May 20, 2018 marks five years since a tornado outbreak that killed more than 20 people in central Oklahoma.
A tornado formed and moved through the Moore area, leaving behind devastation and becoming the deadliest tornado in the country that year.
The setup
It was day three in a stretch of severe weather across the area.
Meteorologists tracked the threat of severe weather and anticipated the greatest threat that afternoon as school got out.
The National Weather Service gave people a timeline of the storm that morning on their Facebook page around 7:52 a.m.
The NWS issued a tornado watch for much of Oklahoma around 1 p.m.; storms started forming bringing severe thunderstorms through central Oklahoma with large hail and strong winds.
The NWS issued the first tornado warning for this storm at 2:40 p.m., 16 minutes later, the beginnings of this tornado were spotted.
At 2:56 p.m., northwest of Newcastle, the tornado moved towards the Canadian River. The tornado quickly strengthened into an EF-4 tornado and caused large amounts of damage.
FOX23 Meteorologist Michael Seger tracked this storm as the deadly tornado ripped through central Oklahoma.
As this tornado continued east, it destroyed much of Briarwood Elementary School, leaving EF-5 level damage; no deaths occurred at the school although during school hours.
Continuing to move east, the tornado started moving into more densely populated areas and neighborhoods eventually towards Plaza Towers Elementary School. Seven children died in the school.
The devastation continued near I-35 where Moore Medical Center was severely damaged and people had to take shelter in the freezer.
Overall, more than 300 homes had EF-4/EF-5 damage along the tornado path.
Since the tornado
In the five years since the EF-5 ripped through Moore, many things have changed.
Plaza Towers Elementary School is rebuilt with memorials to the children killed in the entryway and a tornado shelter built into the building.
Nicholas McCabe was one of those children killed during the tornado at Plaza Towers. His mother, Stacey McCabe, can tell you what it was like the day the tornado changed her life forever.
McCabe uses her story to push for storm shelters in all Oklahoma schools. She believes every school should have a storm shelter or safe room.
FOX23 spoke with the principal of Plaza Towers about the changes made to keep students safe during severe weather.
It isn’t just schools adding shelters into their buildings. Moore and the State of Oklahoma adopted new building codes following the storm.
The Disaster Resilience Network is pushing Oklahomans to look at fortified homes. These fortified homes can mean better roof protection or even connecting the walls to the concrete with specials brackets.
The Moore Medical Center also rebuilt and now includes multiple safe rooms that can be used as conference rooms or shelters for patients and staff.
Fox23 (2018, May 18)
