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Thursday, May 8, 2003. TORNADO DAMAGE 2003, GM PLANT:
New plant construction on the north side of the General Motors Plant
destroyed.Copyright 2003, The Oklahoma Publishing Company.
Permission Granted to Local2209.org
for repost |
OKLAHOMA CITY (May 9) - A tornado swept through
Oklahoma City on Thursday, flattening hundreds of homes and scattering
cars and mobile homes across the landscape. Strong winds also tore off
roofs in eastern Kansas, and may have been the cause of a train
derailment there.
At least 104 people were injured in the Oklahoma City area, five
critically, said Paul O'Leary, spokesman for the city's ambulance
service. There were no reports of fatalities, although O'Leary said a
man brought to a local hospital from an area hit by the storm died of a
heart attack.
The twister struck just as the afternoon rush hour was beginning,
ripping roofs off homes and businesses and damaging a General Motors
plant.
 |
Oklahoma City - May 9, 2003. Damage to the General
Motors plant from the May 8, 2003 tornado is seen in this
aerial photo. Copyright 2003, The Oklahoma Publishing
Company. Permission Granted to Local2209.org
for repost |
Emergency officials in Moore, just south of the city, reported about 300
homes were destroyed and another 300 to 500 were damaged. Gov. Brad
Henry said state officials would seek a federal emergency disaster
declaration.
Truck driver David Waller was on Interstate 40 when he saw the tornado
coming his way. He parked his 18-wheeler and ran for a clump of bushes.
He and two other men clung to a tree as the tornado passed by.
''I'm scared to death,'' said Waller, who was shaking, his clothes
covered with mud. His semi was picked up by the tornado and dropped on
its side.
For many Oklahomans, the tornado was eerily reminiscent of one that
ripped through the Oklahoma City area on May 3, 1999, killing 44 people.
''Some of those very same parts were hit again today,'' Henry said.
''Nature can be cruel, but Oklahomans are a resilient people and we will
face this crisis with strength and resolve.''
 |
Oklahoma City - May 9, 2003. Damage to
the General Motors plant from the May 8, 2003 tornado is
seen in this aerial photo. Copyright 2003, The Oklahoma
Publishing Company. Permission Granted to Local2209.org for
repostUAW Local 1999 Membership Hall. |
Tornado sirens sounded just before 5 p.m. and the twister touched down
in suburban Moore 15 minutes later. Shrouded by rain, it moved over
Interstate 35 and a mall before moving to the northeast and into two
more suburbs, Midwest City and Del City.
''You could see birds and all kinds of stuff flying around in it,'' said
Jennifer Leger, an employee at a Subway sandwich shop. ''We closed. We
had the lights off and were just letting in people who were caught
outside.''
Steve McManus, assistant fire chief in Midwest City, said about 100
homes were damaged or destroyed in Midwest and Oklahoma City.
 |
Thursday, May 8, 2003. TORNADO DAMAGE
2003, GM PLANT New plant construction on the north side of
the General Motors Plant destroyed. Copyright 2003, The
Oklahoma Publishing Company. Permission Granted to
Local2209.org for repost |
GM spokesman Dan Flores said employees at the plant had ample time to
take shelter. None of the plant's 3,000 employees were hurt, but two
truck drivers were injured.
Flores said the extent of damage to the plant was not immediately clear.
Officials at Tinker Air Force Base said the storm damaged a fence line
along the base but that there were no injuries.
East of Oklahoma City, I-40 was littered with boards, trees, twisted
metal and insulation. Authorities closed parts of Interstate 240 after
heavy wind damaged nearby industrial buildings, a mobile home sales
lots, a bank and a fast-food restaurant.
Some 37,000 customers in the area were without power, Oklahoma Gas and
Electric said.
Damage and a few injuries - but no deaths - were reported in several
counties to the northeast in eastern Kansas, where at least seven
tornadoes were spotted.
 |
Oklahoma City - May 9, 2003. Damage to
the General Motors plant from the May 8, 2003 tornado is
seen in this aerial photo. Copyright 2003, The Oklahoma
Publishing Company. Permission Granted to Local2209.org for
repostA state trooper walks past the
tornado-damaged offices of
the United Auto Workers near
the GM plant in Oklahoma City. |
In Lawrence, tornadoes tore roofs off homes and apartment buildings, but
no one was hurt. Bob Newton, a duty officer with Douglas County
Emergency Management, credited that to heightened awareness after deadly
tornadoes hit Kansas just four days earlier.
''Our Douglas County weather spotters watched this storm all the way as
it came into the county,'' Newton said. ''We probably gave people at
least 30 minutes of warning.''
The National Weather Service said straight-line winds were suspected of
causing a train to derail in Chase County, where authorities evacuated
about 15 homes for about four hours because of spilled sulfur dioxide.
Neither of the people on board the train were hurt, but a passer-by
suffered inhalation injuries, Chase County Sheriff Gerald Ingalls said.
His condition was not immediately available.
High winds also damaged some buildings in Nebraska and Illinois. In
Colorado, one person suffered minor injuries when a helicopter leased by
a television station crashed after having engine trouble while flying
east of Denver to videotape a funnel cloud.
Since Sunday, tornado-packed storms have killed at least 42 people - 18
in Missouri, 15 in Tennessee, seven in Kansas and two in Illinois.
Officials have estimated damage in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
President Bush declared disaster areas in 20 Tennessee counties
Thursday, clearing the way for federal emergency assistance. On Tuesday,
Bush did the same for parts of Kansas and Missouri.
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