War-zone scene after Oklahoma tornadoes

THE owner of an Irish bar in Oklahoma City, whose mother hails from County Clare, has told of the devastation caused by the recent tornadoes that struck the area. Sean Cummings  also witnessed the generous spirit that is helping put the community back together.

 

Sean lives near the towns of Moore and Shawnee, which were extensively damaged as tornadoes swept across Oklahoma last week. He and his wife Kathy, who own an Italian restaurant, were among those on the scene to support the rescue effort after a tornado hit  Shawnee. The deadliest tornado to hit the US in two years touched down in the nearby town of Moore on May 20.

Just days after the tornadoes, Sean was involved in a benefit for victims, helping to raise $75,000. The 49-year-old’s mother, Jane McInerney, is originally from Clare, while Sean was born in the US and moved to Oklahoma from Kansas 14 years ago.

Speaking about the scene after the storm, he said, “It was like a war zone, like somebody came and dropped bombs.”

“When I first moved to Oklahoma 14 years ago, I was here just three weeks when a tornado hit the same area. I didn’t know what to do so I went along to this thing called Feed the Children to help load trucks and hundreds of people were there just to volunteer. They knew where to go. They have experienced so much catastrophe here so they know what to do and this time around it was the same deal.

“When the tornado hit Shawnee, the next day, me and my wife brought food for about 125 people, we fed the volunteers that were feeding the thousands of people hit by the tornado. They go into lockdown in the area but we can get through because we are bringing food to the first responders, the firemen and the policemen that are handling the area. The average person they don’t want in there because they have to run dogs through to see if there are any people under the rubble. When we got back to Oklahoma City the second tornado had just come through and just demolished the town of Moore,” he said.

When news of the tornadoes hit, Sean and his wife took shelter in a nearby office park. “We have a plan for tornadoes, there is an office park near our house with underground parking and we literally go and park our cars under there, it’s such a big structure, it wouldn’t be able to knock that over. They have a cafe and it is fully protected so we were just in there watching the tornado on TV,” he said. Luckily, Sean’s home didn’t suffer damage but many friends were not so fortunate.

“When a tornado hits, it’s not the tornado that gets you, it’s the debris. There will be cows, pigs, bricks, cars, anything turning anywhere from 90 to 120kph and that’s what hits your house. Our house was ok, there was just hail the size of a golf ball but we get that all the time. But the guy who handles my internet lost electricty, cars and water . Some of the houses here, there is nothing left.”

Sean believes nothing should be built in the area affected by the tornados. “This happened before and they built houses and a school. Tornados take an exact path and it is a predictable path so in five or 10 more years, this will happen again if they let them rebuild. They should just redline the area,” he said.