Brandon Clement
EF4
A massive supercell put down a violent wedge tornado moving east out of El Reno towards the SW OKC and the suburbs in that area. This comes just a week after the Moore tornado where everyone in the country heard the amazing stories of the people who left there homes and survived while also hearing the stories of the people who stayed and were injured or killed if not below ground. It wasn't hard to see what would happen if another storm came towards the OKC area. Just the day before we were chasing storms near Guthrie and we were discussing how bad traffic would be in OKC if it were to happen yet again.
Well the next day it looked to be happening yet again and luckily it didn't avoiding what would have probably been one of the deadliest tornadoes in history. I've gone over the issues in my head repeatedly and voiced my concerns to the NWS in Norman but it feels like it is falling on deaf ears.
The tornado was moving down I-40 between El Reno and the city and someone made the call to shut down the interstates. Meanwhile you had multiple Mets on Television talking about needing to be below ground to survive just as they did in the 1999 and 2013 Moore tornadoes.
You have NWS official stance of taking shelter in place even though I disagree with it in most cases, the reason behind them sticking to shelter in place is because of the possibility of the massive traffic jam everyone leaving at once could cause and end up being a disaster with families caught in vehicles.
Everything came together for a perfect disaster on the May 31st.
Back in El Reno you had a State Trooper block the Hwy 81 south corridor forcing all the chasers that didn't get hit by the tornado to the East into the Mustang area. Meanwhile, the interstate system was shut down in SW OKC. To the north of I-40 there were reports of larger than softball size hail but almost all areas along and north of 40 were getting at least baseball size hail. You had the areas from Union City to Mustang to SW Oklahoma South of I-40 and West of I-35 in panic. Residents opted to try and flee the area because of two major areas of rotation moving into the city, the visual of the wedge in El Reno heading towards them and mixed reports of the tornado being on the ground. So now all the people in this areas hop in their car and can't go north because of the interstate closure and hail. They can't go East because of the interstate closure. They can't go West because of the possibility of driving into a violent tornado. The only option left is to go South but their is only one place to cross the Canadian River to the south. To complicate matters there were hundreds of storm chasers being forced East into mustang because of Hwy 81 being blocked south. It turned the highly populated residential area into a giant parking lot. For those of us that were stuck in this mess, you could see vehicles loaded up with the entire family including the family pets. These people were incredibly frightened and it was chaotic.
I understand shutting an interstate down for a couple mile stretch when a tornado is moving through on a direct path in an unpopulated area. It is a smart move that can save lives. However, in this situation it was the worst possible thing that could have been done. Had the El Reno tornado stayed on the ground similar to Moore just the previous week there would have been thousands of vehicles full of families stuck in the tornado. The death count would have probably been in the thousands. Had there been a strong tornado the cars that were stopped on the interstate by the closure would have been hit anyway so it wouldn't have done any good from the start.
Here is a quick drawing on paint that illustrates the problems. The purple lines is where the hail got very large. The red lines is about where the interstates where closed. I didn't highlight the Canadian River but you can see it at bottom and the only place to cross.
Well the next day it looked to be happening yet again and luckily it didn't avoiding what would have probably been one of the deadliest tornadoes in history. I've gone over the issues in my head repeatedly and voiced my concerns to the NWS in Norman but it feels like it is falling on deaf ears.
The tornado was moving down I-40 between El Reno and the city and someone made the call to shut down the interstates. Meanwhile you had multiple Mets on Television talking about needing to be below ground to survive just as they did in the 1999 and 2013 Moore tornadoes.
You have NWS official stance of taking shelter in place even though I disagree with it in most cases, the reason behind them sticking to shelter in place is because of the possibility of the massive traffic jam everyone leaving at once could cause and end up being a disaster with families caught in vehicles.
Everything came together for a perfect disaster on the May 31st.
Back in El Reno you had a State Trooper block the Hwy 81 south corridor forcing all the chasers that didn't get hit by the tornado to the East into the Mustang area. Meanwhile, the interstate system was shut down in SW OKC. To the north of I-40 there were reports of larger than softball size hail but almost all areas along and north of 40 were getting at least baseball size hail. You had the areas from Union City to Mustang to SW Oklahoma South of I-40 and West of I-35 in panic. Residents opted to try and flee the area because of two major areas of rotation moving into the city, the visual of the wedge in El Reno heading towards them and mixed reports of the tornado being on the ground. So now all the people in this areas hop in their car and can't go north because of the interstate closure and hail. They can't go East because of the interstate closure. They can't go West because of the possibility of driving into a violent tornado. The only option left is to go South but their is only one place to cross the Canadian River to the south. To complicate matters there were hundreds of storm chasers being forced East into mustang because of Hwy 81 being blocked south. It turned the highly populated residential area into a giant parking lot. For those of us that were stuck in this mess, you could see vehicles loaded up with the entire family including the family pets. These people were incredibly frightened and it was chaotic.
I understand shutting an interstate down for a couple mile stretch when a tornado is moving through on a direct path in an unpopulated area. It is a smart move that can save lives. However, in this situation it was the worst possible thing that could have been done. Had the El Reno tornado stayed on the ground similar to Moore just the previous week there would have been thousands of vehicles full of families stuck in the tornado. The death count would have probably been in the thousands. Had there been a strong tornado the cars that were stopped on the interstate by the closure would have been hit anyway so it wouldn't have done any good from the start.
Here is a quick drawing on paint that illustrates the problems. The purple lines is where the hail got very large. The red lines is about where the interstates where closed. I didn't highlight the Canadian River but you can see it at bottom and the only place to cross.
Attachments
Last edited by a moderator:
