x
  1. Home
  2.  News
  3.  Local News

A personal connection to the Oklahoma tornado

| 22 May 2013 | 11:36
    Central Valley resident Pamela Riniís second cousin Brian Bartels is a police officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department. This is what was left of his police cruiser after the tornado hit.
    Central Valley resident Pamela Riniís second cousin Brian Bartels is a police officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department. This is what was left of his police cruiser after the tornado hit.
    Central Valley resident Pamela Rini shares this photo of whatís left of her cousin Brian Bartelsí home in Moore, Okla., after the EF5 tornado hit. The home has been declared uninhabitable.
    Central Valley resident Pamela Rini shares this photo of whatís left of her cousin Brian Bartelsí home in Moore, Okla., after the EF5 tornado hit. The home has been declared uninhabitable.
    This is what is left of the neighborhood where Brian Bartels, the cousin of Central Valley resident Pamela Rini, lives.
    This is what is left of the neighborhood where Brian Bartels, the cousin of Central Valley resident Pamela Rini, lives.
    Central Valley resident and Sweet Lady Cakes owner Pamela Rini has cousins who survived the EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla. She is hopeful people will support the American Red Crossí efforts to assist survivors.
    Central Valley resident and Sweet Lady Cakes owner Pamela Rini has cousins who survived the EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla. She is hopeful people will support the American Red Crossí efforts to assist survivors.

CENTRAL VALLEY — A Central Valley woman with relatives who survived the powerful EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla., on Monday is hopeful area residents will support American Red Cross relief efforts to help victims.

Pamela Rini’s cousin Amy Bartels was hospitalized for a brief time with minor injuries but was released on Tuesday. She and her husband John Bartels were planning to return to where their home used to be to see what might be salvageable.

The tornado destroyed everything they owned.

Rini - the owner of Sweet Lady Cakes in Central Valley - was first notified about the tornado through an e-mail.

“I actually hadn’t paid attention (to television reports), I saw an e-mail from my pastor from my former church upstate talking about the Moore tornado,” she said. “I knew there were tornados going on, but life is just so busy you don’t think about it until after the fact.”

The tornado that tore through the Oklahoma City suburbs this week ranks among the strongest storms ever to strike the United States, with powerful winds that exceeded 200 mph.

The storm killed at least 24 people, including nine children, as of Tuesday night, and injured more than 230 others. Rescue and recovery efforts continue.

National Weather Service officials gave the tornado that hit Moore on Monday a preliminary EF5 rating - the highest score on the scale that measures tornado intensities.

Sixteen minutes
Moore residents only had a 16-minute notice between the time the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning and the time it touched down near Newcastle, Okla., on Monday afternoon, according to media reports. It would be another 19 minutes before that twister would destroy Moore.

Trying to get information, Rini sent a text message to her sister, seeing what she might know. But they couldn’t find out anything.

It wasn’t until about 7 p.m. on Monday that a text was received from Rini’s second cousin Brian Bartels - Amy’s son - letting them know everyone was accounted for, though Amy Bartels was in the hospital.

Brian Bartels is a police officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department. His house was also destroyed in the storm in addition to his police vehicle, Rini said.

However, Brian Bartels’ home was fairly new, she said, and he had built a storm shelter. Rini assumed Bartels’ wife Meghan and their young daughters were in that shelter at the time the storm hit, though Brian and his father John were out.

“I’m hoping to hear more details later,” Rini added.

From superstorms to tornados
Rini said this storm has affected her differently that last year’s Superstorm Sandy because she now had a special link to a major natural disaster.

“It is definitely different, because there’s a personal connection there,” Rini added. “With Sandy, it was close to home, we were able to do something physically for people. I have that personal connection but it’s so far away. I can’t tell them (her first and second cousins) to come and stay at my house.”

She was thankful to the first responders and those who have reached out to help Moore area residents. Rini also encouraged local people here to donate to the American Red Cross to help survivors.

“There’s so many families in need of something,” said Rini. “By sharing one person’s personal connection to the area, that might help people to realize the need to donate to the Red Cross. Everyone needs help. Some need more help than others. They (her family) lost their homes and have no place to stay. But, the important thing is that everybody is okay and nobody died. When a tragedy like this happens, when you hear your loved ones are okay, that’s most important, the other stuff falls second.”


By Nancy Kriz