Cole tornado anniversary

They don’t call it Tornado Alley for nothing.

Oklahoma has already had at least five tornadoes this year alone, and we are approaching the one-year anniversary of the deadly Cole tornado of 2023.

The killer EF-3 struck Cole at 7:40 p.m. April 19 leaving Michael Bradsher, 66, and Karen Mosmeyer, 66, both dead.

The devastating  storm packed winds of 136-165 m.p.h. damaging or destroying homes and buildings in its path.

State Senator Jessica Garvin and United States Senator Markwayne Mullin and his wife, Christie, were among those visiting the area.

At the time, McClain County Sheriff Landy Offolter praised the work of electric companies in restoring power to the area as soon as they did.

That was only the first of two twisters to hit Cole and that’s on top of Goldsby’s airport sustaining major damage from a February 26 tornado.

That prompted a visit from Third District U.S. Congressman Tom Cole, who toured the destruction.

McClain County certainly felt the affect of Mother Nature’s wrath last year.

As is always the case in Oklahoma in the spring, be weather aware.

And in Oklahoma, it’s not just the spring when you need to be weather aware.

It can happen any time.

jdm

In his Evans Hall office last week, OU President Joseph Harroz, Jr., told The OU Daily that if the Norman City Council does not approve the proposed $1 billion entertainment district that would feature a new arena for OU athletics, then the university, alongside donors, would look to other cities to build an arena for which its basketball and women’s gymnastics teams would be anchor tenants, and possibly the entertainment district as a whole.

I got a phone call from a high ranking college athletic official who said he knows just the right place for the entertainment district.

“They should put it right by the new hospital,” the caller said suggesting Purcell would be a good fit to house the new arena.

I couldn’t disagree with him.