Nightmare in Tornado Alley | What Remains | 3

0:00Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Against the Odds ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. A listener note. Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research. This episode contains depictions of violence and death involving children and may not be suitable for everyone. Please be advised.

0:33Chief Meteorologist Gary England stands live on air. watching a monitor carrying Jim Gardner's helicopter feed. It's 3.35 p.m. on May 20th, 2013, inside the studio at KWTV. A massive tornado has been on the ground for 39 minutes, carving a path of destruction through southwest Oklahoma City and the suburb of Moore. Now, the storm is about two miles northeast of Moore, crossing open farmland. It's heading toward Draper Lake, still doing damage on the ground. The funnel narrows as it tears through trees, flinging debris thousands of feet into the air. On radar, Gary can see the circulation beginning to weaken, but he knows better than to trust it.

1:22The tornado has already thinned out several times, only to come roaring back stronger. With storms like this, you never assume it's over until it's truly over. Gary checks in with Jim Gardner. Jim, what are you seeing? Well, Gary, it does seem to be slowing down some, but there's still so much debris wrapped around this thing. Unbelievable. As the tornado moves past Draper Lake, it seems to stall out. Jim keeps narrating from the helicopter. Right now, it almost appears stationary. Just sitting there. It's roping out now, Gary. The violent stovepipe twists tighter and tighter, shrinking into a thin rope against the dark sky.

2:10And then, it finally dissipates. As Jim circles his helicopter back toward town, News 9 begins broadcasting the first clear aerial images of the devastation below. Before, they could only catch glimpses through the rain and hail. Now, Gary watches, narrating as the full picture comes into focus. The Warren Theater is damaged. The hospital's destroyed. The scene is catastrophic. Cars picked up and thrown like toys. Buildings stripped to bare foundations. Entire neighborhoods flattened into piles of wood, brick, and debris. Smoke and fire rise from the rubble. Gary stares at the screen in disbelief.

2:59Just an hour earlier, Moore had been green and lush with spring. Now, the landscape is coated in thick red mud and raw earth, as though the tornado peeled the town apart down to its bedrock. Then, Jim banks the helicopter over a massive square of rubble in southwest Moore. As the camera slowly zooms in, they both fall silent. Gary, does that look like a school to you? Gary's stomach drops. Yes. Yes, it does. It's Plaza Towers Elementary, or what's left of it. The building is gone, completely flattened. From above, Gary can see tiny figures running toward the wreckage. This, uh, this ain't good, that's for sure.

3:54As Jim circles wider over the debris path, the camera reveals another gut-wrenching loss. Just west of Plaza Towers, Briarwood Elementary is gone too. Totally decimated. Jim's voice cracks again. This is a nightmare scenario, Gary. Just like May 3rd, 1999. Can't believe it. Never thought we'd see another one of these. From above, it's unmistakable. The tornado tore straight through the heart of the community. Another EF-5. As Jim circles over the wreckage, he tries to continue, but emotion catches in his throat. I'm sorry. It's a little hard to talk here.

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6:13From Audible Originals, I'm Cassie DePeckel, and this is Against the Odds.

6:22On May 20th, 2013, a monster tornado with winds topping 210 miles per hour tore through Moore, a suburb south of Oklahoma City, destroying entire neighborhoods beyond recognition. For Moore, it was a nightmare the town knew all too well. In the previous 14 years, the community had survived three other deadly tornadoes, including the devastating EF-5 of May 1999, when winds over 300 miles per hour carved through this same stretch of land. But this time, the tornado hit during the school day, tearing directly through Briarwood and Plaza Towers Elementary Schools. Teachers shielded students with their own bodies as walls collapsed around them.

7:10When the storm finally passed, some children and teachers were left buried beneath the rubble. As terrified parents waited nearby, first responders raced against time, clawing through the debris with their bare hands, searching for survivors. This is Episode 3, What Remains.

7:43Lando Hite claws his way out from beneath a pile of shattered wood and twisted metal, gasping for air. He's covered head to toe in mud. His shirt is gone. His boots are gone. His jeans would have been ripped away too, if not for the weight of his oversized belt buckle. Every part of his body hurts. For a moment, he just stays on his hands and knees, coughing dirt from his lungs. Then he looks up and freezes. The horse training facility where he works is gone. The barns that stood across the Orr family farm only minutes earlier have been flattened into splintered piles of lumber. The tornado threw him nearly 100 feet from the stall where he tried to shelter.

