Incredible scenes of bravery after Oklahoma tornado horror

 
Survival: An emergency triage area is set up next to the IMAX theatre for people injured by a tornado that struck in Moore, Oklahoma
David Gardner21 May 2013

Incredible stories of survival and bravery have emerged amid the heartbreak of the giant tornado which struck in Oklahoma

One teacher laid on top of six children to protect them in the bathroom of Plaza Towers Elementary School as the room was literally torn apart at the seams.

Another was seriously injured as she did the same to cover three more young pupils. All nine pupils made it through unscathed.

One mother told how a wall was lifted off her young son’s leg. ‘He was unhurt,’ she said. ‘Just a little scratch on his leg.’

So many residents and emergency workers rushed to help pull surviving children from the rubble that police eventually had to turn people away.

The older children were bussed to a nearby church before the tornado struck at just after 3pm but about 75 students in the younger grades – kindergarten and classes one to three – were still inside the school when the tornado touched down above their heads.

Madi Alexander, who lives about a mile away from the school, said: ‘As soon as the tornado passed over I saw everybody rushing to the school. People were on foot and in pick-up trucks.’

Tiffany Thronesberry said she heard from her mother, Barbara Jarrell, shortly after the tornado.

‘I got a phone call from her screaming, 'Help! Help! I can't breathe. My house is on top of me!’ she added.

Miss Thronesberry hurried to her mother's house, where first responders had already pulled her out. She was taken to hospital for treatment of cuts and bruises.

‘We’ve lost everything. Nothing is left,’ said one resident, who added: ‘We’ll get through. At least my family is okay.’

Lando Hite, found shirtless and covered in dirt, said he took shelter in a stable with about 80 horses.

'I lost everything,’ he said. ‘We might have one horse left out of all of them.'

He described the tornado was 'unbearably loud' and 'straight out of the movie Twister.'

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