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Deadly tornados tore through several Oklahoma communities on May 19, 20 and 31, 2013. These are the stories of natural disaster and its aftermath, and of communities healing and recovering.

Scientists, City Officials Say Moore's Warren Theatre Not A Severe Weather Destination

Jamin Yeager
/
Aerial Oklahoma
The Warren Theatre in Moore in the days after the May 20, 2013 tornado.

As the state prepares for another round of severe weather Saturday, city officials in Moore are worried about residents taking shelter in a local movie theater that held up well during the May 20, 2013 tornado.

“People think that the Warren Theatre is magic,” said National Severe Storms Laboratory senior scientist Harold Brooks. “The Warren Theatre was basically not hit by the tornado. It survived [as well as] it did because it didn't get hit by the tornado.”

Moore Emergency Management Director Gayland Kitch told television station KOCO the theatre isn’t any safer than most buildings if it took a direct hit.

“It may be very well built but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an engineered shelter; in fact, it’s not an engineered shelter.”

The EF-5 twister completely destroyed the Moore Medical Center, less than a quarter-mile from the Warren Theatre.

“I'm pretty sure that people will be showing up at the Warren when there's a tornado watch this year, and that's just not a very good idea,” Brooks said during KGOU and the Oklahoma Tornado Project’s March 12 public forum on storm safety and preparedness. “The difference in the winds that the medical center got and the theatre got was huge.”

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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