8:32Lando slowly pushes himself to his feet, staring out across the wreckage. Dozens of horses lie motionless across the torn up pasture. A few are still alive, but injured and struggling weakly in the mud. Lando's face crumples. Oh no, no. When he saw the tornado bearing down, he tried to save them. He ran from barn to barn, throwing open stall doors, driving the horses toward the pasture. He believed they'd have a better chance in the open than trapped inside the barns. He stands in the middle of the devastation, trying to understand what he's seeing. These weren't just animals to him. They were the horses he fed every morning before sunrise, the ones he groomed, trained, and rode.

9:25He spent more time with these majestic creatures than almost anyone else in his life. Lando looks around, searching for movement, any sign that more survived. And one stunned thought repeats in his head. What the hell just happened?

9:49LaDonna Cobb forces one eye open and thinks, I must be dead. Everything is dark and muffled. Then a sharp pain pulses through her skull. No, she's alive. But she's trapped beneath the rubble of her daughter's first grade classroom at Briarwood Elementary. And now she hears children screaming underneath her, including her youngest daughter, seven-year-old Erin. Mom, mom, wake up. LaDonna tries to move, but agony shoots through her body. She has no idea how long she's been unconscious. The last thing she remembers is clinging to the classroom wall as the tornado ripped the building apart. Then the wall gave way.

10:36Heavy cinder blocks crashed down onto her. Something struck her head, and everything went black. Through the dust and darkness, she sees Aaron pinned beneath her. She looks pale, almost ghost-like. LaDonna tries to lift herself, but the weight crushing her chest is unbearable. The collapsed wall is lying across her shoulders. Her body is the only thing propping it up, and keeping it from collapsing directly onto the children beneath her. She can feel herself weakening. Every breath is a struggle. Crushed. I'm being crushed. Her voice barely comes out above a whisper. She doesn't know if anyone can hear her.

11:23She doesn't even know if there's anything left standing outside this room. Then the wall moves. Just slightly. Someone is lifting it. It's her husband, Steve. He must be fueled by pure adrenaline because he wedges himself against the slab of concrete and heaves upward with everything he has left. The wall lifts just enough for the children to scramble out from underneath her. The moment LaDonna pulls herself out, pain explodes through her head. Something warm runs down her neck. Blood. She touches her face. It's swollen and numb. Her cheekbone may be broken, but she barely registers it. We survived.

12:09We survived. As she struggles to her feet, the world tilts sideways. Her head spins. Her thoughts feel foggy and distant. But the moment she finally looks around, everything snaps into focus. The classroom is gone. The roof is gone. The walls have collapsed inward. She stares out toward the walkways between the school buildings, or where they used to be. The entire school looks flattened, like soda cans crushed beneath a boot. Panic tears through her. Her other daughters, 11-year-old Sydney and 9-year-old Jordan, are still somewhere out there in the wreckage. And in that moment, LaDonna feels certain.

12:58There is no way they made it. Our family of five is now a family of three.

13:11Amy Simpson stares up at a square patch of blue sky above her. Just minutes ago, there was a roof there. Now the tiny faculty bathroom is ripped open to the air. For a moment, she can't understand how the world already looks calm again after what just happened. When the tornado hit, Amy and four other staff members crammed inside and covered their heads with cushions. Then the building began to shake. Dust fell from the ceiling. Then chunks of debris. The roar became deafening. Amy remembers screaming into the darkness. Leave! Go away! as though the storm might actually hear her. She hears crying and looks around to see the other women are alive.

14:01Amy feels strangely calm though, almost numb, like she's running on autopilot. She pushes herself up and looks around. Somehow, the bathroom walls are still standing. She clears some debris from the doorway and opens it just wide enough to crawl through. The moment she sticks her head out, She comes face to face with a car bumper. Her brain can barely make sense of what she's seeing. An overturned car lying inside the front office. Amy climbs around it and pulls herself onto a desk. Then she looks out at the rest of the school, and her breath catches. The roof is gone. The walls are gone. And beyond them, the whole neighborhood is flattened.

