How Southern Coloradans can help victims of severe tornadoes in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Multiple states in the Midwest are picking up the pieces after tornadoes devastated portions of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa.
So far, officials report five people are dead as a result of the storms.
The tragic scene unfolding there is striking a chord here in Southern Colorado with a member of the KRDO News Radio team, Dan Cochell.
Cochell warns that it's easy to look at severe storms and think it will never happen to you, but his story is proof tornadoes can come when you least expect them.
"Yes, Mother Nature is powerful. It's very mesmerizing, but there's also an opposite side of the story," said Cochell. "And that's what people have to keep in mind is these things are dangerous."
In August 1997, Cochell says he was watching TV in his McClave, Colorado mobile home with his twin brother Denny. That's when the Cochell twins noticed a severe weather banner running across the bottom of the television screen.
When Dan Cochell stepped outside, he says he immediately knew the storm was serious. He called for his twin brother to come join him in the car to drive to a safer place, but suddenly the wind picked up the mobile home with his brother inside.
"I woke up 40 yards away, face down in the mud with a blowout fracture," said Cochell. "And just a long story short, Denny died of his injuries seven days later."
Dan doesn't have photos or videos of the damage, because, in 1997, he didn't have access to a camera. Sadly, he also lost the majority of his family photos in the storm. Yet the memories of that day are what he can't lose.
As he looks at the devastation in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas, he says he can offer advice as to what helped him heal and rebuild.
"I relied on those dark feelings to actually realize that life doesn't go any further down than that," said Cochell. "And the only way to overcome something like this is to make your way up. So, I choose to remember it and use the circumstances of what happened that day to sort of power my life and realize that life doesn't get any worse than that."
WAYS TO DONATE AND HELP:
- Volunteer with the Oklahoma Red Cross
- Donate to Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief
- Donate to Salvation Army Disaster Relief
- Donate to The Nebraska & Iowa Tornado Relief Fund
- Donate to Nebraska Tornado Recovery Fund
