Moore, Oklahoma Tornado

Roopa and me. And since Roopa doesn't look too happy in this photo....

...I'll give you another to prove that she is one of the most cheerful people I know.

I live in Maryland and Austin, TX. In Maryland, we get tornadoes (about 10 a year), but all of them are usually EF0 to EF1. These cause damage and a few injuries, but they are pretty minor tornadoes. That is not to say we don't take them seriously. People have died from tornadoes in Maryland, but they are nowhere near the scale of tornadoes in the Plains.

One of my best friends, Roopa, recently moved from Maryland to Moore, Oklahoma. I just received a text from her, after worrying for most of the evening. She and her family are okay. Their house is okay. The EF4/5 tornado came within half a mile of their house.

I am so grateful that Roopa and her family are okay. Unfortunately, as I write this, 51 people, almost half of them children, are confirmed dead. I'm not religious, but I do pray that survivors in the elementary school are found.

Not to make light of the situation, but I hope that someone some day invents a method that would make building basements and underground shelters in the Plains easy and cost effective, and in the process help save lives during tornadoes like this.