News 9’s David Payne Remembers Chasing May 3, 1999 Tornado

All the ingredients were there for tornadoes.

The storm that became that storm developed over Lawton. If it makes the turn at Chickasha, the bullseye is central Oklahoma. It’s Norman. It’s Moore. It’s Oklahoma City.

When it set back down for the third or fourth time now, it was the widest it had been. It was the most violent it had been all day. There was debris falling out of the sky.

That was the first time in my career that I chased or have covered severe weather that I felt like whatever I said it wasn't going to be enough or I couldn't do enough. As I pull up. it was kind of the first time in the metro that I was actually close to a neighborhood.

And it was gone and there was nothing left.

I was just so overwhelmed.

You're not human if it didn't change you and I think it changed all of us.