Moore Tornado: 11 Random and Wacky Photos From the Tornado Aftermath

In the aftermath of the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado, I was at ground zero capturing both the heartbreaking destruction and devastation as well as the heartwarming recovery efforts in the community. In my time working with SKY News, and interacting with the local community, I snapped hundreds of frames. Here is a compilation of 11 wacky, funny, and random photos from my time in and around Moore. They are in chronological order, and I found them all on my memory card. Hopefully this can provide people with a good laugh to combat this disaster!

1. Taking Cover in Tulsa

My mother had just seen the tornado warning for the Tulsa area on the news and began to clean out our shelter area. Here you can see, from left to right, myself, my sister, and her friend. We are properly prepared, with proper head protection, our trusty emergency radio, snacks, and tools for digging out of any potential rubble and debris created by the tornado.

2. Covering the Story for PolicyMic &TheNolanK.com

I risked life and limb to write my early articles for PolicyMic and TheNolanK.com. Well, not really. As soon as the major threat for the Tulsa area subsided, I ran to my laptop and then began to write my articles for PolicyMic and TheNolanK.com. I did however remain in proper safety gear the entire time to keep myself in the disaster mentality.

3. Grilling a Twister Steak

After I wrote my articles for PolicyMic and TheNolanK.com, I began to grill my rib eye steak that I had been fantasizing about for the past few hours. The Tulsa area was downgraded from a 'tornado warning' to a 'tornado watch' so I was able to shed my safety gear.

4. Car Engine in an Empty Lot

During my first day at ground zero in Moore, I took this picture of an engine. There were no cars in the immediate area and this was located in an empty lot. The nearest car was down the street by about 30 yards. This would have definitely been a deadly projectile during the tornado.

5. Tensions Flare in Traffic Snare

On the first day of the recovery, the Oklahoma National Guard was called in to regulate and enforce the emergency policies. They did an absolutely amazing job and the soldiers I interacted with could not have been nicer. At this road block, the driver in front of me was mad that he could not go down the road that was closed for repairs. After he was told "no" he exited his truck and began to remove the road block himself. Guardsmen swarmed in and attempted to diffuse the situation. After a heated exchange, the man decided to leave and peeled out in the process. I was able to grab a short clip of the exchange, but the quality of the video is a bit poor.

6. A News Crew Getting Rejected

I was able to score my SKY News team an exclusive interview and look inside the Wayland Bonds Elementary School. We then retreated across the street to setup camp in a church parking lot when the kids began to arrive. Well, the news crew in this photo was not my news crew. So when they proceeded to cross the street to set up their shot on school property, they were quickly rejected. After they resisted the initial orders from the police officer on duty and back-up was called over to assist in their removal, I snapped this Abbey Road-esque photo of them sauntering back to the church parking lot.

7. Bullet Holes in a Gas Line Sign

The location that we were setup at in the church parking lot was at the edge of the property line. Directly behind us was this sign that warned of a dangerous high pressure gas line. The rust indicated that the damage was not anything recent. The wacky part is that the damage looks to be a result of a mixture of ammunition, such as .45, 9mm, and buck shot. Just a side effect of life in the South I suppose.

8. A Blast from the Past

Floppy discs, as our generation knows them in their 3.5" incarnation, are a product of a bygone technological era. So when I saw this 5" floppy in a pool of water just yards away from the tornado's path I knew I had to take a picture. Something like this seems like it would be in the debris of a tornado from the 1980's not the 2010's.

9. Oklahoma Gallery of Modern Art

My Sky News producer decided that we should pursue a storm shelter angle in our coverage. On our way to their shop we came across downed and mangled power lines. We pulled over so Jake could get some footage and I snapped a few stills as well. The tornado's energy transformed the electrical infrastructure into something that belongs in a gallery of modern art.

10. Woof, Woof!

When we were leaving the storm shelter business, this dog was barking at us from next door. I switched on my high contrast black and white filter and captured this great shot. Say what you want about this breed, but he was quite photogenic.

11. The Obligatory Cat Picture

Every good viral sensation has some connection to cats. Grumpy Cat, Keyboard Cat, and numerous others. So here is my attempt. I shot this picture as I was waiting on the Sky News crew to join me for dinner. I heard mewing while siting in my truck and this strikingly ferocious feline was staring at me. Luckily this kitty stayed still long enough for me to snap this photo.

For my fellow Oklahomans reading this article, please stay safe and take cover if the weather demands it. And for those not in the Oklahoma area, here is my Oklahoman's guide to passing time during a Tornado. Follow me on Twitter @TheNolanK and stay tuned for continuing tweets and updates from ground zero!

Moore Tornado: 20 Photos of Heartwarming Hope Arising from the Oklahoma Tragedy

The most exciting two days of my post graduation career began on Wednesday when I was hired on by SKY News to work as their local fixer. Based out of London, they needed an intelligence asset familiar with the area and highly adept and resourceful. After my interview with them early that first morning, they offered to retain my services. And thus my intriguing, emotional, and mind blowing journey into the ground zero area of Moore began. Yesterday, I wrote a PolicyMic piece that chronicled the destruction and devastation in Moore after the massive EF-5 tornado hit on Monday. On Thursday, my adventure continued, taking a much needed divergence from heart breaking to heart warming.

We started our day at the Wayland Bonds Elementary School where they were hosting the students from the destroyed Briarwood Elementary School.

