Even in the dark, I knew this was the worst tornado damage I'd ever seen.
I walked into the neighborhood hardest hit in Moore late Monday. I had heard the news on the radio on the way there, but those reports couldn't explain what I could see.
With only the glow of search lights at the school, I couldn't imagine what dawn's light would bring. I stopped and talked with two young men outside their trailers. Still intact but heavily damaged. They planned to sleep in their homes. Push a mattress up against the broken windows and guard what's left.
The only sounds were crickets, birds and the police helicopter circling above us, tethered to the ground by the spotlight beam. Still searching for people in the wreckage.
At dawn, the details emerged from the dark. It wasn't piles of debris I had seen. It was people's couches, lamps, toys and favorite outfits. Their prized possessions. Christmas gifts and family heirlooms ruined now, soaked in water and ripped by pieces of wood. There were photographs blown from homes and stuck in the mud.
On Wednesday afternoon I stood with a growing crowd of residents outside the same neighborhood. They're angry that they haven't been allowed back in yet. They're not shy about voicing their displeasure.
At 3 p.m. they are let in. They show their IDs and stream pass the National Guard soldiers and the police to sort through the pile of debris and look for what's left.
There are voices in the neighborhood now. Bright, hot sunlight. People anxious to share their stories. Brag about their son's instinct to pull people from the rubble. Stories of seeing hands push through debris.
Manuel Hernandez works in what was once the garage of his grandmother's home. There's a boat above him. Upended in the storm with its nose pointing toward the sky. He's reminiscing with his family about the things they find. "We still got Billy Simms autograph!" he shouts, coming up with a board, a note stuck to it with Simms name scrawled on it.
Manuel's grandmother, Linda Burgess, is looking for her bibles. The one her mother had and the one she was given as a child. She finds a breadbox that her son made for her in wood working class in the seventh grade. She finds a porcelain doll that her daughter gave her for Christmas. She was so excited getting it out of the box on Christmas that she broke the head off. They glued it back on. The tornado broke it back off.
Linda says that she'll rebuild. Definitely. They've talked about it and they can't imagine her living anywhere else. (You can hear more from Linda Burgess and her grandson Manuel Hernandez by watching this video)
Walking out of the neighborhood, I'm stopped nearly every block. A woman named Deborah gives me a water and tells me to travel safely. Another resident wants to email me the video he took on his phone as the tornado passed by on the next block. Throughout the neighborhood, people are working, greeting each other and holding up pieces of their lives that they can't believe are still intact.
Moore isn't OK. There's unimaginable grief and sorrow there. The rebuilding process has barely begun and will take years to complete. But walking through the neighborhood on Wednesday felt so different than it did in the darkness a few days before. People are back. Caring for each other, reminiscing, volunteering, laughing about memories close to the surface now and marveling at the destruction caused in a few moments of the storm. Moore isn't OK right now, but it won't take long before there's more happiness than sadness.
Follow Tulsa World Photo on Twitter.
PHOTO & VIDEO: View photography, videos and visual journalism from the Tulsa World staff.
Officials search for people in the wreckage of a home in a neighborhood near Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma on Monday, May 20, 2013. A large tornado damaged parts of the city on Monday evening. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Dawn breaks over wreckage in a neighborhood near Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. A large tornado damaged parts of the city on Monday evening. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
A torn photograph lies blocks away from damaged homes in a neighborhood near Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. A large tornado damaged parts of the city on Monday evening. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Dawn breaks over wreckage in a neighborhood near Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Nathaniel Hernandez looks out over his family's home as he helps clean up the damage in Moore on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Parts of the city were destroyed by a large tornado on Monday evening. Residents were allowed to legally enter their neighborhoods again on Wednesday afternoon. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
Linda Burgess carries a breadbox away from her home as she starts cleaning up her home in Moore on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. Linda's son made the breadbox for her when he was a child. Parts of the city were destroyed by a large tornado on Monday evening. Residents were allowed to legally enter their neighborhoods again on Wednesday afternoon. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World
