TORNADO TERROR: Maureen Connors, T.L. Handy Grad, Barely Escapes OK Twister

May 27, 2013
By: Dave Rogers

A teacher who hails from Bay City, Maureen Connors, tells a first hand tale of the escape of her students and herself from last week's tornado in Oklahoma.

Ms. Connors, 51, a Social Studies teacher at Brink Junior High in Moore, Oklahoma, was not in the eye of the twister -- but she was in the path, close, just a few blocks from the devastation.

As the tornado was approaching, she tells of her sixth hour History class taking shelter under desks or in a closet. Outside, the twister was tearing apart the West Moore High School where dozens of students were hurt.

Her school lost power, adding to the frightening scene for the junior high's 918 students.

Some of her 27 students soon began receiving video on their cell phones from their friends, showing devastation of the homes. Some 117 homes of Brink students were flattened by the tornado, said Miss Connors.

Volunteers from Joplin, Missouri, which had been hit two years ago to the day, were among thousands who arrived to provide assistance, she said.

Seven of the 24 people killed by the tornado near Moore on Monday were 8- and 9-year-old students at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.

The storm caused about $2 billion in damage, and damaged or destroyed 1,200 homes in Moore and Oklahoma City, affecting about 33,000 people, authorities said Thursday.

A 1980 graduate of Bay City's T.L. Handy High, Ms. Connors had migrated to Oklahoma where two of her brothers were working in the oil fields. She earned degrees from Oklahoma Baptist College, Central State in Edmond and a master's from Oklahoma University.

Why Oklahoma? "My brothers told me it was 70 degrees at Christmas one year, and that did it." The temperature has never hit that warmth at the holiday season since, she said.

"The people are kind, and it is laid back, a great place to live. OK city is just 15 miles north of her home in Moore.