There was a tornado warning for OCU students on Wednesday, Oct. 13. The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 5:07 AM, and subsequently, sirens were activated. Students were notified to seek shelter via Blue Alert at 5:27 AM.
According to Levi Harrel, the best practice for students is to be weather aware.
“First and foremost, we encourage students to be weather aware, tune into local news sources online, on television, or via streaming services, get information that way,” Harrel said.
Harrel said students should seek shelter when advised by local authorities or by university officials.
“We have several tornado shelters in residence halls, as well as academic buildings such as Goldstar, and the basement of the Chapel,” Harrel said. Several students expressed concern about OCU’s tornado protocol, as well as the delayed response to the severe weather.
According to junior psychology major Hannah Prentice, Blue Alert did not inform students to take shelter until after the tornado warning had passed campus.
“The Emergency Alert from the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 5:07 am,” Prentice said. “At that time, the news was saying that the severe weather was headed right toward OCU and the pocket of weather they were concerned about was going to form a tornado would be coming right onto campus. By 5:20 am, the storm had moved so fast, the news was saying that OCU was safe and our campus was mainly in danger of flooding.”
According to Prentice, OCU’s Blue Alert system was not activated until well after the initial tornado warning.
“If anything, had this been a severe and life-threatening tornado, our campus would have already been in grave danger, with no word or comment from the university by the time it was gone,” Prentice said.
“In my opinion and from experience from 20 years of tornado seasons, with a real emergency, in order to potentially save students and keep us safe using the Blue Alert system, something would have needed to be out by 5:10 am at the latest.”
Junior music theater major Ella Dolynchuk said that as a student living in Cokesbury Court, there was no clear direction as to where to shelter during the tornado.
“For kids who didn’t grow up in tornado zones, this kind of experience can be scary,” Dolynchuk said. “I hope President Evans can meet with university officials to come up with a better system for the future, for when this happens again.”
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