wfn.org | Executive Presbyter Recounts Oklahoma Devastation and Response

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

10-May-1999 
99182 
 
    Executive Presbyter Recounts 
    Oklahoma Devastation and Response 
 
    by Carolyn Stephens 
    Executive Presbyter, Indian Nations Presbytery 
 
OKLAHOMA CITY-On the night of Monday, May 3, 1999, I began watching the 
news and weather on T.V. at about 6:00 p.m. and the television wasn't 
turned off until 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. 
 
    Most of you know that TV is one of my big "hates" in life, so you 
understand that my being glued to the set must have been the result of 
something serious.  That is the night that Oklahoma was bombarded with more 
than 70 tornadoes, some of which were truly deadly.  The worst one was a 
"wedge" one mile wide and it left a path of destruction diagonally through 
the state from near Lawton to Sapulpa which is about 60 miles.  Those 
towns, villages, and suburbs in it's path suffered unbelievable damage.  It 
was classified as an "F5" tornado, which means that the winds were in 
excess of 260 miles per hour. 
 
    You have seen much of the destruction on the news, and I won't 
reiterate that.  However, there are things which you may not have heard 
which I want to share.  One of the early frustrations (and one of the 
things now receiving much criticism) is that there was little news of what 
had already happened, but constant news of what was expected to happen. 
The general consensus is that the weather personnel took control of the 
newsrooms and wouldn't relinquish their place of control.  Yes, we needed 
to know where the tornadoes were going next, but we also needed to know 
what they had left behind.  It wasn't until early the next morning that we 
had any idea of the damage done. 
 
    I spent most of the night on the phone with pastors.  I would wait 
until 20 minutes or so after the tornado had passed over a town/city and 
then would start calling to see if they were O.K.  It was a wonder that I 
was able to contact as many as I did.  They began to survey their 
congregations and the church buildings and stayed in contact with me 
throughout the night. 
 
    Many strange things happened.  For example, I could not reach Mike and 
Janet Ruark who live in Midwest City, one of the hardest hit areas.  At 
1:00 a.m., I received a call from a pastor in Hobart - roughly 100 miles to 
the west, telling me that they were O.K.  This pastor had talked to a 
person in a neighboring town who had gotten Mike on the phone at the church 
about midnight.  Interestingly, the phones were working except in the worst 
hit areas until after it was over.  Then, as friends and relatives, both 
local and long distance began checking on loved ones, the phone lines were 
overloaded and have not been back to normal until very recently. 
 
    I slept a couple of hours on the couch that night, but was awake around 
5:00 a.m., still watching the T.V. to see the latest news on the 
destruction.  We remained under tornado warnings until 10:00 a.m. May 4 and 
my area (the far northern section of Oklahoma City) suffered the worst of 
our storms then.  The areas most severely affected were on the south and 
southeast sides of the city. 
 
    The meteorologists and the storm trackers (who in my opinion must be a 
little crazy) did such a good job that I was never frightened for my part 
of town.  They were able to tell within a few blocks, where the storms were 
going and people had ample time to take cover.  The problems came with 
people who refused to take cover and, even more, because there are so few 
"storm cellar facilities" in Oklahoma. 
 
    For those of you who don't know, we do not have basements here, and 
prior to the arrival of the wedge tornado, people were told, "This is a 
killer tornado and you will need to be beneath ground to live through it." 
This advice was sound although many of the people who went into central 
closets or bathrooms in their homes were saved.  There are many stories of 
people being inside such a closet, coming out after the storm to find that 
everything around them was gone. 
 
    On Tuesday, I was in a state of shock - a common reaction among people 
across the city.  When I got to the office, about all I did was answer the 
telephone, which literally rang all day.  There were three staff members in 
the office and we were not able to keep up with the calls all day.  I 
didn't have time to deal with how I felt about the storm.  All I could do 
was accept the support and prayers of the people calling and tell them that 
we didn't know the extent of the damage, or the numbers of people hurt or 
killed. 
 
    By Wednesday morning (May 5), I knew I must visit the affected areas to 
see the destruction for myself in order to be able to report to those from 
across the country who were calling.  By that afternoon, a person from the 
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Team (PDAT), the Rev. Pat Kennedy of 
Amarillo, Texas, had arrived to help me figure out what needed to happen 
and how we needed as a Presbytery to proceed. 
 
    It was a special gift that Pat was a friend - the pastor who had headed 
up the Indian Nations Disaster Response Team in 1995 following the A.P. 
Murrah Federal Building bombing.  He now served on the national level and 
no one could have been found who could be more helpful and understanding of 
our situation. 
 
    During this week, I have been more proud to be a Presbyterian, than I 
have been for a long time.  Calls from churches streamed in and the Office 
of General Assembly and the PDAT representatives have provided invaluable 
assistance.  If anyone ever wants to know whether or not the One Great Hour 
of Sharing special offering is worthwhile, I would be more than happy to 
tell them what it has done for us. 
 
