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The Mercy of the Sky: The Story of a Tornado
“A gripping, heartbreaking and heartwarming account of the monster tornado that ravaged Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. It will leave you emotionally drained but glad you journeyed into the heart of this extraordinary storm with Bailey as your guide.” --Daniel James Brown, #1 NY Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat
Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award// Winner of the American Meteorological Society’s Louis J. Battan Award
An acclaimed reporter returns to her hometown after the worst twister on record and emerges with a suspenseful story of human courage in the face of natural disaster.
On May 20, 2013, the worst tornado on record landed a direct hit on the town of Moore, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, levelling neighborhoods, sending farm animals flying, and destroying a school while the children cowered inside. Holly Bailey went back both as a journalist and a hometown girl, speaking to the teachers who put their lives at risk as they struggled to comfort their students; to the mayor and first responders who waded through the debris while the storm still raged; to the scientists and meteorologists who have dedicated their lives to understanding tornadoes but still can’t determine when one will land with any degree of certainty and are haunted by every death they might have prevented; to the storm chasers who pursue level 5 twisters with a combination of gadgetry, courage and adrenaline; and to the shell shocked residents of Moore, who rose to the occasion that day with countless acts of selfless courage. An intense and inspiring account of what happened on that fateful day, The Mercy of the Sky Bailey does for the Oklahoma flatlands what Sebastian Junger did for Gloucester, Massachusetts, in The Perfect Storm , telling the dramatic story of a town that must survive the elements—or die.
“The book is excellent – well researched, well told, with a strong narrative that reads like a disaster novel… It’s difficult to imagine that anyone other than an Okie could tell the story so confidently and so well.” – The Oklahoman
“This gripping book tells the story of one resilient Oklahoma town and the immense killer tornado that ripped through it. Holly Bailey brings together riveting science, human drama, courage, tragedy, and redemption to create a quintessential American story. Powerful and moving.” – Douglas Presenton, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Monster of Florence
“Bailey is a brilliant storyteller. She brings you to the center of the storm – and it’s terrifying. She makes you feel a community’s loss – and it’s devastating. And she brings you inside people’s lives as they heal – and it’s inspiring.” – David Greene, host of NPR’s Morning Edition
Winner of the Oklahoma Book Award// Winner of the American Meteorological Society’s Louis J. Battan Award
An acclaimed reporter returns to her hometown after the worst twister on record and emerges with a suspenseful story of human courage in the face of natural disaster.
On May 20, 2013, the worst tornado on record landed a direct hit on the town of Moore, on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, levelling neighborhoods, sending farm animals flying, and destroying a school while the children cowered inside. Holly Bailey went back both as a journalist and a hometown girl, speaking to the teachers who put their lives at risk as they struggled to comfort their students; to the mayor and first responders who waded through the debris while the storm still raged; to the scientists and meteorologists who have dedicated their lives to understanding tornadoes but still can’t determine when one will land with any degree of certainty and are haunted by every death they might have prevented; to the storm chasers who pursue level 5 twisters with a combination of gadgetry, courage and adrenaline; and to the shell shocked residents of Moore, who rose to the occasion that day with countless acts of selfless courage. An intense and inspiring account of what happened on that fateful day, The Mercy of the Sky Bailey does for the Oklahoma flatlands what Sebastian Junger did for Gloucester, Massachusetts, in The Perfect Storm , telling the dramatic story of a town that must survive the elements—or die.
“The book is excellent – well researched, well told, with a strong narrative that reads like a disaster novel… It’s difficult to imagine that anyone other than an Okie could tell the story so confidently and so well.” – The Oklahoman
“This gripping book tells the story of one resilient Oklahoma town and the immense killer tornado that ripped through it. Holly Bailey brings together riveting science, human drama, courage, tragedy, and redemption to create a quintessential American story. Powerful and moving.” – Douglas Presenton, #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of The Monster of Florence
“Bailey is a brilliant storyteller. She brings you to the center of the storm – and it’s terrifying. She makes you feel a community’s loss – and it’s devastating. And she brings you inside people’s lives as they heal – and it’s inspiring.” – David Greene, host of NPR’s Morning Edition
306 pages, Hardcover
First published May 12, 2015
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June 28, 2024
"[Storm chaser Tim] Samaras's car was so mangled...that a state trooper on patrol almost didn't recognize it as a vehicle when he saw it from the road. Inside he found Samaras dead, still strapped in the passenger seat. His shirt, shoes, and a single sock had been inhaled by the storm, but somehow his wallet containing his identification was in his pocket. Peering into the car, the officer saw the seatbelt in the driver's seat was still buckled, but the seat itself was empty. Carl Young, a forty-five-year-old meteorologist and Samaras's longtime chase partner, had been sucked away..."
- Holley Bailey, The Mercy of the Sky
On May 20, 2013, a tornado measuring EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tore through the town of Moore, Oklahoma, killing twenty-four and injuring over two-hundred. It spent just under forty minutes on the ground, and traveled nearly 20 miles. When it was over, parts of Moore resembled Hiroshima after the Bomb.
I plucked this book off my shelf while the tornado sirens were blaring in my own corner of the world. I tend to accumulate books, which then wait for the appropriate reading time - and this seemed the appropriate time.
Disaster books are tough to pull off. When done right, such as a certain Sebastian Junger book against which all disaster volumes are judged, the results can be great literature. When done wrong, the results can run the gamut from maudlin to exploitative to simply unnecessary.
Holly Bailey's The Mercy of the Storm has an advantage in that Bailey is an Oklahoman who left for the bright lights of the big city, and returned in the wake of 2013's deadly twister. She puts herself into the story from the beginning. At times, the integration of her own biography is just short of intrusive, and there are moments of almost painful self-consciousness, as she lets us know that despite her okie roots, she has achieved the only kind of success that matters: New York City success. (The portmanteau I'm looking for is humblebrag).
Nevertheless, in telling the story this way, she firmly roots her narrative in a very specific place: Oklahoma in tornado season. It's a good decision, for with all due respect to Oklahomans, Oklahoma is a place that I know (and care) little about. (Just to be clear: I'm not a snob. I lived in Nebraska for nearly twenty years). The Oklahoma that Bailey conjures is a weather-obsessed land of endlessly sprawling, basement-free developments, where the roads are clogged with storm chasers and television stations regularly (and without objection) break into scheduled programming for wall-to-wall coverage of the latest wall cloud.
The Mercy of the Sky takes place entirely on May 20, in chapters that are broken up into time-increments, starting at 4:00 a.m. on the fatal day. She follows a select group of individuals, including famed meteorologist Gary England, Plaza Towers Elementary School principal Amy Simpson, and helicopter pilot Jon Welsh. Within these chapters, there are biographical sketches of the participants, which is a rather common technique found in the disaster genre (getting to know the people who the reader will follow on their worst - possibly last - day). Skillfully, though, Bailey uses these bios - especially of the various meteorologists - to give us a primer on the history of tornado science.
The retelling of the tornado strike is especially well done. There are only so many adjectives that fit such a situation (Bailey relies heavily on "grinding"), but she has a knack for vivid descriptions.