14:50Homes destroyed. Trees stripped down. Even the grass looks scraped away. It's like a scene from an apocalypse movie. Neighbors are running toward the school to help, some carrying shovels. Amy heads toward what used to be the front hallway. Children are crawling out of the rubble all around her. Crying, dazed, covered in dust. Then she sees an SUV, flipped upside down. Right in the middle of the hallway. She runs toward it. Two teachers are trapped underneath, alive, but clearly injured. Two fathers rush over and brace themselves against the vehicle. With a desperate heave, they manage to raise the SUV just enough for the teachers to slide free.

15:38And then, small children begin crawling out too, crying and dirty, but alive. The teachers had taken the brunt of the vehicle to shield them. Amy's mind is already racing ahead. She smells gas in the air and worries the whole place could explode. She starts directing people toward the parking lot, through a hole in the front of the building. Keep moving! Go to the parking lot! Stay together! Teachers, students, and parents stumble through the wreckage toward open ground. Outside, the scene is complete chaos. Some parents cling to their children, sobbing with relief. Others wander through the debris, screaming their kids' names.

16:26Amy moves through the crowd, trying to calm students and parents while mentally piecing together who's been accounted for. Then she hears someone shouting behind her. Amy! She turns. It's Lindy, her husband. an off-duty firefighter. He sprints through the wreckage and pulls her into a tight hug. I jumped in the truck the second the storm passed. I cut across lawns, jumped curbs. I even clipped a mailbox. I'm just so happy you're okay. Lindy reassures her that the kids are safe. They all took cover in a neighbor's storm shelter. Amy leans into his embrace, feeling relief wash over her. But there's no time to stop.

17:12There's too much to do. Lindy looks at her. What do you need? How can I help? Amy scans the devastation around her. Then suddenly, dread hits her. She hasn't seen a single second or third grader. She turns and points toward the far end of the destroyed school. See that tree? One lone tree still stands there, stripped bare of bark and leaves. Go there, then head east. That's where the back building used to be. Lindy nods, and without another word, takes off running.

17:55Jennifer Doan lies buried in complete darkness beneath a crushing pile of rubble. Heavy debris presses across her back and legs. She can barely breathe. Dust fills her mouth, nose, and eyes. All she wants to do is wipe her face clear, but she can't move. Not her arms, not even her head. She realizes her right arm is still wrapped around one of her students, Porter. He's crying and struggling to free himself. I can't breathe. I don't want to die. Every time he squirms, agony shoots through Jennifer's body. Something in her back feels terribly wrong, and her hand is throbbing. A jagged piece of rebar has pierced straight through her palm.

18:46It's okay. Somebody's coming. She hopes it's true, but she has no idea. She can hear muffled cries somewhere in the darkness. When the tornado hit, she held on to as many children as she could. But in the whirl of it all, everyone but Porter was torn from her grasp. Xavier? Kai? Nicholas? No one answers. It's agony. Not knowing if her students are alive or dead. Jennifer thinks about her two young daughters, then her unborn baby. She only recently found out she was pregnant. A fresh wave of grief crashes over her. She's certain the baby is gone. For the first time in a long time, the future had felt bright.

19:38She was happy, engaged to Niall, slowly rebuilding after years of heartbreak following her divorce. But now, trapped beneath the ruins of the school, it feels like everything is slipping away. Her students, her children, her baby, her life.

20:02Shayla Taylor lies on a stretcher in the destroyed operating room, breathing through another contraction. She stares out through the space where the wall used to be. An entire side of Moore Medical Center has been ripped away. She can see the interstate and the damaged Warren Theater across the street. Another contraction tears through her body, stronger this time. It steals her breath completely. The baby is coming, and there's no stopping him. Around her, shattered medical equipment litters the floor. Lights hang loose from the ceiling. Pieces of insulation and broken ceiling tile are scattered across the ground, and gray dust covers everything.

20:49Shayla looks around the room and thinks, I can't have this baby here. The nurses, huddled nearby, seem to agree. One looks at her with a reassuring smile. We're going to get you out of here just as soon as we can. But how? The nurses can't just wheel her out. The floor is buried in debris, and there's no way she can walk or even stand. Before the tornado hit, one of the nurses gave her an epidural. Her legs feel numb and impossibly heavy. She can barely move them at all. Then she hears someone calling her name. Shayla! Shayla! Relief floods through her. It's her husband, Jerome. Before the tornado struck, hospital staff sent him downstairs with their young son and Shayla's mother to shelter in the basement cafeteria.

21:45Jerome rushes into the room and drops beside her stretcher, overwhelmed to find her alive. They said everybody was out of here. and I said, no, my wife's upstairs. Shayla grabs his hand tightly as another contraction builds. Jerome consults with the nurses, then slides his arms beneath her and lifts her off the stretcher. He's a big man and handles her way easily. I got you, I got you. He carries her carefully into the hallway, stepping over broken glass and chunks of concrete. A few hospital workers rush over with a backboard, and together they maneuver Shayla onto it and carry her down the stairwell and through the wreckage of the hospital.

22:32Outside, Shayla sees her mother and young son waiting for her. Relief washes over her. Her mom reaches for her hand as they carry her past. We'll see you real soon, baby. Another contraction hits. Shayla gasps as paramedics lift her into an ambulance. The ambulance pulls away and the EMTs tell her they're headed for Norman Regional Hospital, five miles south. Shayla grips Jerome's hand. Months earlier, they picked out a middle name for their baby boy, Emmanuel. It means God is with us. After surviving the storm, Shayla understands why.

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24:27LaDonna Cobb scrambles over a collapsed wall and climbs out of what's left of the first grade classroom at Briarwood Elementary. Her husband, Steve, is right behind her, gripping their daughter Erin's hand and pulling her carefully through the debris. One of LaDonna's eyes is almost swollen shut, but she can still see enough. The school looks like it's been bombed. Debris is scattered in every direction. Massive steel beams that once held up the roof are bent and twisted like pipe cleaners. Entire walls are gone. All around them, students and teachers emerge, covered in mud and dust from head to toe.

25:11Teachers and students cling to one another, sobbing. Most look too shocked to speak. LaDonna stumbles forward into the open air. For a moment, she just stands there, frozen. Then, panic surges through her. Her other daughters are still missing. Jordan! Sydney! She scans the crowd, desperately looking, searching. A wave of guilt crashes over her. Why didn't she pick up the girls earlier? She knew there was a tornado coming. She just never believed it would actually hit the school. And now, that terrible decision may have cost her everything. Then suddenly, through her good eye, she spots Jordan, her nine-year-old.

26:00A teacher is loping toward them carrying her. One of Jordan's legs hangs limp and bloody. Jordan! Steve rushes forward and scoops her into his arms. LaDonna and Aaron wrap around them, all of them crying and holding each other tight. Then Jordan looks up at her mother's face. My mom! Somebody help my mom! She's gonna die! Only then does LaDonna realize how much blood is covering her neck and chest, soaking her shirt collar. I'm okay, I'm okay. I'm hurt, but I'm alive. We're all alive. But even as she says it, a knot tightens in her stomach because her oldest daughter is still missing. Steve carries Jordan while Adana grips Aaron's hand and they continue searching through the debris field.

26:54Sydney! Then a voice cuts through the chaos. Mom! Dad! 11-year-old Sydney is running toward them. For a second, LaDonna can hardly believe she's real. Sydney says she rode out the tornado inside a bathroom and somehow escaped almost completely unharmed. The relief is so overwhelming, LaDonna nearly buckles. All three of her girls survived. It feels like a miracle.

27:33Amy Simpson stands at the edge of a mountain of rubble, what used to be the back building at Plaza Towers. The hallway where the second and third graders took cover is completely buried beneath it. Up on top of the debris mound, Amy spots Lindy working beside his fellow firefighters. Dozens of first responders have arrived, forming a human chain. Police officers, paramedics, firefighters, neighbors, One after another, children are being passed down from the rubble into the arms of frantic parents waiting below. The crowd erupts each time another child or teacher appears. But then, the mood changes.

28:16Rescuers pass down chunks of concrete and broken debris. But no more survivors. The longer the digging continues without cheers, the quieter everyone becomes. At the foot of the pile, parents cry in pace, waiting in agony. A police officer approaches Amy. How many are still missing? Amy feels her stomach tighten. She doesn't know. Before the tornado hit, parents were checking their children out of school so quickly that there's no reliable record of who was still inside. But one thing is becoming painfully clear. Every class appears to be accounted for. except the third graders and their teacher, Jennifer Doan.