OKLAHOMA CITY — The streets of Oklahoma City are quiet this morning. It’s another day after another tornado and Tornado Alley is recovering from a wild night.
I was in Atlanta when the tornado hit the Georgia Dome but that was completely different. That was sudden and unexpected. This was long and drawn out.
I sat in my hotel room getting scared as heck as the weather guys tried to explain to me all of the reasons why this was going to be a nasty storm that was coming my way. I learned some new words like “tornadic” and a lot about how tornadoes are formed. After a couple of hours, I headed downstairs to be closer to the ground.
The scene was chaotic enough but just as I got there, the siren wailed in the Renaissance Hotel. Oklahoma’s players were there and several of them were very upset. They were ushered across the street to the convention center’s parking garage where two other teams were sent. We were sent to a room on the bottom floor of the hotel.
It was scary but I felt pretty safe there. The hotel staff went around the room passing out cookies and brownies and coloring books for the kids. Across the street at the Sheraton, there were several softball teams huddled together in the parking garage.
Florida’s team had gone to Norman, Okla., for a team dinner and ended up being sheltered at the Oklahoma football stadium with members of the Oklahoma football team.
The last reports are that five people were killed and dozens injured. Cars were blown off Interstate-40. Those poor people in Moore had to deal with another tornado digging up their town.
I think this whole ordeal was tougher on my family than me. I mean, there wasn’t a whole lot I could do but my wife and brother back in Florida were constantly texting me to see what was going on and making sure I had the ability to text back as they watched on television as the storm bear down on our location.
They will resume the softball tournament soon. It seems almost trivial.