At a certain level, the material speaks for itself. I mean, this is a storm that literally sucked a baby from her mother's arms, an event that does not require - and perhaps should not receive - any literary adornment. But Bailey deserves credit for creating some order and sense of sequencing (even if it never existed) out of an utterly chaotic situation. There are moments when I thought she might have overwritten a scene, and there are too many instances of people having extremely lucid and cinematic rhetorical questions in their heads to be perfectly believable. Overall, though, Bailey maintains a good balance. After all, The Mercy of the Sky is about a killer tornado that smashed into a school in the late afternoon. It should not be dispassionate.
Bailey can be repetitious at times, but at 302 pages of text, this is a lean book. The characterizations and the science are baked into the narrative and never felt like "filler." She keeps a sharp focus, with just over twenty pages given over to the aftermath. This kind of tight storytelling is good for pacing (I finished this in just a couple effortless days), but also tends to leave a lot of unanswered questions, especially with regard to the pre-storm regulatory structure vis-a-vis storm shelters. The two schools that were demolished, for instance, had no shelters or safe rooms. (Bailey does explain that local building codes were changed).
In the movie Twister (which based on Bailey's account of storm chasers, seems rather accurate), all the main characters gather for a meal. Sitting around the table, they discuss the Fujita Scale for the benefit of a newbie named Melissa. "Four is good," the Bill Paxton character says. "Four will relocate your house very efficiently."
"Is there an F5?" Melissa asks. "What would that be like."
At which point, the character nicknamed Preacher (natch) steps in: "The finger of God."
Unsurprisingly, given its Oklahoma setting, the role of God comes up over and over again. Bailey does not make any comments or remarks, letting the participants have their own say. Nonetheless, you see the evident contradictions of faith on full display in the face of death and terror. The survivors speak of how God saved them (a miracle), while those who lost friends and family (including small children) attribute those deaths to God's will (a plan). Standing outside the storm, it is difficult to reconcile a God who saves some and not others; a God that allows this house to stand, but this one to fly.
The Bible is no help with this conundrum. The Book of Matthew (5:45) says that God makes "his sun to rise on the evil and on the good," and that he sends the "rain on the just and unjust alike."
That's not the situation in a tornado. That's not what happened in Moore. When you look at the map of destruction, you see a random path carved through the heart of a city. You hear reports about how one side of a street was spared, while the other was flattened; how a child was dashed to earth and killed, while a cow was transported to a neighboring county and survived. The ill winds did not blow on the just and unjust alike; they blew at random and without pattern; it killed and spared at a whim.
Moore was not hit by a perfect storm. It was hit by an unfair one.
- Holley Bailey, The Mercy of the Sky
On May 20, 2013, a tornado measuring EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tore through the town of Moore, Oklahoma, killing twenty-four and injuring over two-hundred. It spent just under forty minutes on the ground, and traveled nearly 20 miles. When it was over, parts of Moore resembled Hiroshima after the Bomb.
I plucked this book off my shelf while the tornado sirens were blaring in my own corner of the world. I tend to accumulate books, which then wait for the appropriate reading time - and this seemed the appropriate time.
Disaster books are tough to pull off. When done right, such as a certain Sebastian Junger book against which all disaster volumes are judged, the results can be great literature. When done wrong, the results can run the gamut from maudlin to exploitative to simply unnecessary.
Holly Bailey's The Mercy of the Storm has an advantage in that Bailey is an Oklahoman who left for the bright lights of the big city, and returned in the wake of 2013's deadly twister. She puts herself into the story from the beginning. At times, the integration of her own biography is just short of intrusive, and there are moments of almost painful self-consciousness, as she lets us know that despite her okie roots, she has achieved the only kind of success that matters: New York City success. (The portmanteau I'm looking for is humblebrag).
Nevertheless, in telling the story this way, she firmly roots her narrative in a very specific place: Oklahoma in tornado season. It's a good decision, for with all due respect to Oklahomans, Oklahoma is a place that I know (and care) little about. (Just to be clear: I'm not a snob. I lived in Nebraska for nearly twenty years). The Oklahoma that Bailey conjures is a weather-obsessed land of endlessly sprawling, basement-free developments, where the roads are clogged with storm chasers and television stations regularly (and without objection) break into scheduled programming for wall-to-wall coverage of the latest wall cloud.
The Mercy of the Sky takes place entirely on May 20, in chapters that are broken up into time-increments, starting at 4:00 a.m. on the fatal day. She follows a select group of individuals, including famed meteorologist Gary England, Plaza Towers Elementary School principal Amy Simpson, and helicopter pilot Jon Welsh. Within these chapters, there are biographical sketches of the participants, which is a rather common technique found in the disaster genre (getting to know the people who the reader will follow on their worst - possibly last - day). Skillfully, though, Bailey uses these bios - especially of the various meteorologists - to give us a primer on the history of tornado science.
The retelling of the tornado strike is especially well done. There are only so many adjectives that fit such a situation (Bailey relies heavily on "grinding"), but she has a knack for vivid descriptions.
As prepared as he was for a disaster, [Mayor Glen] Lewis felt the air sucked out of his chest as they came around the bend. Ahead he saw what looked to be the remains of an elementary school, crushed and torn apart. Its playground equipment was mangled beyond recognition. People around the neighborhood had climbed out of the rubble of their own homes and were rushing toward the demolished building holding crowbars and other equipment. As they drew alongside the remains of the school, Lewis jumped out of the car and began running. There were still papers flying in the air...He saw report cards and construction paper with rudimentary drawings. At his feet a sheet of wide-lined handwriting paper fell, the kind used in kindergarten when kids are first learning to write...Near the front of the building he could just make out the words on the red and black sign, which had been twisted and mangled by the tornado. "Plaza Towers Elementary," it read...
At a certain level, the material speaks for itself. I mean, this is a storm that literally sucked a baby from her mother's arms, an event that does not require - and perhaps should not receive - any literary adornment. But Bailey deserves credit for creating some order and sense of sequencing (even if it never existed) out of an utterly chaotic situation. There are moments when I thought she might have overwritten a scene, and there are too many instances of people having extremely lucid and cinematic rhetorical questions in their heads to be perfectly believable. Overall, though, Bailey maintains a good balance. After all, The Mercy of the Sky is about a killer tornado that smashed into a school in the late afternoon. It should not be dispassionate.
Bailey can be repetitious at times, but at 302 pages of text, this is a lean book. The characterizations and the science are baked into the narrative and never felt like "filler." She keeps a sharp focus, with just over twenty pages given over to the aftermath. This kind of tight storytelling is good for pacing (I finished this in just a couple effortless days), but also tends to leave a lot of unanswered questions, especially with regard to the pre-storm regulatory structure vis-a-vis storm shelters. The two schools that were demolished, for instance, had no shelters or safe rooms. (Bailey does explain that local building codes were changed).
In the movie Twister (which based on Bailey's account of storm chasers, seems rather accurate), all the main characters gather for a meal. Sitting around the table, they discuss the Fujita Scale for the benefit of a newbie named Melissa. "Four is good," the Bill Paxton character says. "Four will relocate your house very efficiently."
"Is there an F5?" Melissa asks. "What would that be like."
