Bend woman, a Moore native, recalls the terror

Watching the scenes of destruction in Moore, Oklahoma, Kristy Sinsara knows her friends and family are safe, and is grateful for that.

Monday afternoon, they hunkered down in their storm cellars and waited for one of the worst tornadoes to hit Oklahoma to pass.

“Your life changes in eight minutes,” Sinsara said Tuesday. “All of a sudden, someone says, ‘There is a funnel cloud in the sky!’ — and eight minutes later it had turned into an EF4 tornado on the ground.”

Monday’s storm brings back memories of the EF5 tornado that hit her hometown on May 3rd, 1999. The Bend woman spent much of her young life there, attending elementary, middle and high school.

“Finally, Gary England comes on TV and says, ‘If you are above ground, you will not survive this,'” Sinsara recalled “My heart just sank.”

Sinsara was a college student, having dinner with a friend, when the record-breaking twister ripped through.

“I opened the door and just started screaming,” Sinsara said. “I was like, ‘Tami. we have to go!’ And you could just see this huge funnel cloud coming at us.”

Her story echoes those from people who survived Monday afternoon’s tornado. By Tuesday, they were left to pick up the pieces and get life back to normal, like they’ve done before.

“Watch the news and understand as a parent what that feels like, as a child what that must have been like, as a homeowner what that’s like,” Sinsara said. “Give to the Red Cross, do what you can.”