Oklahoma Tornado Essay
The state of Oklahoma is no stranger to the threat of tornados, being located inside the area known as the tornado alley of the United States. They call Moore, Oklahoma, “Tornado Ally in Tornado Alley”. It had been a number of days of severe weather in the area, which is not uncommon in Oklahoma during the month of May. People in Moore, as well as central Oklahoma, had been cautioned that there would probably be a very bad storm but no one expected how early the storm would form (Worrall, 2015).
The residents of Moore had about 36 minutes to prepare for a mile-wide tornado that crushed the Oklahoma City suburb, killing two dozen people. The National Weather Service issued its first warning for residents to seek shelter at 2:40 p.m. on May 20, …show more content…
However, the storm that hit in 1999, the storm that hit Moore and others such as in Joplin, were so severe that scientists began to rethink if the Fujita scale was precise enough. In turn, they created the enhanced Fujita scale to take into consideration not only the size and wind speed, but also the damage on the ground. Steve Eddy, the city manager of Moore who has been through these storms and has helped rebuild the town time and time again, succeeded in getting stricter building codes so that the houses they are rebuilding are stronger and are better able to endure strong storms. Since the 2013 storm, there has been a greater push to have more storm shelters, however one of the problems is that storm shelters are not cheap. People that live in Moore make a decent living, but most of them are not rich, so many people continue to go without a storm shelter. When the idea of asking for government assistance in paying for storm shelters, many people questioned, if they live in a part of the state where tornadoes rarely hit, why should their tax dollars go to protect people in central Oklahoma? People in Moore rebuilt the two public schools that were hit and also added storm shelters. They are also trying to find the money to build storm shelters or add safe rooms to all of the schools, which would not only protect kids if a storm hits, but also be a place where people in the
The residents of Moore had about 36 minutes to prepare for a mile-wide tornado that crushed the Oklahoma City suburb, killing two dozen people. The National Weather Service issued its first warning for residents to seek shelter at 2:40 p.m. on May 20, …show more content…
However, the storm that hit in 1999, the storm that hit Moore and others such as in Joplin, were so severe that scientists began to rethink if the Fujita scale was precise enough. In turn, they created the enhanced Fujita scale to take into consideration not only the size and wind speed, but also the damage on the ground. Steve Eddy, the city manager of Moore who has been through these storms and has helped rebuild the town time and time again, succeeded in getting stricter building codes so that the houses they are rebuilding are stronger and are better able to endure strong storms. Since the 2013 storm, there has been a greater push to have more storm shelters, however one of the problems is that storm shelters are not cheap. People that live in Moore make a decent living, but most of them are not rich, so many people continue to go without a storm shelter. When the idea of asking for government assistance in paying for storm shelters, many people questioned, if they live in a part of the state where tornadoes rarely hit, why should their tax dollars go to protect people in central Oklahoma? People in Moore rebuilt the two public schools that were hit and also added storm shelters. They are also trying to find the money to build storm shelters or add safe rooms to all of the schools, which would not only protect kids if a storm hits, but also be a place where people in the