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May 4th 1999- We
are Niki (I created and maintain the Twisters site.) Jessica, Pauli and Christi from Red
River Academy, a home school in Waurika, Ok. Today, we've been collecting food, clothing
and anything else we can get to help the survivors of this disaster. We know it could have
been us who lost our families and homes today.
May 5th 1999- We went up to Oklahoma City
to donate the things we collected yesterday. We drove up Highway 81 from Waurika. We know
there was a tornado (a lot) smaller in Duncan. We couldn't see any damage there.
We thought the Drive-in movie we go to in Chicasha would be gone,
because that was where the really big tornado began. But, it was still there! We decided
to go to Amber. But, it turned out most of the worst hit places and towns were closed off
by the police.
Then we took some backroads and saw exactly where the tornado
went...and we were right in the middle of it. We found a church that was being used as a
collection site and dropped off the food and clothing. As we were coming back, we saw some
people sitting on their front porch. We stopped to talk to them.
We asked if they were alright and if there was anything they could do.
They didn't have any electricity or water. They said they were alright, and then they told
us what happened to them during the tornado.
If
you want to read their story, it's on the Survivors' Story page.
We took some pictures. But, we don't have them back yet.
It was kind of scary to see all the damage and think about what happened. You
couldn't even tell what some things were anymore.
The lady we talked to had a huge steel barn. But, it looked like a twisted giant
ball when we saw it. Pieces of that barn were wrapped around trees about 500 yards away.
At first, we thought they were flags.
She told us her neighbor's house was destroyed. When we drove over to see it,
it looked like a big bunch of trash and trees all rolled together in the mud. After we got
closer, we realized the family's cars were rolled up in there, too...a big van and a
full-sized pick-up truck just twisted as though they were toys.
One of the bathtubs was across the street way out in a
farmer's field. And the water heater was even further away. All of the power lines and
their poles were gone.
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