At which point, the character nicknamed Preacher (natch) steps in: "The finger of God."
Unsurprisingly, given its Oklahoma setting, the role of God comes up over and over again. Bailey does not make any comments or remarks, letting the participants have their own say. Nonetheless, you see the evident contradictions of faith on full display in the face of death and terror. The survivors speak of how God saved them (a miracle), while those who lost friends and family (including small children) attribute those deaths to God's will (a plan). Standing outside the storm, it is difficult to reconcile a God who saves some and not others; a God that allows this house to stand, but this one to fly.
The Bible is no help with this conundrum. The Book of Matthew (5:45) says that God makes "his sun to rise on the evil and on the good," and that he sends the "rain on the just and unjust alike."
That's not the situation in a tornado. That's not what happened in Moore. When you look at the map of destruction, you see a random path carved through the heart of a city. You hear reports about how one side of a street was spared, while the other was flattened; how a child was dashed to earth and killed, while a cow was transported to a neighboring county and survived. The ill winds did not blow on the just and unjust alike; they blew at random and without pattern; it killed and spared at a whim.
Moore was not hit by a perfect storm. It was hit by an unfair one.
March 25, 2016
"A Perfect Storm" this ain't. Native Oklahoman and journalist Holly Bailey has been fascinated with tornadoes most of her life, and in particular, she was intrigued by the city of Moore's propensity to be repeatedly demolished by them since the deadly May 3, 1999 twister that the state's residents now simply refer to as May 3, like their own version of 9/11, no explanation needed.
So when she sets out to describe events leading up to the deadly May 20, 2013 storm that tore apart Moore yet again, the storm itself and its aftermath, you expect a gripping and engrossing read.
What you get is something less than that. Bailey is a good enough writer, but this book is repetitive and tedious and tends to belabor points till they beg for mercy. Yes, we know Gary England is the king of meteorologists in Oklahoma, a nearly Godlike figure with legions of fans, a man dedicated to saving lives, yet tormented by the knowledge that people always die during storms. We get it.
Likewise, we understand pretty quickly that springtime in Oklahoma is always a bad time. You don't even have to read this book to be aware of that.
But the most irritating aspect of Bailey's writing is her overdramatic, saccharine and maudlin depiction of the children who survived the tornado that destroyed their schools. I should have played a drinking game wherein I downed a shot each time she used the word "tiny" in reference to these kids. Their tiny bodies, their tiny hands, their tiny voices, their tiny faces. All right! We get it! They're little, and they're vulnerable. Her repeated use of such hyperbole eventually began to make the kids sound like chattering, animated versions of those Little People Fisher Price made to go in their airplanes or schoolbuses. Remember them? Finger-sized colored cylinders for bodies, with a little round ball on top with a rudimentary face and hair on it.
She even goes so far as to describe a seven-month-old baby, who would be one of the youngest people killed by the storm, as "usually squirming like a happy worm." Yuck. Just yuck.
Somebody could surely have told the story of Moore's ordeal with as much compassion but without the mawkishness.
So when she sets out to describe events leading up to the deadly May 20, 2013 storm that tore apart Moore yet again, the storm itself and its aftermath, you expect a gripping and engrossing read.
What you get is something less than that. Bailey is a good enough writer, but this book is repetitive and tedious and tends to belabor points till they beg for mercy. Yes, we know Gary England is the king of meteorologists in Oklahoma, a nearly Godlike figure with legions of fans, a man dedicated to saving lives, yet tormented by the knowledge that people always die during storms. We get it.
Likewise, we understand pretty quickly that springtime in Oklahoma is always a bad time. You don't even have to read this book to be aware of that.
But the most irritating aspect of Bailey's writing is her overdramatic, saccharine and maudlin depiction of the children who survived the tornado that destroyed their schools. I should have played a drinking game wherein I downed a shot each time she used the word "tiny" in reference to these kids. Their tiny bodies, their tiny hands, their tiny voices, their tiny faces. All right! We get it! They're little, and they're vulnerable. Her repeated use of such hyperbole eventually began to make the kids sound like chattering, animated versions of those Little People Fisher Price made to go in their airplanes or schoolbuses. Remember them? Finger-sized colored cylinders for bodies, with a little round ball on top with a rudimentary face and hair on it.
She even goes so far as to describe a seven-month-old baby, who would be one of the youngest people killed by the storm, as "usually squirming like a happy worm." Yuck. Just yuck.
Somebody could surely have told the story of Moore's ordeal with as much compassion but without the mawkishness.
May 23, 2015
Living in Oklahoma can be a very odd thing at times. I've lived in tornado country since 1975 (Nebraska and Missouri), but neither one quite prepared me for the way that Oklahoma is. When I first moved here in 1992, I was stunned at just how seriously they took weather covereage here. In other places, the weather report tended to be a mix of forecast and bad comedy. Not in Oklahoma. They were doing things on TV I had never seen or even considered.
This book does an excellent job of conveying just how serious the weather reports can be here in Oklahoma, but at the same time, it also touches on the way that they can become malignant. A bit overblown, over hyped, and storm chasers taking insane risks to get that big shot. Yet, even in all the rivalry between local TV Weathermen, there is another truth lurking. This really is important. Metro OKC seems to lie in a "sweet spot" for tornadoes, and Moore even more so.
Yet, spring storm season becomes something an event. Watching "tornado porn" on TV... entranced and excited by the fury of the weather. Yet, we know it can be deadly, and of course, that's a key focus of the book. While it can be a bit tough to keep all the different people straight, the accounts of what went on in the two schools are powerful, profound and horrifying.
This is a book that will grip you, but also one that will make you think. It will make you think about the way people look at these storms, the way that we can prepare ourselves, and any number of other things.
My highest recommendation, especially if you are not afraid to think about what it is that glues people to their TV this time of year.
This book does an excellent job of conveying just how serious the weather reports can be here in Oklahoma, but at the same time, it also touches on the way that they can become malignant. A bit overblown, over hyped, and storm chasers taking insane risks to get that big shot. Yet, even in all the rivalry between local TV Weathermen, there is another truth lurking. This really is important. Metro OKC seems to lie in a "sweet spot" for tornadoes, and Moore even more so.
Yet, spring storm season becomes something an event. Watching "tornado porn" on TV... entranced and excited by the fury of the weather. Yet, we know it can be deadly, and of course, that's a key focus of the book. While it can be a bit tough to keep all the different people straight, the accounts of what went on in the two schools are powerful, profound and horrifying.
This is a book that will grip you, but also one that will make you think. It will make you think about the way people look at these storms, the way that we can prepare ourselves, and any number of other things.
My highest recommendation, especially if you are not afraid to think about what it is that glues people to their TV this time of year.
July 1, 2015
As a native of Moore, Oklahoma and being affected by May 20th, this book hit a little too close to home. I really enjoyed the history of storms in our state and the background on our meteorologists. The retelling of that day was very difficult for me to read. I kept reliving my own nightmare from that day and I had to
put the book aside many times to get the tears to stop. I wonder if I had waited a few more years to read this, if I would have been able to handle the horrible accounts of that day a little easier. It was overall very well done and I'm glad I finished it. We are a strong community and we are survivors. Thanks for telling our story!!
put the book aside many times to get the tears to stop. I wonder if I had waited a few more years to read this, if I would have been able to handle the horrible accounts of that day a little easier. It was overall very well done and I'm glad I finished it. We are a strong community and we are survivors. Thanks for telling our story!!
