Oklahoma!

When I was in high school, one of the singing groups there sang the theme song from the movie Oklahoma! in a program.  I didn't ever see the movie, and I don't remember much of the song, but I sometimes sing the part I remember--usually when it would fit perfectly for Kansas.  "OOOOOOOOOOklahoma--where the wind comes sweeping down the plain, down the plain, and the waving wheat can sure smell sweet, when the wind comes right behind the rain."

Today I have Oklahoma on my mind, and whenever I think of the song, I can't get past the first syllable without hearing a wail or at least a moan in that long drawn-out OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  I'm very grateful that the death toll from yesterday's powerful F4 tornado has been revised downward from 91 to 24, and that among the school fatalities, there were only nine children instead of many more, but there is still a lot of grief and destruction to deal with.  Over 200 are injured, and hundreds of homes are destroyed.

In trying to visualize the nearly total destruction we're hearing about, Kansans will think of Greensburg, only Moore, OK was a much larger urban area.  In the late 90s, a similarly destructive storm also destroyed much of the city.  I knew this one was bad when the Weather Watchers Facebook site I was following yesterday said "An incredible tornado disaster is unfolding in Moore, OK . . . They need our prayers."  I couldn't have summed it up better myself.