As Mallory Woodard settled in at her rural home, just southwest of Cole, on the evening of April 19, she kept a close eye on severe weather forming across central portions of the state.
Her husband, Jacob, was in Norman for a work function that evening but had already called to let her know it looked like they were in for some pretty rough storms.
The couple, who were both raised in Garvin County, had no way of knowing that before the evening was over their home would fall victim to a powerful tornado.
Mallory had already prepared for storms, taking all her hanging plants inside and tying up her porch swing so it wouldn’t knock against the house with the wind.
“I just thought it was going to be a regular thunderstorm,” she said.
She had started a children’s show on the television for her 4-year-old daughter, Ella, and was watching weather coverage on her phone as she monitored messages from a group text with her extended family.
She was watching coverage of storms further to the east that could potentially impact other family members when she heard the meteorologist say there was a tornado forming north of Blanchard. While that storm was closer to her area, she said it still seemed far enough away not to be alarming.
Mallory walked outside, just to take a look for herself, thinking the biggest threat at that moment was large hail.
“The wind was blowing, and I looked at the sky. I didn’t see a funnel cloud. I didn’t see a wall cloud. I didn’t see any dark clouds. I mean, I didn’t see anything crazy. And so, I thought we were still good,” Mallory said. “It all happened just so fast.”
When she walked back in the house, she said she realized the power was off. She also wasn’t receiving messages from the group text anymore.
“I just got this gut-wrenching feeling, and I was like, ‘It’s time to go get in the cellar.’”
She snatched Ella up, wrapped her in a blanket, and turned to open the screen door, only to have the wind catch it and pull it from her hand.
She watched as their wood smoker rolled off the porch and the chicken coop they had been building lifted off the ground and turned toward the house.
“I saw that, and I thought, ‘Those things are heavier than I am,’” she said.
She realized they didn’t have time to go to the cellar, so they headed for the hall bathroom and hunkered down. She said she immediately started praying, “asking God to send legions of angels and to make the studs strong and hold the studs of my house together.”
As the roar outside grew louder, she managed to get a call out to her grandfather, Dave Johnson.
Johnson, who is Garvin County’s Emergency Management Director, was working that night near Lindsay, keeping an eye on storms moving toward Garvin County from the southwest.
When he got Mallory’s call, he said, “The background was really loud. You could hear the hail and the storm noise. She said she was really scared.”
He asked her if it was too late to get to the cellar, and Mallory told him she was afraid to take Ella outside because of the hail and how hard wind was blowing.
The noise continued to increase, and Mallory said she now realizes she was likely hearing the roof coming off the house.
“I said, ‘Pawpaw, I think it’s right over the top of my house. Can you please pray?’”
After they prayed together, Johnson said he hung up the phone, partly so he could get first responders headed to Mallory. He was also concerned about tying up the line, because he was still receiving messages from family members through the group text and knew Jacob was desperate to reach Mallory.
Mallory said Johnson told her later that hanging up the phone with her that night was one of the hardest things he’s ever done.
“It was, absolutely. I felt like I was abandoning her in her moment when she needed someone,” Johnson said. “But I also wanted to get her help as quickly as possible, and I was 30 minutes away.”
Mallory was able to contact Jacob shortly that, telling him she loved him and that the storm was pretty bad.
She said she heard the wind as it started whistling through the house, and she covered Ella with her own body as rainwater and insulation started coming down on top of them. She said they could hear their dog whimpering from the laundry room.
“I just kept telling Ella over and over, ‘It’s okay. Jesus is with us,’” Mallory said, adding that it seemed to be taking forever for the storm to pass. “It just kept getting worse.”
As panic continued to set in, Mallory managed to make one more call.
“For whatever reason, I called 9-1-1. Cause, you know, that’s what you do in an emergency,” Mallory said wryly. “As I’m calling them, it’s ringing, and I’m thinking, ‘They can’t do anything for me.’”
Once on the line, she gave the dispatcher her name and address and told her she and Ella were in the house. She asked if they knew where the tornado was and told them to start sending people out her way, then hung up.
“I realized in that moment, I just really don’t have any control. This is all in God’s hands,” Mallory said.
She continued to pray with Ella and reassure her Jesus was with them. Eventually the wind began to subside.
As it did, she said she doesn’t know why, but she scooped Ella up and they went to the cellar, where they sat on the ground until she felt like she had her bearings.
It’s a move she laughs about now.
“I was thinking maybe there’s going to be a second one! I just needed to be underground,” she said.
When she felt ready, she opened the cellar door and peeked out.
She said most of her roof was missing, blown insulation was strewn everywhere and large, mature trees across the property were down.
She spotted neighbors running toward them to check on them. One neighbor began to cry from relief when she realized they were all right. The woman said they had watched from a distance as the storm moved right over the Woodard’s home.
It wasn’t long before Jacob, Johnson, and Mallory’s sister and brother-in-law arrived. Overjoyed to find his family safe, Jacob made a quick assessment of the property and found both of their dogs and all 10 of the family’s chickens safe and sound.
Johnson said when he got there, he went to check on Ella, who was sitting in the car.
He said, “So, you had a big adventure?”
“Pawpaw, my house is broken,” Ella told him.
He agreed with her observation and told her they could get a new house, before repeating the question, “But it was a big adventure?”
He said Ella’s solemn response was, “It was bad.”
The storm that moved over the Woodard’s house was later rated an EF3 tornado with wind speeds of up to 165 mph. One of 18 tornados confirmed across the state that night, it caused at least one fatality less than a mile away from the Woodard’s home.
“That just broke my heart,” Mallory said, adding that while she is grateful she and Ella were spared, “It was just gut-wrenching to hear that people lost their lives.”
The family has spent the last few weeks cleaning up, emotionally processing the damage to their home and trying to find some sense of normalcy. Their home was insured, and they plan to rebuild on the same site. They have found a home to rent in the meantime, and Jacob’s employer has helped with moving and storing some of their belongings.
“Every little detail God has just taken care of us,” Mallory said.
While the journey her family has been on since the night of the storm hasn’t necessarily been an easy one, she said overall her faith has been strengthened by the experiences of the last month.
When asked what her advice to others might be, Woodard chuckled and said, “Obviously, be weather aware, and don’t wait until the last minute to get in the cellar.”
Then, growing serious she adds, “But honestly, pray. Go to Jesus. God is good, and he is real, and he hears our prayers.”