June 4, 2024
Audiobooked this on a recent trek to NY and back. Certainly made the time go by and if you don't tear up a few times in the later portions of the book you might be an android. It is a moving and sympathetic account of the devastating events of May 20, 2013 in Moore, OK with frequent references to the May 3, 1999 storm that also hit Moore.
Unlike many reviewers I enjoyed the chapters on the legendary Gary England, the OKC TV meteorology wars and the technological developments in the late 90s and into the 200os. Similar but less dramatic events were occurring in Iowa when I was out there from 1997 to 2004. Her coverage of the role of NWS Norman office was rather perfunctory and shallow but at least she mentioned the office and WCM Rick Smith a number of times. The writing itself was terribly repetitious and littered with overused and often trite similes which were perhaps even more noticeable on an audiobook. Yet my biggest criticism was her repeated assertions that tornadoes are either becoming more frequent or more intense and larger. I do not have a copy of the book to see if there are citations for these claims but to my knowledge there is little clear evidence in this regard. Population density today is way higher across tornado alley and tornado detection and analysis technology obviously 'light' years ahead of anything existing before even 1990. Add in the the storm chaser boom and we are 'finding' way more twisters than previously. Another irritant was her passing slights to 'red' state politics which are obviously distasteful to her. 2.5 stars rounded up.
Unlike many reviewers I enjoyed the chapters on the legendary Gary England, the OKC TV meteorology wars and the technological developments in the late 90s and into the 200os. Similar but less dramatic events were occurring in Iowa when I was out there from 1997 to 2004. Her coverage of the role of NWS Norman office was rather perfunctory and shallow but at least she mentioned the office and WCM Rick Smith a number of times. The writing itself was terribly repetitious and littered with overused and often trite similes which were perhaps even more noticeable on an audiobook. Yet my biggest criticism was her repeated assertions that tornadoes are either becoming more frequent or more intense and larger. I do not have a copy of the book to see if there are citations for these claims but to my knowledge there is little clear evidence in this regard. Population density today is way higher across tornado alley and tornado detection and analysis technology obviously 'light' years ahead of anything existing before even 1990. Add in the the storm chaser boom and we are 'finding' way more twisters than previously. Another irritant was her passing slights to 'red' state politics which are obviously distasteful to her. 2.5 stars rounded up.
May 23, 2015
Readable, but for an equally readable book with greater depth (but a different tornado - Tuscaloosa) read Kim Cross' What Stands in a Storm.
January 25, 2016
A new one for my list of Jobs I Never Knew I Didn't Want: anything in Tornado Alley or that would take me to Tornado Alley in May.
The Mercy of the Sky is an in-depth look at a tornado that devastated the city of Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013. It's not just about what happened—Bailey looks at the greater context of tornados in Oklahoma, what is and isn't known about tornado patterns, what's changed, what things set Moore up for such devastation. Like: Moore had seen intense tornado damage not long before, but the city rebuilt, not expecting another tornado of such proportions for decades to come. The earlier tornado had been good for the economy, what with all the rebuilding, so more people had moved to the area. As a result, areas that had been primarily farmland when the last whopper hit were now heavily populated.
And yet...most people didn't have tornado shelters. The schools didn't have tornado shelters (in part because they'd been built decades earlier and in part because tornados didn't typically hit until evening, when the schools were empty). The Weather Service building had bulletproof glass and walls that had been reinforced with Kevlar (56), but nobody knew how much of a difference that might make. Meanwhile, when the tornado did hit while school was in session, the best options for some of the students and teachers were interior hallways with skylights, or bathrooms, or classrooms with exterior walls. Enough for some tornados. Not enough for this one.
I am in awe, though, of some of the people in this book—the teacher, for example, who barely managed to keep from being sucked out a door into the tornado, but wrenched herself free and immediately threw herself on top of her students to protect them (166–167). And then there are things like this: The little sister of one of the victims had her school yearbook, which she loaned to the medical examiner's office to help them identify the missing kids. The little girl did not know her yearbook was going to be used to identify the bodies of her older sister and her classmates (261).
So many painful things, some not preventable (unless the town picked up and moved somewhere not prone to tornadoes) but others which just plain could have been handled better: While...school officials believed that the families [of the victims] had been gathered...to receive the terrible news, continued miscommunication among the medical examiner's officer, the local chaplain, and other officials in Moore caused the news to be broken to some parents in callous ways. Some were called back to the church, but some parents later said they'd learned their children's fate through a phone call from the state medical examiner's office. Your child's body has been processed, an official told one mother. Where should we send the body? (275)
Painful to read but an excellently woven story.
The Mercy of the Sky is an in-depth look at a tornado that devastated the city of Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013. It's not just about what happened—Bailey looks at the greater context of tornados in Oklahoma, what is and isn't known about tornado patterns, what's changed, what things set Moore up for such devastation. Like: Moore had seen intense tornado damage not long before, but the city rebuilt, not expecting another tornado of such proportions for decades to come. The earlier tornado had been good for the economy, what with all the rebuilding, so more people had moved to the area. As a result, areas that had been primarily farmland when the last whopper hit were now heavily populated.
And yet...most people didn't have tornado shelters. The schools didn't have tornado shelters (in part because they'd been built decades earlier and in part because tornados didn't typically hit until evening, when the schools were empty). The Weather Service building had bulletproof glass and walls that had been reinforced with Kevlar (56), but nobody knew how much of a difference that might make. Meanwhile, when the tornado did hit while school was in session, the best options for some of the students and teachers were interior hallways with skylights, or bathrooms, or classrooms with exterior walls. Enough for some tornados. Not enough for this one.
I am in awe, though, of some of the people in this book—the teacher, for example, who barely managed to keep from being sucked out a door into the tornado, but wrenched herself free and immediately threw herself on top of her students to protect them (166–167). And then there are things like this: The little sister of one of the victims had her school yearbook, which she loaned to the medical examiner's office to help them identify the missing kids. The little girl did not know her yearbook was going to be used to identify the bodies of her older sister and her classmates (261).
So many painful things, some not preventable (unless the town picked up and moved somewhere not prone to tornadoes) but others which just plain could have been handled better: While...school officials believed that the families [of the victims] had been gathered...to receive the terrible news, continued miscommunication among the medical examiner's officer, the local chaplain, and other officials in Moore caused the news to be broken to some parents in callous ways. Some were called back to the church, but some parents later said they'd learned their children's fate through a phone call from the state medical examiner's office. Your child's body has been processed, an official told one mother. Where should we send the body? (275)
Painful to read but an excellently woven story.
