A place in the cellar saves a neighbor

MOORE, Okla. - Debbie Guidry thought the tornado was tugging at her storm-cellar door.

The heavy metal door would rise slightly, then crash back down. It happened several times before her husband, Robert, went to check on it. When he peeked through a crack, he saw shoes.

Their neighbor, Don Bessinger, was trying to get in the storm cellar as a tornado bore down on the Oklahoma City suburb Monday afternoon.

Robert Guidry unchained the door and let Bessinger and his border collie in the basement.

“They saved my life,” said Bessinger. “I had one minute to get in there before the tornado hit.”

Four adults and two dogs rode out the tornado in that storm shelter on Southwest Sixth Street. The house above was destroyed, reduced to a mound of wood, bricks and home appliances.

The Guidrys pulled out some Christmas decorations, garage tools and car supplies that they were salvaging Tuesday.

They had lived in the house for 31 years, and Debbie said they may rebuild on the same spot.

“I love it here,” she said. “It was a nice neighborhood.Several of us have lived in this neighborhood for over 30 years, so we’ve grown up and grown old together.”

Bessinger said he returned home from work early Monday, arriving about 20 minutes before the tornado.

“Channel 4 said if you live in Moore, you cannot survive this unless you’re underground,” said Bessinger.

That’s when he headed across the street to the Guidrys’ house.

Bessinger said he remembers the tornado that hit Moore in 1999. It had winds of more than 300 mph.

“This one’s the worst,” he said of Monday’s tornado. “I don’t think I’m going to stay here.” ‘WE STILL HAVE EACH OTHER’

Rain fell heavily throughout much of the day Tuesday, hampering recovery efforts. People walked down streets carrying garbage bags full of belongings.

Recovered clothing was wet and muddy, but it could be washed, said Kandi Scott, who was at work in a medical building a few blocks away when her house on Southwest Sixth Street was destroyed.

Saunia Stewart was helping relatives remove belongings Tuesday from their house on Heather Lane. The tornado had peeled away parts of the roof, making it easier to access the attic from the roof than from inside the house.

“We still have each other,” Stewart said. “These things are replaceable.”

They found an American flag inside and hung it up across the front of the house.

When asked about the general good nature of those whose homes were destroyed, Stewart said, “It’s just how we were raised.”

The Guidrys demonstrated that good nature Tuesday, saying they’d planned to downsize before the storm forced the issue.

“We’re thankful that we had someplace to go,” Debbie Guidry said. “It was just stuff, and we probably had too much stuff anyway.”

Inside the cellar, they could hear the tornado rumbling like a train, which is how survivors often describe the storms. They also could see through the vents because the tornado had blown the covers off.

“We could see the debris flying around outside,” Debbie Guidry said. “My husbandsaid, ‘Look at all the birds,’ but it wasn’t birds.”

Debbie Guidry said they knew something was seriously wrong because they could see the sky through those vents. Normally, a patio blocked the view.

VEHICLES CRUSHED, GUNS GONE

After the storm passed, the Guidrys could see thatthe chimney still stood near what had been the back of the house. A brick wall had collapsed on the GMC Terrain sport utility vehicle they had bought just two months ago. Bible-study books that were on a shelf inside that wall covered the hood of the Terrain.

Bessinger’s home was flattened, reduced to rubble. He said the storm also destroyed his new Nissan Frontier pickup and a Chevrolet Impala. And he’d only found three of the 15 guns that the tornado had taken.

The tornado carried some of Bessinger’s family pictures far away.

Bessinger said his wife’s cousin in Choctaw, Okla., woke up Tuesday morning to find a photograph of Bessinger’s wife’s mother stuck on the fence beside her house. The tornado had taken it from Bessinger’s house in Moore, 25 miles away.

Bessinger said he was worried that his next-door neighbor, Mike, might not survive. Mike and his wife tried to ride the storm out in the bathtub, but Bessinger found the man after the tornado in a field behind his house.

Bessinger said Mike had a bad head wound, and it took a while to get an ambulance to him. Bessinger said he didn’t know his neighbor’s last name because he had recently moved into the house nextdoor. He thought the man’s wife had a broken arm.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin toured the damage late Tuesday afternoon.

She stopped to talk for a moment with Amber Billings, who was pulling a red Western Flyer wagon carrying some of her sister Camille’s belongings.

Billings, who lives in Bay City, Texas, said her sister’s house was destroyed by the tornado and she was helping her salvage some things.

“Thanks for coming to help her,” the governor said. “I hope she’s OK.”