    On Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning (May 6), the PDAT 
representative and I went to Moore and to Midwest City. 
 
    The police had cordoned off the areas of the worst destruction and 
there were National Guard Units posted at each corner to prevent people 
from entering the areas.  However, because we could show credentials saying 
that we were "official disaster response people," we were able to drive the 
outer limits of the area and I saw far more than I wanted to see that way. 
 
    Homeowners were not even allowed to enter the area until Wednesday 
afternoon, which was very painful for them.  For them to get in at all they 
had to provide proof of their residency, which was nearly impossible for 
those persons whose papers, wallets, identification, etc., had been blown 
away.  Many people came out of the storm only with the clothes they were 
wearing.  One story I know personally to be true is of one woman who hid in 
a bathtub, under a mattress.  Her shoes were pulled off by the wind. 
 
    On Wednesday and Thursday, my strongest feeling was anger.  I was angry 
that Oklahoma and Indian Nations Presbytery had to deal with another 
disaster.  We were beginning to heal from the horror of the Murrah bombing 
just over four years ago.  We had become able to concentrate on being the 
Church and in doing the "normal" work of God. 
 
    I didn't want to do this disaster response thing again.  It didn't seem 
fair.  I resented the fact that the normalcy of our work had been 
disrupted. 
 
    I was also in great denial.  I didn't want to admit the horror of the 
devastation I had seen.  It was too awful.  We saw three story buildings 
reduced to one or two stories with no windows, half walls, and with cars 
around that had been picked up and thrown into the building or just tossed 
hap- hazardly around parking lots. 
 
    It seemed that there were three different "levels" of the storm.  Some 
houses looked as though they had been hammered flat by a giant hammer. 
Others looked as though they had been sawed in half by a giant saw and some 
looked as though they had been scraped completely away - only the 
foundation was left. 
 
    One picture in particular will remain in my memory forever:  A house 
had been "smashed" into shreds and splinters of wood - you wouldn't even 
know it was a house - and in the front yard was a rose bush in full bloom, 
not damaged at all.  The vision of life and death standing so close 
together was almost more than my mind could accept. 
 
    That quickly became a living reminder of my faith as I translated it 
into the Resurrection of Christ, which is the central core of my knowledge 
of God's presence in my life.  Perhaps that was the turning point in my 
attitude.  I came back ready to start the job of serving the people in need 
- those who have lost so much of their life, those whose lives have been 
changed forever, and the family members of those whose lives were lost. 
 
    Until Thursday night (May 7), I had been unable to pray.  I feared that 
if I poured out my grief to God, I might "come apart" completely, and 
wasn't sure I would be able to "put myself back together again."  Finally I 
was able to approach God with the concerns I had carried but had been 
afraid to say aloud.  And, of course, I felt God's peace. 
 
    Our presbytery Disaster Response Committee has come back together and 
they will be making the decisions on the assistance we are able to provide. 
Some funds left from the Murrah disaster are available to help us start our 
work.  A check from General Assembly in the amount of $10,000 is on the way 
along with the promise of more as it is needed.  There have been many phone 
calls saying that Special Offerings would be taken this Sunday to be sent 
to us. 
 
    At the latest count, there are 18 Presbyterian families whose homes 
have been demolished. We have been fortunate in having no one seriously 
injured.  Those families represent eight different congregations.  The 
pastors of those congregations, especially Mike Ruark in Midwest City and 
Shelby Miller in Moore are going to have a great deal of stress in the next 
few months as they help the victims as well as their whole church family 
deal with their loss and pain.  I would ask that you keep them in your 
prayers. 
 
    At a FEMA briefing I attended today, we were told that they have now 
revised the figures to say that 10,000 dwellings have been destroyed across 
the state.  That is a much higher figure than originally thought.  Many of 
our population will be suffering for a long time.  It is as though their 
previous life has ceased to exist and they must rise from the rubble to 
build a new one. 
 
    It came to me this week that the pain from this disaster may be even 
greater than that of the bombing.  Those most directly affected by the 
bombing at least had a home to go to at night and neighbors who were 
unaffected who could provide support.  The folks who have suffered from 
this horrible freak of nature don't have those two positive things to fall 
back on.  I call on you to pray for the people of Oklahoma on a regular 
basis in the months to come. 
 
    I have found a person willing to volunteer as a Disaster Response 
Coordinator for the presbytery and I give great thanks for that.  I think 
it would have been impossible for me to do the job of Executive Presbyter 
and also fill the demands of handling all of the response work.  Even with 
that help, my staff and I will have many extra burdens in the future.  I 
ask for your prayers for 
us. 
 
    God is our strength and our refuge.  Without God's love and gracious 
presence during the past few days, I wouldn't have made it.  I know that 
love and presence will continue. 

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