I am heartbroken that our brave and underpaid teachers had nowhere to take these terrified beautiful children today. To survive a F4 tornado you must be underground. A F4/F5 strips the grass right off the ground! It churns everything above ground into rubble.
These noble teachers whom we trust with our children’s safety to had to huddle them in restrooms and hallways where they tried to cling to walls. I grew up in Oklahoma. My father and siblings are there. Why do the schools not have underground storm shelters/safe rooms for our precious little ones?
In Oklahoma storm tracking is a science. They knew the tornado was headed their way. They can pinpoint path and time of arrival very close.
Many people in the neighborhood went to their shelters or evacuated out of harms way. What were these teachers supposed to do? It was a F 4 in central Oklahoma where there are more tornados per square mile than any place on Earth. In Moore Oklahoma where the fastest ground winds on the planet were recorded in 1999.
THEY HAD NOWHERE TO GO.
We can do better than this. And do not say it’s too expensive or would raise your school taxes. A underground shelter at these schools the size of a couple McDonalds dining rooms could hold 200 children easily for 5 minutes until the storm passed. And even one child’s life saved today is priceless.
THEY HAD NOWHERE TO GO.
These courageous teachers with their children huddled in their arms and knowing the storm was bearing down on them had nowhere safe to go. Unacceptable. I will gladly play for any Tornado Alley school that will build storm shelters for our children.
As a father of a 11 year old I am horrified and so saddened by yesterday’s tragic events God Bless Them.
THEY HAD NOWHERE TO GO.
Jimmy LaFave is one of the greatest ever interpreters of Woody Guthrie–and not just of the songs.