June 13, 2015
To my mind a much better book than Kim Cross's What Stands in the the Storm. Both books were published this spring and have similarities, but Cross's account of the April 2011 tornado cluster is mostly aftermath (and flashbacks), while Bailey's tale is more linearly told and resulted in a building narrative tension (that mimicked an approaching storm). Cross's narrative is scattered over the stories of many more people, while Bailey follows central figures through the week - so that by the end I felt I knew them. Bailey is also better at depicting the awesome power of the tornado itself - the sounds, smells, and terror of huddling in an elementary-school bathroom while the walls crumble around you. Cross doesn't discuss climate change theories for the increase in superstorms, while Bailey handles this as well as meteorological science and the history and future of storm forecasting. Both books have their iconic TV weathermen, and both have too much treacly sentimentality and overbaked Southern Christian religiosity, but there was enough scientific explanation in The Mercy of the Sky for me to tolerate that.
June 22, 2016
While much of the book is breathlessly bloviated, with uncomfortable paeans to weatherman Gary England, this gripping account of the devastating Moore tornado of 2013, by a newswriter who grew up in the area, is worthy of its Oklahoma Center for the Book Award.
August 8, 2024
3 stars (= good)
On May 20, 2013 a deadly EF5 tornado plowed through Moore, Oklahoma. It was a mile-wide monster that was on the ground for 40 minutes and seemingly targeted a populated area. It completely leveled entire neighborhoods and made direct hits on two elementary schools. Twisters have become almost routine for these residents of Tornado Alley, but this one was a nightmare.
It’s inevitable but probably unfair to compare this book to The Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air which are surely at the pinnacle of the genre. Each of those introduce a memorable and manageable cast of characters, tell a tension-filled story, and deliver plenty of fascinating science along the way so that by the time you finish you‘ve learned something interesting.
This account of the 2013 Moore tornado is done nearly as well as it could be, but there were just so many people impacted that biographical sketches of most of them are only cursory. The meteorologists then become main characters in the drama even though they experienced it mostly from afar. Indeed, the first half of the book focuses on the backstories of these meteorologists, and was unnecessarily prolonged and mostly dull. Since the science on exactly how tornados develop is still fairly murky, I didn’t feel that I learned anything new in this area. Given the subject matter, I think Bailey does an admirable job of walking the line between objective yet dry reportage and maudlin sensationalism.
Matt enjoyed this book more than I did and wrote a great review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
On May 20, 2013 a deadly EF5 tornado plowed through Moore, Oklahoma. It was a mile-wide monster that was on the ground for 40 minutes and seemingly targeted a populated area. It completely leveled entire neighborhoods and made direct hits on two elementary schools. Twisters have become almost routine for these residents of Tornado Alley, but this one was a nightmare.
It’s inevitable but probably unfair to compare this book to The Perfect Storm or Into Thin Air which are surely at the pinnacle of the genre. Each of those introduce a memorable and manageable cast of characters, tell a tension-filled story, and deliver plenty of fascinating science along the way so that by the time you finish you‘ve learned something interesting.
This account of the 2013 Moore tornado is done nearly as well as it could be, but there were just so many people impacted that biographical sketches of most of them are only cursory. The meteorologists then become main characters in the drama even though they experienced it mostly from afar. Indeed, the first half of the book focuses on the backstories of these meteorologists, and was unnecessarily prolonged and mostly dull. Since the science on exactly how tornados develop is still fairly murky, I didn’t feel that I learned anything new in this area. Given the subject matter, I think Bailey does an admirable job of walking the line between objective yet dry reportage and maudlin sensationalism.
Matt enjoyed this book more than I did and wrote a great review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 2, 2025
2.5 stars. A very tragic and dramatic story, but the book was a bit disjointed in telling it. It also spent too much time on the backstories of all the major Oklahoma meteorologists and took more than half its pages to actually get to the tornado in question.
March 31, 2016
I hesitate in rating non-fiction because I don't want people to think I loved the tragedy of this book; I didn't. It broke my heart and left me crying at my desk. The 5 star rating is for the book itself; the writing and the way the story was told. I've never been to Moore, Oklahoma, but the real people in the book will stick with me forever. I admire their strength and their ability to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on. Moore Strong.
April 5, 2016
You can take the girl out of Okie, but you can't take the Okie out of the girl.
The Okie in this case is the book's author, Holly Bailey, and in this blow-by-blow of an EF5 monster tornado that on May 20, 2013, swept away a large swath of Bailey's hometown, Moore, Oklahoma, the local girl couldn't quite shed the Plains dust from her shoes. The authorial intrusion, community boosterism and a whiff of corporate media-style twee-ness tarnish what is an otherwise very well reported and written account of this fatal day.
The reporting in the book is, in fact, exemplary. Bailey really puts you there in the eye of the hell of 200-mile-an-hour cataclysm: the sights, the smells, the feels -- and does so with a good sense of chronology and pacing. If you're interested in a first-rate account of living through a tornado disaster, this book will be up your (tornado) alley. (Sorry about that, folks).
The book starts off a bit unfocused as it finds its footing, but becomes almost masterly in the middle and latter sections in its vivid accounts of the destruction of the Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary Schools.
Unfortunately -- and this is by no means a sin committed only by Bailey these days -- the young author, who has been a reporter for Yahoo News and other well-known outlets, has grown up in a time of corporate media; a time of chit-chat and happy talk and community feel-goodness that pollutes the news, particularly local news broadcasts. Being from Moore to some degree has not helped Bailey here; her reverence for local TV meteorologist legend Gary England -- not entirely misplaced -- lapses into hero worship where it should merely provide context. It's just one of several examples of warm-and-fuzzy platitudinous talk, and it causes her to repeatedly state the obvious and salve the reader and shamelessly tug at the heartstrings. If she was hoping this would be a big seller in the Oklahoma City market, she's done her patriotic duty, but the hometown rah-rah cheapens the book rather than strengthens it. Bailey serves up big slices of Okie hokum in the telling.
Nonetheless, it is clear that Bailey is a very good reporter who understands the detail needed to tell a story, and the book is, at least for 60 percent of the way, nearly un-putdownable.
I vacillated between three and four stars for this -- it is, on balance, the best of four tornado books I've read in the last two weeks -- but have to put my foot down a little. The crotchety old editors who used to school me back in the days when I was a newspaper and magazine reporter would not have let me get away with some of the puffery herein, and I'm hearing their voices and heeding their red pens.
(KevinR@Ky 2016)
November 23, 2015
Living a few miles from Moore, Oklahoma, and remembering well that awful day, I had to pick up this book. Ms. Bailey knows and understands Oklahomans, yet she has been gone long enough to explain us to outsiders - especially in the area of the weather phenomenons and our responses to them. The book accurately describes our fascination and horror with storms, and how people who've been hit multiple times still don't see it as a reason to leave.
The writing is excellent. She introduces the characters in such a way that they are distinguishable and memorable. My only complaint is over her depiction of the weathermen and their rivalries. The book could have done without villainizing some of our TV personalities. I well understand presenting a protagonist and antagonist to increase interest, but these are real people who don't deserve the negative characterization. Yes, it made for a colorful backdrop for the true drama of the tragedy, but at what cost?
All in all, I recommend the book and will probably read it again when my memory of that awful day (and the weeks following) fades.
The writing is excellent. She introduces the characters in such a way that they are distinguishable and memorable. My only complaint is over her depiction of the weathermen and their rivalries. The book could have done without villainizing some of our TV personalities. I well understand presenting a protagonist and antagonist to increase interest, but these are real people who don't deserve the negative characterization. Yes, it made for a colorful backdrop for the true drama of the tragedy, but at what cost?