We were the first news crew on site. Law enforcement did an impeccable job of maintaining security in Moore and keeping everything flowing on the roads. Here they were guarding the school.

The police were also there to project an image of safety and to let the traumatized kids know everything would be all right. However, this was just a minor precursor in comparison to what they had waiting for them inside!

We were the only news crew that was allowed into the Wayland Bonds Elementary School. I approached the school principal along with SKY News' correspondent Michelle Clifford. Over the past day, I had been training my British friends about the nuances of Southern culture and how they could help their reporting cause. I wore my hunting jacket, my Oklahoma City Thunder shirt, and my OU hat. Moore residents really opened up for us with me tagging along. Even with the day's ominous weather, kids and families began pouring into the school.

On Monday the storm destroyed their school during the last few days of the term. So this special event was a way for them to collect belongings that had been recovered and reunite with their teachers.

Here a mom escorted her young Cub Scout into the school.

Teachers, students, and their families continued to file into the school through the afternoon. The environment was cheerful and warm, with the kids full of smiles because they were handed brand new stuffed animals as they headed home for the day.

After we grabbed our initial shots inside the school, we retreated and filmed our live shots and interviews from the Church parking lot across the street. This was my SKY News crew today.

As the activity at the school began to lull, we decided to venture out. Our camera man, Jake Britton, and I ventured out for a human interest story. Before we were able to reach our targets, we were met with torrential down pour and flash floods.

Luckily Jake had rented a Jeep, so we were able to prevail onwards. What we found was the most heart warming scene of the day.

The volunteers of Southgate Pentecostal Holiness Church were eager to help, immediately offering us cases of water and a free meal. Pastor Lynn Ice greeted us as soon as we exited our Jeep and reiterated the offer of a free meal.

We of course were fine and told them we just wanted to grab some photos and possibly an interview. Everybody was so kind and we had to fight them off to make sure the food was given to the actual victims. Pastor Ice's mission was blunt: It did not matter who you are or what you believed, just that you had a stomach and wanted some food. As an atheist myself, I respected Pastor Ice's dedication to the victims and his passion to help others.

Shortly after we arrived, an Oklahoma National Guard convoy rolled in and began offering help and interacting with the church volunteers.

One of my favorite photos of the day was the one I snapped next. The picture was a perfect summary of the volunteer relief effort. Pastor Ice talked to the National Guardsman and was able to arrange for his grandson, Chapman McCully, to sit in the Humvee and have his picture taken. The little man was just a cute, energetic presence, smiling the entire time, but when he sat in the driver's seat, Chapman just lit up even more.

Chapman was one of the most avid volunteers, repeatedly trying to load me up with gatorade and a bag of chips.

The coolest thing about Chapman was his customized volunteer shirt. In permanent marker, he had sketched out the initials 'K.D.' on the back and had written the number 35 on his sleeves as an homage to Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

 

Jake and I quickly did a few more interviews and then we headed on our way. Our mission was now to go to Newcastle and see what damage was around the tornado's point of origin.

On the drive out there, we were met with the stark memory that while recovery efforts were well under way, the damage was still rampant.

As we continued along back country roads, we were met with road blocks. We had decided to take this back route to avoid the congestion on the main highway I-35. We went for the local secret of I-240 and while it was about 16 extra miles, it cut our travel time in half. We were making a good pace, but decided to pull over and have a look at these mangled power lines.

These twisted and pulverized metal remains looked more like a piece of modern art than a row of power lines. I threw on my high contrast black and white filter and snapper away.

From our vantage point, you could see miles of major power lines. It became quite clear how powerful and large the tornado was at just an earlier EF-3 stage. At this point in the corridor, the tornado had not yet evolved into the fearsome EF-5 that struck Moore. Regardless, the energy imparted on row after row of power lines was an immense kinetic force.

Jake and I wrapped up this shoot and I went back into Moore to retrieve my truck. I still had one mission left. I mentioned it briefly at the end of the tornado article I wrote on Tuesday. Thanks to local Tulsa businessman Pete Womack and the generous donation from his company, I departed from Tulsa late Tuesday night with a truck bed full of water, powerade, and other much needed supplies. I had been offering water and refreshments to the officers working the road blocks, but they had largely cleared out or either had an abundance of bottled water already. As such, I too still had the better part of a truck bed full of water. So I knew what I had to do.

I returned to the earlier location of Southgate Pentecostal Holiness Church and was again greeted with hugs and the offering of food. I dropped my tailgate and helped them move the rest of my supplies to their donation intake center. And again they tried to get me to take a burger and a couple of hot dogs for the road, but I reiterated that there are people who need it more than I. However, I later learned that while I was distracted talking to the Pastor, somebody snuck over to my truck and threw in a bag of chips for me.

I said my goodbyes again and headed to the dinner with my SKY News companions. With that I completed my mission for the day. While stuck in traffic, something caught my eye. I grabbed my camera, stopped traffic, at least more so than it already was, and took this both heartwarming and heartbreaking picture.

Someone had taken a piece of debris from their house and spray painted a concise but profound message. From the destruction of the tornado, again, hope and recovery is blossoming.

For my fellow Oklahomans reading this article, please stay safe and take cover if the weather demands it. And for those not in the Oklahoma area, here is my Oklahoman's guide to passing time during a Tornado. Follow me on Twitter @TheNolanK and stay tuned for continuing tweets and updates from ground zero!