The deadly EF5 tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma May 2013.

The month of May is prime time for tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma, but less than two weeks after an EF5 tornado leveled the town of Moore, Oklahoma, a 2.6 mile wide tornado, the widest tornado on record, hit the same area in less than two weeks. This “super-rare” tornado whipped down the same path, packing winds that reached 295 mph.

… and my oldest son, his fiance, my sister, my brother-in-law, and their 2 dogs were in the middle of it.

The Twister

Sadly, 18 people died in this tornado, including three, experienced storm chasers. I am grateful that my family escaped unharmed. If this EF5 twister had remained one, large rotating vortex, the small communities in the path of this massive storm would have been leveled, similar to the devastation in Moore.

Thankfully, this twister broke into smaller, multiple vortexes, and the stretch where this twister touched down between El Reno and Union City was mostly rural farm and grazing land. Most of the destruction came toward the end of the tornado’s 16.2-mile path along Interstate 40, where several motorists were killed when their vehicles were tossed around like toy cars.

History Repeating

Severe storms plagued Oklahoma in May 2013..

Both El Reno and Moore have been hit by EF5 tornadoes before this May 2013 outbreak. In 1999, Moore was hit by a EF5 with the strongest winds ever measured on Earth: 302 mph. On May 24, 2011, a violent long-track EF5 tornado passed through the El Reno area, causing extensive damage and killing 9 people.

Sooooo, it’s time for some changes, you think?

Restructuring Our Communities

While our global lawmakers spend time “debating” what to do about global warming, natural disasters, and Earth changes, we are missing the warning signs that Earth changes won’t wait for us to untangle our knots.  It’s time to step up our game.

We can no longer rebuild in the same places in the same ways within natural disaster zones; our development designs are antiquated, and we are wasting time and money. Mankind’s urban sprawl has become cumbersome – we aren’t changing with Earth changes.

The Earth is different today, and it will never go back to the way it used to be. Our entire solar system, is changing. The galaxy is changing. Our Universe is changing. Humans are NOT keeping up with the changes because we do not like change; people do not like to lose profits.

We can’t sit this one out, people.

Let’s start making the right changes because whether we like it or not, the planet will go forward without us.

I am grateful my family safely rode this one out!