All in all, I recommend the book and will probably read it again when my memory of that awful day (and the weeks following) fades.
December 8, 2019
4.5 stars. Picked this up on a whim and honestly found it to be a really good read. It gives a very thorough overview of the 2013 storm and its aftermath, but also of the development of weather forecasting for the general public and the innovations made over the years to increase lead time and awareness in tornado warnings. This could easily have skewed very dry, but it's done in a way that is readable and interesting. As a life-long Midwesterner who is used to weather coverage going wall-to-wall when the storms turn serious, it was easy for me to understand and empathize with the people of the story, and I think Bailey's own experiences as a native Oklahoman give her insight and allow her to tell the story effectively and explain the Midwesterners' (especially Oklahomans') love/hate relationship with severe weather. Honestly I really couldn't put it down. Recommend.
June 13, 2019
Decent, yet repetitive coverage of the track and damage of the storm, and of the human damage—physical and emotional that came with it. Having a separate graphic for Plaza Towers School’s layout would’ve helped immensely.
But the first 1/3 of this book is about the weathermen who predicted and tracked the storm of May 20,2013, making for a very slow start to this book.
Also—the author needed to find another word for “tiny.” This word appears dozens of times in this book, used to describe: bathrooms, teeth, stages, auditoriums, hands, dust motes, leaves, voices, faces, etc. In several instances, the word appears four times in a 2-page spread. It gets pretty grating after awhile.
But the first 1/3 of this book is about the weathermen who predicted and tracked the storm of May 20,2013, making for a very slow start to this book.
Also—the author needed to find another word for “tiny.” This word appears dozens of times in this book, used to describe: bathrooms, teeth, stages, auditoriums, hands, dust motes, leaves, voices, faces, etc. In several instances, the word appears four times in a 2-page spread. It gets pretty grating after awhile.
March 13, 2024
I read this book in 2 sittings. As a former meteorology major, I have an anxious fascination with tornadoes and this book was just completely captivating. Emotional, anxiety producing, hopeful, and also sorrowful.
It also really makes you think about how one reacts to storms: why are they captivating when they are so destructive. Why do we take the specific (and different from person to person) actions we take when sirens go off. Remarkable writing about remarkable people. May God bless them all.
It also really makes you think about how one reacts to storms: why are they captivating when they are so destructive. Why do we take the specific (and different from person to person) actions we take when sirens go off. Remarkable writing about remarkable people. May God bless them all.
August 2, 2016
What a powerful book. You might need tissues for the last half of the book.
I have spent my life living in tornado alley and living an hour south of Moore, Oklahoma. I remember this tornado and the El Reno tornado. We live with this every year, some years worse than others. But we are Oklahoma Strong and will weather the storms every year.
I have spent my life living in tornado alley and living an hour south of Moore, Oklahoma. I remember this tornado and the El Reno tornado. We live with this every year, some years worse than others. But we are Oklahoma Strong and will weather the storms every year.
June 8, 2021
Hands down one of the saddest books I’ve ever read. As an Oklahoman who watched this storm go by, I can say this was a really great retelling of what happened. I think I cried for 3/4 of this book, but the story needs to be told. Very sad but also a captivating read. I couldn’t put it down.
April 3, 2020
4.5 stars, rounding up to 5.
A very well-researched narrative of what happened before, during, and after the 2013 Moore, OK EF5 tornado that left horror and tragedy in its wake.
Bailey tells the story chronologically, which leaves you anxious and on the edge of your seat with each turn of the page, knowing that the impending storm is near. Her writing truly brings you into these peoples’ lives and into the worst of the storm, which is devastating and horrifying. The shattering chapters about what happened in the Plaza Towers Elementary School will most assuredly bring you to tears. But ultimately, her book is one of hope and inspiration, of a community coming together as one after an unfathomable loss. It will leave you emotionally drained, but it is well worth the read.
A very well-researched narrative of what happened before, during, and after the 2013 Moore, OK EF5 tornado that left horror and tragedy in its wake.
Bailey tells the story chronologically, which leaves you anxious and on the edge of your seat with each turn of the page, knowing that the impending storm is near. Her writing truly brings you into these peoples’ lives and into the worst of the storm, which is devastating and horrifying. The shattering chapters about what happened in the Plaza Towers Elementary School will most assuredly bring you to tears. But ultimately, her book is one of hope and inspiration, of a community coming together as one after an unfathomable loss. It will leave you emotionally drained, but it is well worth the read.
April 26, 2023
This book hits way too close to home as an Oklahoma teacher. I was teaching in Edmond at the time, I've done drills every year, plus one non-drill where the sirens went off as we were loading busses and we pulled kids back into their shelter areas.
At the time I didn't process how powerless I'd be at school. The way this book follows Moore schools employees really had this hit home. The coverage of the storm teams also was very good.
The book was very good, but I'm not sure I can recommend it; most of the people I'd suggest it to are my friends in education, and it's just really heavy.
At the time I didn't process how powerless I'd be at school. The way this book follows Moore schools employees really had this hit home. The coverage of the storm teams also was very good.
The book was very good, but I'm not sure I can recommend it; most of the people I'd suggest it to are my friends in education, and it's just really heavy.
March 10, 2025
heartbreaking but in a way where I feel like everyone should read this book
March 17, 2025
For surface level complaints, this book needed a way tougher editor who could’ve done something about the constant use of “tiny” and iPhone” because it was so excessive that it became really distracting.
As for the bigger issues:
- the Gary England section should’ve been a chapter and not a third of the book. It really felt like the author wanted to write about OKC weatherman drama but couldn’t sell it so she had to just tack it onto this book instead. It got repetitive and most of it really didn’t feel relevant to the tornado this was supposed to be about.
- I didn’t like the format of this at all. I wish we got to follow specific threads through the entire story, but for pretty much everyone but Gary England and the superintendent, people were introduced and then died immediately. We didn’t get to know them, and we didn’t get any follow up on any of the survivors except the pregnant teacher.
- I also was put off that what info we did get about most of the victims was just quoted from their obituaries??? I would’ve really preferred if she’d gone out and spoken to their families… like the story of the woman and her dog was just a summary of a story other journalists did… the entire background of the mom who went to the twilight midnight premier with her daughter is taken from her obituary and slightly reworded… i really wish the author had spoken to these people and gotten more depth from their stories.
- there aren’t enough perspectives. We only really get the viewpoints of people at the school and a couple of the meteorologists. What about normal people that lost everything? People who were injured and survived? Storm chasers? More from the NWS employees besides a few scattered sentences?
And now for the pettier complaints:
- I HAAAAATE the trope in disaster/storm writing where somehow everyone had some terrible ominous foreboding feeling and they all magically knew, somehow, and for no reason, that something terrible was going to happen that day. Bestie, you’re not a psychic, you just had excellent weather forecasters preparing you for this. Why did we have 7 chapters about Gary England if we’re gonna pretend people just knew the storms were coming by magic intuition and not bc of people like him lol.
