Big twister hits Oklahoma
The trail of destruc­tion and dam­age caused by the tor­na­do in Okla­homa on May the 20th that left a death toll of 24, has been beamed into our lounge-rooms by numer­ous tele­vi­sion programs.
The Amer­i­can Red Cross and the Sal­va­tion Army have been using trained radio ama­teurs dur­ing the res­cue and recov­ery efforts.
Oklahoma’s 7th largest city of Moore faced the full force. The Nation­al Weath­er Ser­vice report­ed the twister cut a 27-kilo­me­tre long swath with pow­er­ful winds putting it in the most pow­er­ful cat­e­go­ry possible.
The Red Cross and the Sal­va­tion Army called on help from radio ama­teurs who were trained and pre­pared for such emer­gen­cies. All of them have since been stood down after giv­ing ster­ling ser­vice to the community.
The tor­na­do dam­aged or destroyed 1200 homes and affect­ed 33,000 peo­ple. A big clean-up and re-build­ing exer­cise is under way. The Unit­ed States Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma vis­it­ed the area to see the dam­age first hand and talk to sur­vivors and officials.
Prop­er­ty dam­age is esti­mat­ed at $2 bil­lion. Some busi­ness­es were destroyed with employ­ment lost.