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| Oklahomans look past the storm: 'Build and start over, that's all you can do' | Oklahomans look past the storm: 'Build and start over, that's all you can do' |
| (7 days later) | |
| Arrive in Moore and the first instinct is not to scan the sky but to look at your feet. The mud is everywhere, smeared on sidewalks, streets and buildings. Studded by debris and made sticky by the rain, it is splattered all over the Walmart, 40ft high and 400ft long, as if the store is trying to camouflage itself. Inside, store manager John Sanders was preparing to re-open anyway, 20 hours after customers survived the storm by cowering in the freezer section. | Arrive in Moore and the first instinct is not to scan the sky but to look at your feet. The mud is everywhere, smeared on sidewalks, streets and buildings. Studded by debris and made sticky by the rain, it is splattered all over the Walmart, 40ft high and 400ft long, as if the store is trying to camouflage itself. Inside, store manager John Sanders was preparing to re-open anyway, 20 hours after customers survived the storm by cowering in the freezer section. |
| Sanders showed cellphone photos of a twister leering above the Dollar General shop across the street, gathering its power, preparing to strike. | Sanders showed cellphone photos of a twister leering above the Dollar General shop across the street, gathering its power, preparing to strike. |
| The deeper you walk back from the main drag into the residential areas, the greater the carnage. Single-story homes near South Telephone Road are mud-caked but mostly escaped severe damage. A few yards back and Heather Lane is spoilt, utterly. | The deeper you walk back from the main drag into the residential areas, the greater the carnage. Single-story homes near South Telephone Road are mud-caked but mostly escaped severe damage. A few yards back and Heather Lane is spoilt, utterly. |
| "I've never seen anything like this before. It looks like a war zone to me," said Paul Yzaguirre on Tuesday, wondering how he could move his disabled mother-in-law from her nearby house to safer and more sanitary conditions. | "I've never seen anything like this before. It looks like a war zone to me," said Paul Yzaguirre on Tuesday, wondering how he could move his disabled mother-in-law from her nearby house to safer and more sanitary conditions. |
| Terry Mullins and his son, Brian, were recovering what they could from the house where Brian's girlfriend, Sara Robinson, lived with her sister and a roommate. Sara was sheltering in a local library when the twister hit. | Terry Mullins and his son, Brian, were recovering what they could from the house where Brian's girlfriend, Sara Robinson, lived with her sister and a roommate. Sara was sheltering in a local library when the twister hit. |
| The house was bought and completely remodeled only a year ago, said Sara's father, Mark. Now it is a flayed skeleton. Upstairs, wooden beams jut out like the ribcage of an emaciated corpse, indicating the outline of a structure that used to be the roof. | The house was bought and completely remodeled only a year ago, said Sara's father, Mark. Now it is a flayed skeleton. Upstairs, wooden beams jut out like the ribcage of an emaciated corpse, indicating the outline of a structure that used to be the roof. |
| Strands of foamy pink insulation are everywhere, as if some careless child has skipped through the property throwing cotton candy. The house smells as ruined as it looks. Outside one of the bedrooms an undamaged painting lay on the floor, with a picture of two birds and a quotation from Psalm 92:4: "I sing for joy at the works of Your hands." | Strands of foamy pink insulation are everywhere, as if some careless child has skipped through the property throwing cotton candy. The house smells as ruined as it looks. Outside one of the bedrooms an undamaged painting lay on the floor, with a picture of two birds and a quotation from Psalm 92:4: "I sing for joy at the works of Your hands." |
| Birds were not singing, exactly, as they hopped in and out of the ruins of Heather Lane; the sound was more of an anxious muttering to the accompaniment of the spattering rain and bass-drum rolls of thunder. Every so often a fork of lightning stabbed downwards in the distance, past the cars crawling by on Interstate 35. High in the gray sky, little dark wisps dangled down from the clouds like fingers poised over a keyboard, taunting Moore with the threat of an encore performance. | Birds were not singing, exactly, as they hopped in and out of the ruins of Heather Lane; the sound was more of an anxious muttering to the accompaniment of the spattering rain and bass-drum rolls of thunder. Every so often a fork of lightning stabbed downwards in the distance, past the cars crawling by on Interstate 35. High in the gray sky, little dark wisps dangled down from the clouds like fingers poised over a keyboard, taunting Moore with the threat of an encore performance. |
| A short walk away is what's left of Plaza Towers elementary school, epicenter of this disaster, where many children perished. "You take your kids to school in the morning, you think you're going to pick them up in the afternoon. That's what eats my lunch," said Terry Mullins. | A short walk away is what's left of Plaza Towers elementary school, epicenter of this disaster, where many children perished. "You take your kids to school in the morning, you think you're going to pick them up in the afternoon. That's what eats my lunch," said Terry Mullins. |