- the author can’t seem to decide between the narrative of “this was an extremely unusual storm!!!” And “this is just life in OKC bay beeeee” like I was really baffled by her insisting that storms during school hours were weird and unusual. Like I’m a tornado alley girlie too and I can assure you they’re not? Like maybe Oklahoma is built different but in Iowa we got those bastards at 2-3pm on the regular 🤷♀️ and it’s not just Iowa bc there’s been historically significant storms like Tristate, Xenia and SLC that all happened while kids were still at school… so idk what that was about lmao
- she starts off with the first victims not being able to find their daughter/granddaughter after their infant baby has died. And you’d think like after all this heartache and trouble and like 10 hours or book since we heard from then last, that their story will come back later and we’ll find out the kid made it. But no??? We don’t revisit the family?? She’s just listed with the deceased at the end??? What a truly awful and strange way to end that story. Why would you leave us on a cliffhanger just for that???
Anyway I was disappointed and the whole time I wished it was more like Fall and Rise. But it gets an extra star for actually writing about this topic and for trying. And I was invested enough that I finished it even if I was frustrated the whole time.
For all my whining, I do hope someone lets this author write a Gary England bio someday bc I would love to read it tbh I feel bad I complained so much about this book bc I would like to see her give weather writing another shot!
As for the bigger issues:
- the Gary England section should’ve been a chapter and not a third of the book. It really felt like the author wanted to write about OKC weatherman drama but couldn’t sell it so she had to just tack it onto this book instead. It got repetitive and most of it really didn’t feel relevant to the tornado this was supposed to be about.
- I didn’t like the format of this at all. I wish we got to follow specific threads through the entire story, but for pretty much everyone but Gary England and the superintendent, people were introduced and then died immediately. We didn’t get to know them, and we didn’t get any follow up on any of the survivors except the pregnant teacher.
- I also was put off that what info we did get about most of the victims was just quoted from their obituaries??? I would’ve really preferred if she’d gone out and spoken to their families… like the story of the woman and her dog was just a summary of a story other journalists did… the entire background of the mom who went to the twilight midnight premier with her daughter is taken from her obituary and slightly reworded… i really wish the author had spoken to these people and gotten more depth from their stories.
- there aren’t enough perspectives. We only really get the viewpoints of people at the school and a couple of the meteorologists. What about normal people that lost everything? People who were injured and survived? Storm chasers? More from the NWS employees besides a few scattered sentences?
And now for the pettier complaints:
- I HAAAAATE the trope in disaster/storm writing where somehow everyone had some terrible ominous foreboding feeling and they all magically knew, somehow, and for no reason, that something terrible was going to happen that day. Bestie, you’re not a psychic, you just had excellent weather forecasters preparing you for this. Why did we have 7 chapters about Gary England if we’re gonna pretend people just knew the storms were coming by magic intuition and not bc of people like him lol.
- the author can’t seem to decide between the narrative of “this was an extremely unusual storm!!!” And “this is just life in OKC bay beeeee” like I was really baffled by her insisting that storms during school hours were weird and unusual. Like I’m a tornado alley girlie too and I can assure you they’re not? Like maybe Oklahoma is built different but in Iowa we got those bastards at 2-3pm on the regular 🤷♀️ and it’s not just Iowa bc there’s been historically significant storms like Tristate, Xenia and SLC that all happened while kids were still at school… so idk what that was about lmao
- she starts off with the first victims not being able to find their daughter/granddaughter after their infant baby has died. And you’d think like after all this heartache and trouble and like 10 hours or book since we heard from then last, that their story will come back later and we’ll find out the kid made it. But no??? We don’t revisit the family?? She’s just listed with the deceased at the end??? What a truly awful and strange way to end that story. Why would you leave us on a cliffhanger just for that???
Anyway I was disappointed and the whole time I wished it was more like Fall and Rise. But it gets an extra star for actually writing about this topic and for trying. And I was invested enough that I finished it even if I was frustrated the whole time.
For all my whining, I do hope someone lets this author write a Gary England bio someday bc I would love to read it tbh I feel bad I complained so much about this book bc I would like to see her give weather writing another shot!
November 9, 2021
I've always had an interest in meteorology and big storms, in particular, so I was looking forward to reading this book, which follows the timeline of a large tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma in May of 2013. I actually remember hearing about this storm, but it was interesting getting to experience it from the perspective of local meteorologists and storm chasers who tracked the weather system that created this deadly tornado.
June 26, 2021
Once you get beyond the history of weather reporting - especially the various television station meteorologist ego and attitudes towards their rivals no matter how beloved or competent they may be - and get to the 'meat' of the story, it becomes fast-moving, captivating and heartbreaking.
On May 20, 2003, a powerful thunderstorm - part of line of storms running across the Great Plains that generated storms of various strengths all along the trough for several days - generated a monster of a tornado. There was a funnel in the depths of the wall of blackness but swirling debris - dirt scoured from the ground with trees added to the mix as well as demolished buildings, cars, animals and humans - concealed the actual center of the tornado.
Flipping through the viewpoints of the teachers that attempted to protect their young students within two elementary schools right in the path of the storm, the meteorologists, helicopter pilots
and storm chasers, and others attempting to flee the area or get to safety, the book just grabs hold and practically compels the reader to keep turning to the next page. Chapters - lasting pages - attempt to tell what happened in a single minute as the storm tore through the schools.
Then comes the heartbreak as people attempt to find their loved ones - some ripped from their hands by the powerful winds and tossed amidst the debris surrounding them. The homes that were literally turned into piles of razed construction material. Cars that became twisted pieces of metal - some with the drivers still within. Then comes the heart-touching tales of people finding each other - a woman who had lost everything and only wanted to find her pet mini Schnauzer who had been torn from her arms and on camera, as she was interviewed, the small dog's nose was seen and he was pulled alive and uninjured from the debris for them to be re-united. The fact that only seven students at the schools were killed (and even that was too many) as the teachers had taken life-changing injuries attempting to protect them.
The storm itself was rated as a F5 on the enhanced Fujita scale - the most powerful - with winds recorded at 210 mph. It was on the ground for 37 minutes, was over a mile in width and travelled 17 miles. The death toll was 24 dead (including two indirect) and over 200 injured.
Some of the positives that came out of the disaster - new construction (and sections of the city had to be completely rebuilt) required hurricane clips and bracing in order to withstand high winds. Schools - especially the two that had to be re-built - are required to have a safe shelter area large enough to protect all the students and faculty at any point in time. For a time, giveaways of cars were supplanted by giveaways of home storm shelters.
As horrifying as those minutes and hours and days were, it is also a story of hope as the community came together and although injured, refused to be defeated.
2021-129
On May 20, 2003, a powerful thunderstorm - part of line of storms running across the Great Plains that generated storms of various strengths all along the trough for several days - generated a monster of a tornado. There was a funnel in the depths of the wall of blackness but swirling debris - dirt scoured from the ground with trees added to the mix as well as demolished buildings, cars, animals and humans - concealed the actual center of the tornado.
