Nursing Home Residents Safe After Tornado Touches In Shawnee

Stories of survival are coming out after tornadoes tore through central Oklahoma Wednesday night, hitting countless buildings, homes, and a nursing home.

Staff at a Shawnee nursing home said nearly 80 residents were inside when a tornado hit the facility. Thankfully, everyone survived.

Restoration crews were busy boarding up the broken windows at Shawnee Colonial Estates.

"It was a good one, it was scary, it was coming straight for my house too," said Billy Carpenter.

Billy's house was spared in the storm, but the facility where 79 people call home was not so lucky.

Maintenance supervisor Clair Hehnly said the staff put all of the residents in the hallways away from the windows. That's part of the policy during tornado warnings and could have saved lives.

"If you went down the side over here, you'd notice all the windows are boarded up because all that came through," said Clair.

A step out of the back door of the nursing home used to show a storage facility and a YMCA. But now it's filled with debris from those shredded buildings.

Clair said no residents or staff inside the facility were hurt during the storm. Right after it passed, those residents got on ambulances and busses and relocated to new facilities.

Clair said the residents handled all of the chaos well and points to previous drills to get everyone ready for these situations.

"The reason I say that they were calm is cause I like to do a mock fire drill and they don't know when I'm gonna do it," Clair said.

Clair said they're already working on repairs to the facility but it's unknown when those residents can return home.