| His house, two miles west, is fine. "It almost got us in '99, '97 and '03. If you live in Oklahoma it's just natural … something you've got to put up with." He made stoicism sound so routine, it was extraordinary. "You've just got to be strong. Build and start all over, that's all you can do," he said. | His house, two miles west, is fine. "It almost got us in '99, '97 and '03. If you live in Oklahoma it's just natural … something you've got to put up with." He made stoicism sound so routine, it was extraordinary. "You've just got to be strong. Build and start all over, that's all you can do," he said. |
| Mullins is, though, thinking about moving – but only to Norman, a couple of miles south. "Seems like they get hit less," he said. | Mullins is, though, thinking about moving – but only to Norman, a couple of miles south. "Seems like they get hit less," he said. |
| Back on Telephone Road, busy with media, police and residents who negotiated their way past the roadblocks, there once was a bowling alley. Amid its tangled guts are the remnants of a bowling lane. A purple ball at the top of a return machine waits to be picked up. One pin is somehow still standing, though in all other respects the tornado scored a perfect strike. | Back on Telephone Road, busy with media, police and residents who negotiated their way past the roadblocks, there once was a bowling alley. Amid its tangled guts are the remnants of a bowling lane. A purple ball at the top of a return machine waits to be picked up. One pin is somehow still standing, though in all other respects the tornado scored a perfect strike. |
| Wary of potential looters, two private security guards brought in from Dallas kept an eye on the remains of a bank. Cars are concertinaed at the entry, like a ram-raid gone wrong. Opposite, electrical and communications cables are strewn across the ground near the shell of a medical center. It looks like it was hit by a bomb. The parking lot is a scrapyard, crushed cars piled upon each other. | Wary of potential looters, two private security guards brought in from Dallas kept an eye on the remains of a bank. Cars are concertinaed at the entry, like a ram-raid gone wrong. Opposite, electrical and communications cables are strewn across the ground near the shell of a medical center. It looks like it was hit by a bomb. The parking lot is a scrapyard, crushed cars piled upon each other. |
| Across the street, an area the size of two football fields is essentially flattened, pounded to pieces. Huge metal bars are twisted together. In a different context, it could be a modern art sculpture. Showing the tornado's capricious path as it spun and sliced through Moore, a strip mall 50 yards away seems structurally sound, with only exterior damage visible. "It's insane, it doesn't seem real," said Julian Deras, gesturing at the former 7-Eleven. Garish soda bottles are scattered amid the wreckage. | Across the street, an area the size of two football fields is essentially flattened, pounded to pieces. Huge metal bars are twisted together. In a different context, it could be a modern art sculpture. Showing the tornado's capricious path as it spun and sliced through Moore, a strip mall 50 yards away seems structurally sound, with only exterior damage visible. "It's insane, it doesn't seem real," said Julian Deras, gesturing at the former 7-Eleven. Garish soda bottles are scattered amid the wreckage. |
| Joshua Thomas lives in an unaffected part of Moore but decided to come and view the destruction, as he usually does when tornadoes hit his neighborhood and he wants to feel lucky. "You don't really see it all on TV. I like to come. It makes me appreciative of life. A lot of people complain every day and we've got to start being thankful," he said. | Joshua Thomas lives in an unaffected part of Moore but decided to come and view the destruction, as he usually does when tornadoes hit his neighborhood and he wants to feel lucky. "You don't really see it all on TV. I like to come. It makes me appreciative of life. A lot of people complain every day and we've got to start being thankful," he said. |
| "This is crazy. They're going to rebuild again and it's going to happen again. It's just devastating, it's too much. But it's like it's part of life." | "This is crazy. They're going to rebuild again and it's going to happen again. It's just devastating, it's too much. But it's like it's part of life." |
| A minute's walk from the wreckage of the grocery store, television news trucks shine their spotlights and point their cameras at houses on southwest Sixth Street that are now mere piles of wood. | A minute's walk from the wreckage of the grocery store, television news trucks shine their spotlights and point their cameras at houses on southwest Sixth Street that are now mere piles of wood. |
| A man on a crane changed letters on the sign outside the Warren movie theater – or the "W REN" as the art deco-style board now proclaims. Man of Steel is coming soon, apparently. The worker removed the remaining listing and put up three words: "GOD BLESS MOORE". The name of the film he took down? Oblivion. | A man on a crane changed letters on the sign outside the Warren movie theater – or the "W REN" as the art deco-style board now proclaims. Man of Steel is coming soon, apparently. The worker removed the remaining listing and put up three words: "GOD BLESS MOORE". The name of the film he took down? Oblivion. |
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