2013 Moore tornado facts for kids
The 2013 Moore tornado was a very violent EF5 tornado that went through Moore, Oklahoma on the afternoon of May 20, 2013. It caused very heavy damage, killed 24 people (plus two indirect fatalities) and injured 212 others. It had winds of up to 210 miles per hour (340 km/h). This tornado reminded people of the similar tornado that struck Moore fourteen years before, in 1999.
The tornado started northwest of Newcastle, Oklahoma, at 2:56 PM local time (Central Daylight Time). The tornado lasted for 37 minutes, and it traveled more than 17 miles. It was also 1.3 miles in diameter at its worst. The tornado passed through the area of Moore with the highest amount of people. The tornado was similar in size, severity, and followed a similar path with a tornado that also struck the town in 1999.
As of 2024, the 2013 Moore tornado is the most recent tornado to be rated EF5.
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Impact
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management reported that 25 people were killed (with another death indirectly attributed to the tornado). The Oklahoma Medical Examiner recognizes 25 fatalities. An estimated 1,150 homes were destroyed, resulting in an estimated $2 billion in damages. The number of injured was 377. Entire subdivisions were obliterated, and houses were flattened in a large swath of the city. The majority of a neighborhood just west of the Moore Medical Center was destroyed. Witnesses said the tornado more closely resembled "a giant black wall of destruction" than a typical twister.
Among the hardest hit areas were two public schools: Briarwood Elementary School and Plaza Towers Elementary School. A preliminary study of Briarwood Elementary School conducted in September 2013 by a group of structural engineers found some structural deficiencies that led to its collapse during the tornado. Chris Ramseyer, a structural engineer and an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma determined that the building's walls that were not reinforced with concrete, there had been a lack of connection between the masonry walls and support beams in several portions of the building, and anchor bolts were pulled from the ground by the tornado. Another engineer that was involved in the study stated that the deficiencies that Ramseyer pointed out were not uncommon building practices at the time, and that current building code standards would not ensure that Briarwood would have withstood winds in excess of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h).
At Plaza Towers, the second school to be hit, parents had been allowed to collect their children early in preparation for the oncoming storm. Therefore, by the time the tornado struck only about 75 students and teachers were in the building. Many students and teachers took shelter in bathrooms and closets, but in a newer addition to the building which housed the school's second and third grade classrooms, seven fatalities occurred.
The Moore Medical Center was heavily damaged, but no one present in the building was injured by the tornado. The center's staff had to relocate 30 patients to a hospital in Norman and another hospital. Part of I-35 was shut down due to debris that had been thrown onto the freeway. On May 21, Moore still did not have running water. There were more than 61,500 power outages related to the tornado. More than 100 people were rescued from areas that sustained significant damage from the tornado.
The Oklahoma Department of Insurance estimated that insurance claims for damage would likely be more than $1 billion. Some meteorologists estimated that the energy released by the storm could have been eight to more than 600 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Aftermath
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency on May 20. She held her first post-tornado news conference at noon on May 21. The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed urban search and rescue teams to the tornado-hit areas, and provided incident command personnel to organize and support rescue efforts. The Oklahoma National Guard was also deployed. Governor Mary Fallin requested assistance from then-President Barack Obama who declared a major disaster in the state and ordered federal aid to the affected areas. Governor Fallin quickly dismissed an idea to make a law that would require all schools in Oklahoma to have a shelter that would protect children during severe weather (prior to the tornado, only two of the twelve schools in the Moore Public Schools district had storm shelters, Kelley Elementary and Westmoore High School, which were rebuilt with concrete safe rooms after both were destroyed in the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado).
Cleveland, Lincoln, McClain, Oklahoma, and Pottawatomie Counties received federal funding for hazard mitigation measure statewide. Obama visited the disaster-stricken areas on May 26.
At noon on May 21, the U.S. Senate held a moment of silence for the victims. Delegates from several countries and Pope Francis offered condolences, and the United Nations offered assistance in the recovery efforts. The Canadian Red Cross accepted donations of money and supplies for their American counterparts to assist with disaster relief and recovery.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief, Direct Relief, Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Continental Resources, Devon Energy, ONEOK, Koch Industries, Hobby Lobby, and Carrie Underwood all pledged donations to the relief efforts.
Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis stated that he would attempt to get an ordinance passed requiring storm shelters or safe rooms in new housing projects.
On May 29, 2013, NBC aired Healing in the Heartland: Relief Benefit Concert, a fundraising concert that was held at Chesapeake Energy Arena in downtown Oklahoma City. The benefit was hosted by country singer and Oklahoma native Blake Shelton and featured performances from Miranda Lambert, Vince Gill, Reba McEntire, Rascal Flatts, Usher, Darius Rucker and Luke Bryan. The concert raised more than $6 million for the United Way of Central Oklahoma.
On June 2, 2013, Discovery Channel aired an hour-long documentary about the storm titled Mile-Wide Tornado: Oklahoma Disaster. The documentary provides a comprehensive look at the tornado's impact and drew comparisons of the storm to the 1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado.
The Moore City Council proposed a measure making twelve changes to its residential building codes, include requiring that new home construction in the city include hurricane clips or framing anchors, continuous plywood bracing and wind-resistant garage doors in order for homes to withstand winds up to 135 miles per hour (217 km/h) (equivalent to a high-end EF2 tornado). When the measure was passed in a unanimous vote held on March 17, 2014, Moore became the first city in the United States to adopt a building code addressing the effects of tornadoes on homes, which exceed the national standards set by the National Association of Home Builders.
Images for kids
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Comparison between the preliminary tornado track (red), the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado (green), and the 2003 Moore–Choctaw tornado (blue); graphic produced by the National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma.
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Radar images of the Moore tornado with a debris ball and signature hook echo.
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Extreme vehicle damage and ground scouring at the Celestial Acres horse training area.
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Meteorologist Tim Marshall surveys a neighborhood that was devastated.
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The Moore Medical Center and many vehicles left in ruins after the tornado.
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A large, well-built home that sustained EF5 damage in eastern Moore.
See also
In Spanish: Tornado de Moore de 2013 para niños
