It was at her home that a tornado at least a half-mile wide touched down and continued on a deadly path that killed 44 others across the state May 3. Will Hogan spent time this past weekend searching through the rubble of his Del City home, trying to salvage mementos from the 18 years he and his family lived here. Not much could be saved. When the tornado hit, Hogan, his wife Linda and his daughter Karen were huddled in a closet, under a mattress, until the roof of the house came off. Tornado rubble dumped, recycled Central Oklahoma still bears the scars of that horrible night.
Entire neighborhoods are no more than piles of wood and bricks and household appliances.
Cars were left crumpled in streets and yards are now neatly lined, the broken glass looking like delicate old lace. Crews using heavy equipment continue to clear the debris from streets and residential lots. Truckloads of tornado rubble have been moved to a temporary dump site in south Oklahoma City. Over the past three weeks, nearly 400,000 cubic yards of debris has been dumped at the one site. The debris will be sorted and recycled if possible.