by Teagan Halbrooks
For the past year, teenagers in Moore, Okla., have watched as their community is rebuilt after a devastating tornado destroyed everything in its 17-mile path. Moore is coming alive again.
“It was very painful to see all the damage done to the city I grew up around,” said Katie Galloway, 18, who was inside Moore High School during the tornado. She graduated May 25 and is joining the Navy.
Maddie Clapt, 16, an upcoming junior at Southmoore High School, recalled awakening on May 20 this year and realizing that the disaster had occurred exactly a year ago.
She was upset at being reminded of the day that she and her classmates hid in the locker room by the gym as the storm passed less than a mile away, causing no damage to the school.
What remained of the Clapts’ house — Maddie’s bedroom, closet and the garage — was bulldozed. Maddie said her brother, 15, was missing after the storm because he and a friend had left the school. Police found both walking, she said.
“This is going to happen again, and we will come back stronger again,” Clapt said.
Since the disaster, new houses and buildings dot Moore, and teens have dealt with conflicting emotions. Referring to the tornado that might have killed her, Maddie said, “Either I make it, or I don’t make it.”
Galloway did not live in the tornado’s path, but she grieved with her friends whose houses did.
“I can tell that the community has been and still kind of is working really hard to get lost homes, schools, and belongings built back up,” Galloway said.
In Moore, a city of unity, people helped each other and grieved with each other. They are “standing together,” said Sydni Turner, 16, an upcoming junior at Moore High.
“I wouldn’t say we are completely finished, but we are getting there,” she said. “We will get there eventually, but don’t think it’ll ever be the same.”
Moore lies in “Tornado Alley,” which meteorologists define as “the region of the United States often visited in late spring and early summer by dangerous, sometimes violent, tornadoes,” according to weather.com.
Clapt said she believes that nothing is wrong with Moore.
“No matter what goes on in Moore, it is a really strong town, and it is a place where we all come together, and we can go through anything,” she said.
