Memories of the Moore-Bridge Creek tornado

May 3—They knew something could happen, just not to what extent.

All the ingredients for tornadic weather were there, but most of the memories people have from 25 years ago start much the same.

A local weatherman warning people they'd need to seek shelter.

"I was 14 playing a softball game at Griffin Park in Norman," Anne Gottschalk told the Transcript. "They called the game and as everyone got into their cars to exit the park it became utter chaos. Gary England was on every radio station saying if you are not underground you will die. Cars started jumping curbs and just driving to get the heck out of there. It is forever imprinted in my mind like a scene from a movie."

TJ Jones was living in Little Axe at the time.

"I remember Gary England saying for days prior it was going to be bad. I remember when it started in the Lawton area, Gary already started saying Moore needed to watch out," Jones said. "Watching it on News 9 coming to town and just the pure worry that Gary had and the worry I had because my grandma and Papa lived in Moore. Then later that night my uncle's house was destroyed by one north of Shawnee."

For others, it was a bad feeling.

"I was only 9, but I remember that it felt really eerie and it was really quiet outside as everyone was taking shelter," Stefanie Nees Thomas said. "We went across the street to my neighbors' house as they had a shelter. All the adults were glued to the television, and we had a weather radio on in the storm shelter. The sky was weird shades of green and purple. After the tornado passed, I remember being horrified at the destruction and that there were tarps on so many buildings from the damage."

A sentiment echoed by Brooke Muldrow.

"I was teaching at Santa Fe Elementary in Moore. I remember when the kids left at the end of the day you could just tell that something was not right," she said. "It was already eerily still, and the sky was a strange greenish yellow color."

It didn't take long for people to realize just how bad things would get.

"I remember it being a mile wide as it passed through my side of town," said Travis Totten. "My grandpa watched it from his back porch as it destroyed the back half of his neighborhood."

Many other people have shared their stories with The Transcript for a 25-year anniversary magazine of the Moore-Bridge Creek tornado. Copies are available at the Transcript office during business hours.