ASU TEAM CAUGHT UP IN VIOLENT STORM

Members of the Arizona State softball team, in Oklahoma City for the Women’s College World Series, rode out the storm in an interior corridor of their hotel with other teams. Arizona

Republic sports reporter Tyler Killian, in Oklahoma City to cover the World Series, took shelter from the tornadoes in a separate hotel about 5 miles north of Will Rogers World Airport.

Killian said that, inside his hotel, which did not have a storm shelter, guests took various precautions to protect themselves. An elderly woman walked around the hotel wearing a motorcycle helmet.

As a tornado bore down on Oklahoma City, Killian huddled in a hotel room with another guest from Texas, using a mattress as protection.

“When it became clear that we were going to be in the direct path, we went into his hotel room, flipped over his mattress and huddled against the interior wall with the mattress covering us,” Killian said.

“There were no public shelters, so people were driving north to try to get away from it, and that might have been worse: The tornado ended up going north.”

Killian, who said the storm reminded him of an Arizona monsoon, with heavy rains, fierce winds and dark skies, was huddled against the mattress for more than an hour before it seemed safe enough to emerge.

The damage in that area of Oklahoma City was relatively minor, he said.