Thoughts and prayers with Oklahoma tornado victims

Headline Surfer Multimedia / This video uploaded from YouTube, was filmed by Curtis McDonald and Charles Lubensky on Monday, May 20, as an EF5 tornado formed near Newcastle, OK and tracked through the Oklahoma city of Moore.

EDGEWATER -- My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to the Oklahoma victims of the tornado destruction in the community of Moore. My head just can’t process what I have have been seeing on television.

I am surprised that anyone would build a school without a shelter in tornado alley. If a homeowner decides not to have a shelter built, that’s their grown up decision. But to build a school, hospital, nursing home or anything like that without somewhere to be safe from a tornado is just wrong. How many people went to work thinking their kids would be safe if anything did happen since they were in school?

I am surprised that anyone would build a school without a shelter in tornado alley. If a homeowner decides not to have a shelter built, that’s their grown up decision. But to build a school, hospital, nursing home or anything like that without somewhere to be safe from a tornado is just wrong. How many people went to work thinking their kids would be safe if anything did happen since they were in school?

We tend to believe schools are safe from everything and of late we have surely been proven wrong. It should be mandatory to protect the future generations from any danger be it a crazed gunman or Mother Nature.

My mom can’t understand how those poor babies could drown in the basement? She asks how the water got in there and rise so fast. I have no answer.

One would think underground would be safe. I also wonder why evacuate the older children and leave the youngest for last so they ended up in that basement. I understand they had less time than they thought they did, but even more reason to take the babies first and leave older children who may be better able to survive. Once again, a teacher was a hero. She straddled herself on top of six of her students to keep them safe.

When will we get wise to the fact that these unsung heroes need to be paid better and schools need to be better funded? We pay athletes who throw a football or dribble a basketball millions and under pay the people who are molding the children who will grow up to run this country. How did our priorities get so skewed?

Recently there have been so many awful things happening and everyone needs help but many of us out here are living on fixed incomes and have no way to help. You feel so helpless sitting here watching their despair and unable to contribute to helping them. Disasters seem to come one after the other in rapid succession. We were just watching the Boston Marathon bombings and trying to send aid there and now this.

Recently there have been so many awful things happening and everyone needs help but many of us out here are living on fixed incomes and have no way to help. You feel so helpless sitting here watching their despair and unable to contribute to helping them. Disasters seem to come one after the other in rapid succession. We were just watching the Boston Marathon bombings and trying to send aid there and now this.

When will it end?

Unfortunately, all I can manage is praying for everyone involved, including the first responders who had to take those little bodies out of that cellar and will never be the same again. May God be with them all!

Fast Facts:

Moore, OK tornado / Headline SurferEF5 killer tornado: 'Giant black wall of destruction 
The Moore, OK, tornado occurred on the afternoon of Monday, May 20, 2013, with deadly results.
The EF5 tornado, with peak winds estimated at 210 miles per hour, impacted Moore, and adjacent areas, killing 24 people, including 10 children, and injuring 377 others.
The tornado was part of a larger weather system that had produced several other tornadoes over the previous two days.
It touched down west of Newcastle at 2:45 p.m. CDT, staying on the ground for about 50 minutes over a 17-mile path, crossing through a heavily populated section of Moore. 
The tornado was 1.3 miles wide at its peak.
Upwards of 13,000 homes were destroyed or damaged and 33,000 people were affected. Most areas in the path of the storm suffered catastrophic damage. Entire subdivisions were obliterated and houses flattened in a large swath of the city.
The majority of a neighborhood just west of the Moore Medical Center was destroyed.
Witnesses said it more closely resembled "a giant black wall of destruction" than a typical twister.
Among the hardest hit areas were two public schools: Briarwood Elementary School and Plaza Towers Elementary School. At the latter school, 75 children and staff were present when the tornado struck.
The Oklahoma Department of Insurance said the insurance claims for damage would likely be more than $1 billion. A family farm and training center for horses took a direct hit and numerous horses were killed.
Source: Wikipedia