‘It gets to you’: Oklahoma family reflects on damage after neighbors die in tornado

By Stef Manchen

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    PRYOR, Oklahoma (KJRH) — Right off West 470 Rd. in Pryor sits Allie Douglas’s home. From the looks of it, the path of the EF-3 tornado went right by them, missing her house by mere feet.

The gravity of the situation, Douglas said, is only just starting to settle.

“I know I was blessed,” said Douglas. “I had to have been, because like I said, seeing all around me and even in our yard and stuff, seeing that devastation and you look at our house, it’s like that had to have been a miracle.”

Douglas and her husband sheltered at home Saturday night. Her mother-in-law asked if they wanted to come with her into town to the storm shelter, but they didn’t want to leave their pets behind.

“Typical Oklahoman, it’s just a storm, it’ll come, it’ll go was my attitude,” she said. “It started getting really loud, and you could kind of feel it. You know, you could kind of feel like the air was kind of pushing in on you.”

They got into the center of the home. All of their bathrooms had windows, so they didn’t feel like the recommendation of getting into the tub was a safe option.

The next thing Douglas knew, her ears were popping. She said as the roar grew louder, it sounded like something was right outside her front door.

She later learned that it likely was.

The path of the tornado appeared to have torn right past Douglas, ripping trees up from their roots before dropping down the hill behind the house.

Down the hill is where the Lee family lived. They lost both Linda Lee and Tawna Doran in the storm.

“You see how much it could have done more,” said Douglas. “You feel blessed, but I think sometimes at the same time, I kinda feel guilty that my home’s still standing and my neighbors, they don’t have a home anymore. It gets to you.”

Lee shares the land with her brother-in-law R. L. Couch.

His home did suffer a bit more, losing parts of the garage and his roof. Just behind his home, an old sewing shop that belonged to his mother-in-law and late wife.

Even with so many memories destroyed, Couch leans into his faith.

“You have to be strong, you know, like I said, what can you do but cry or laugh,” said Couch. “Somebody was with us to keep us from being hurt, homeless, so I’m thankful for that.”

With that spirit of strength, Couch said it’s not lost on him that he could have lost so much.

“We were so fortunate, being so close,” he said. “Were on top of the hill and they were at the bottom of the hill, and you would think that the storm would’ve gone over them, but it didn’t.”

2 News spoke to Adam Lee, who lost his wife and mother in the storm, off camera.

He said he’s not ready to speak publicly with his children still in the hospital.

We are respecting his wishes and will follow up when he’s ready.

A GoFundMe and a GiveSendGo have been set up to help the family not only cover medical and funeral expenses, but get them back on their feet after losing everything in the storm.

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