Flipping through the viewpoints of the teachers that attempted to protect their young students within two elementary schools right in the path of the storm, the meteorologists, helicopter pilots
and storm chasers, and others attempting to flee the area or get to safety, the book just grabs hold and practically compels the reader to keep turning to the next page. Chapters - lasting pages - attempt to tell what happened in a single minute as the storm tore through the schools.
Then comes the heartbreak as people attempt to find their loved ones - some ripped from their hands by the powerful winds and tossed amidst the debris surrounding them. The homes that were literally turned into piles of razed construction material. Cars that became twisted pieces of metal - some with the drivers still within. Then comes the heart-touching tales of people finding each other - a woman who had lost everything and only wanted to find her pet mini Schnauzer who had been torn from her arms and on camera, as she was interviewed, the small dog's nose was seen and he was pulled alive and uninjured from the debris for them to be re-united. The fact that only seven students at the schools were killed (and even that was too many) as the teachers had taken life-changing injuries attempting to protect them.
The storm itself was rated as a F5 on the enhanced Fujita scale - the most powerful - with winds recorded at 210 mph. It was on the ground for 37 minutes, was over a mile in width and travelled 17 miles. The death toll was 24 dead (including two indirect) and over 200 injured.
Some of the positives that came out of the disaster - new construction (and sections of the city had to be completely rebuilt) required hurricane clips and bracing in order to withstand high winds. Schools - especially the two that had to be re-built - are required to have a safe shelter area large enough to protect all the students and faculty at any point in time. For a time, giveaways of cars were supplanted by giveaways of home storm shelters.
As horrifying as those minutes and hours and days were, it is also a story of hope as the community came together and although injured, refused to be defeated.
2021-129
January 4, 2016
I may never look at severe weather the same. I'm fascinated by the weather. Unlike the people who live in Oklahoma, I don't usually find myself in the line of fire of violent, life-threatening storms (just the occasional blizzard). The poor town of Moore has been wiped off the map several times in the last 17 years (another tornado hit since this book came out). No one knows, and we may never know, why this town is in the crosshairs. This book covered the experiences of many people who lived through May 20th. Weathermen and women, teachers, city officials, and other members of the community took note and took precautions to protect themselves and others from the storm. Reading about it, the horror they felt was palpable (note to self: don't read such books right before bed!). I could practically hear the sirens and the storm coming. The determination of the teachers and the weather forecasters was particularly inspiring. Though I was really shocked to learn that schools don't come equipped with storm shelters (unfortunately, I was not surprised to see that the state government doesn't want to pay for them). While I know that some of the citizens of Moore blame themselves for the deaths that happened, having read about (and seen videos of) the raw power of one of the most severe storms ever, I'm absolutely shocked that less than 30 people died in this storm.
Really, the only thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars is that I wish it had better maps. There is a street mentioned many times (149th maybe?) that isn't included in the close up map. Also, the book frequently mentions the 1999 tornado that hit Moore, and there isn't any map of that one. I think that would have been useful to see. I would have liked some pictures of the devastation, but given the technology and the vast numbers of storm chasers, I can find those online.
If you like disaster books, this one will keep you riveted.
Really, the only thing that kept me from giving this book 5 stars is that I wish it had better maps. There is a street mentioned many times (149th maybe?) that isn't included in the close up map. Also, the book frequently mentions the 1999 tornado that hit Moore, and there isn't any map of that one. I think that would have been useful to see. I would have liked some pictures of the devastation, but given the technology and the vast numbers of storm chasers, I can find those online.
If you like disaster books, this one will keep you riveted.
December 15, 2015
The one thing that bugged me about this book (and caused me to take one star off) was repeated references to the fact that tornadoes have become more frequent and stronger which equals more likely to hit cities/towns. I'm sorry, but there is NO empirical evidence for this, especially given that our really good records only go back 20-30 years AND there is a lot more development in tornado-prone areas than there used to be. Sure they might be more likely to hit a developed area, because there ARE more developed areas, and sure we might see them more often because there are more people and better technology to spot them (plus lots of tornado-obsessed meteorologists and a better aware public), but you can't assume from that alone that there "used to be" fewer tornadoes and those that there were were "not as strong", and some quick research will show you that the science does not back up this claim, which I feel is something the author should have caught.
Aside from that, a very engrossing read if you enjoy weather disasters and/or tornadoes.
Aside from that, a very engrossing read if you enjoy weather disasters and/or tornadoes.
November 29, 2021
This book was on a list of books about disasters. It is currently free to listen to with Audible memberships, so I downloaded it. The tornado in question is the EF5 tornado that decimated the town of Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013. I remember seeing this on the news, but I didn't pay as much attention to it at the time because I was dealing with a newborn. Every area is prone to some type of disaster, but I cannot imagine living right in the middle of tornado alley. This particular tornado was certainly a violent one, resulting in massive amounts of damage. School was in session during this storm, and some children were unfortunately killed when the school was hit by the tornado. This was an ordeal for everyone in the town. I looked up photos of the damage while I was listening to this, and it was staggering to see. I even found a before and after satellite image and the emptiness in the after was shocking to see. This wasn't my favorite disaster book, and some of the writing seemed generic and rushed in places, but it was interesting overall.
May 23, 2024
It's hard for me to review the writing because I lived in Oklahoma City in this time period, and had reason to be in Moore and S. OKC in the days after 5/20. There were things I didn't know, like the feud between KFOR and KWTV (we were a Rick Mitchell/Damon Lane household). Reading this was an immersion back into that time in my life. I also understand more clearly why Gary England was so revered in OKC. Also why OKC's weather coverage is so different from everywhere else. (Now living somewhere else also prone to severe weather, I really miss knowing which intersection a tornado is at!)
I wish she would have said a little more about the tornadoes on the 19th and the tornadoes/flooding on the 31st, because that was all part of the wildness of May 2013 in OKC. (A missed opportunity to talk about the issues of culture/language in disaster management).
The way I held my breath reading certain sections as the tornado ground across the metro reminded me of how much tensions and emotions I still hold from that month.
I wish she would have said a little more about the tornadoes on the 19th and the tornadoes/flooding on the 31st, because that was all part of the wildness of May 2013 in OKC. (A missed opportunity to talk about the issues of culture/language in disaster management).
The way I held my breath reading certain sections as the tornado ground across the metro reminded me of how much tensions and emotions I still hold from that month.
November 20, 2016
2.5 stars. The beginning of this novel is hard to get through. I don't really care about how competitive the meteorology field is in Oklahoma or how much the meteorologists don't get along--it doesn't affect the storm whatsoever. It's fine to say that they are good at their jobs. It's fine to see them reporting during the storm. I do not think their life story, however, is pertinent here. Yes, the study of meteorology works here as well as how tornadoes form, however the novel kept repeating itself and it got old fast. This should have been a study simply about the one storm and the players involved during it. This just had too much needless information when all I really wanted to get into was the storm.
Once we got to the storm the novel picked up very fast. The first casualty shown, though, probably should have been, tastefully, anyone except the seven-month-old baby. We get the stakes through any death. The author did not have to be needlessly cruel too.
Once we got to the storm the novel picked up very fast. The first casualty shown, though, probably should have been, tastefully, anyone except the seven-month-old baby. We get the stakes through any death. The author did not have to be needlessly cruel too.
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