Oklahoma</strong>’s geographic location<br />
in the eye of tornado alley, the threat of tornadoes<br />
has created dread and consternation since<br />
the first settlers made their home here. Without<br />
warning, tornadoes spread destruction in early<br />
<strong>Oklahoma</strong>. The state’s two deadliest tornadoes<br />
killed more than 100 people each—in Snyder<br />
in 1905 and Woodward in 1947.<br />
As weather forecasters developed ways to<br />
provide an advance warning of tornadic<br />
activity, lives were saved. After the Woodward<br />
tornado in 1947, no extensive loss of life<br />
occurred due to tornadoes in <strong>Oklahoma</strong> for a<br />
half century. However, on May 3, 1999, a rash<br />
of record-making twisters hit the state. More<br />
than seventy tornadoes hit the state within a<br />
twelve hour period, the strongest an EF-5,<br />
with the strongest winds ever recorded, and<br />
killed 48 people and produced more than<br />
$1.1 billion in damage.<br />
The OKLAHOMA STANDARD again was<br />
displayed as neighbors helped neighbors<br />
and churches and other community organizations<br />
rushed to the rescue. Within weeks,<br />
the debris was removed and sounds of<br />
hammers and saws rang through the hundreds<br />
of square blocks that had been ravaged<br />
by tornadoes.<br />
Ironically, the May 3 tragedy was repeated<br />
on May 20, 2013, when 24 people were<br />
killed and nearly 400 injured when another<br />
EF-5 tornado followed a similar track through<br />
Moore and caused more than $2 billion in<br />
damage. National news anchors rushed to<br />
Moore for twenty-four hour coverage of<br />
the horrific example of Mother Nature’s fury<br />
and reported on the courage, good attitude,<br />
and resilience of <strong>Oklahoma</strong>ns. The world<br />
saw what the OKLAHOMA STANDARD<br />
really was.<br />
O K L A H O M A : A S t o r y T h r o u g h H e r P e o p l e<br />
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