Healthcare worker searches for shelter in Sulphur
SULPHUR, Okla. (KFOR) – When the tornado hit Saturday in Sulphur healthcare worker Laura Carter and her wheelchair-bound patient had nowhere to go and started searching for shelter.
“We were getting out and we could see it, she looked back and said ‘oh no,'” said Carter.
The public shelter offered by the city wasn’t wheelchair accessible and there was water pouring in when they got there.
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“We couldn’t go there, I couldn’t even get her down the stairs, it was frightening,” said Carter.
The shelter had dozens of kids and adults crammed together with water pouring into the shelter, at least three inches of water pooled at their feet.
There was a shelter offered at a local school but she said that when she got there it was locked.
“It was locked,” said Carter. “We drove past the Snack Shack that’s now demolished. And this is all while the tornado was right down the road.”
With the tornado at their backs she said they found the Artesian Hotel and parked underneath the awning.
“I ask a worker, as he’s about to walk in and shut the doors. I’m like, ‘can we come in?’ He’s like, ‘come on in, you’re the last ones. So I get my old lady out of the chair and then I put her in the chair.”
She said that’s when they saw it coming.
“I look and I’m like, oh my gosh, I just threw in the chair. We like spring into the hotel and we are the last ones in there. If it wasn’t for them, unlocking that door, we would not be here. I just know it, we would not be talking to you.”
Carter has spent the days since the tornado urging her city officials for a fix to their tornado shelter.
“It doesn’t seem like that hard of a ask,” said Carter. “I understand it’s not like a state law or anything but why can’t our city protect those that need protection? At least there could be a ramp there, that’s better than nothing. I saw a very heavyset guy who was on oxygen and he was having a panic attack because he wasn’t going to be able to make it down the stairs.”
The city condemned the shelter located of 2400 West 14th street on Wednesday. KFOR was contacted by several residents who were scared of having nowhere to go.
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One viewer posted, “I have a son who was injured by that EF-3 that ripped through town Saturday and is now suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and now we have no public shelter because the one we had was put and blast on Facebook because of the condition it’s been in for years?!?!”
Another woman captured a video showing the water pouring in and filling the room. She urged something be done or that it is fixed sooner rather than later.
The public notice posted on Facebook by Sulphur officials did not state a reason why it was closed.
⏩ Find more coverage of the deadly tornado outbreak
“That tornado was a mile and a half long. If we would have kept going around the corner we would have driven right into it and I wouldn’t be talking to you here today,” said Carter.
Several places in Oklahoma do not have a public shelter. Carter said that needs to change.
“There are many people who can’t afford to buy a shelter. I’m 25 years old and I just bought my home. I’m lucky enough to have worked hard and afforded that, but many in Sulfur don’t even have that. The shelter was full of people that day so obviously there is a need that should be met. At least stop it from filling up with water, that’s not that hard.”
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