Bank Vault Saves 22 People from Moore Oklahoma Tornado

• By Ginger Hill
• May 23, 2013

Residing in “Tornado Alley” my whole life, I have seen my share of high, twisty winds, hail, black skies and rain, as the weather alarms on the TV sounded, urging my family to take shelter. As a little girl, I would grab my duffel bag filled with my most prized possessions, my favorite stuffed animals, as well as a change of clothes, a pillow and a blanket, and my family would head to our neighbor’s tornado shelter to “ride out” the storm. I can for sure sympathize with the residents of Moore, Oklahoma.

Before devastation struck the town of Moore, located south of Oklahoma City, employees of Tinker Federal Credit Union received the news: a tornado was, in fact, on its way.

The 14 quick-thinking, credit union employees alerted everyone inside the facility that sirens were about to go off, but that a tornado was still a good distance away. This allowed everyone, the employees and 8 credit union members, who were doing business inside the financial institution, to take cover.

Squeezing into the vault and shutting the door at the very last minute, so people didn’t have to be inside any longer than was necessary, people began to pray out loud as the whole vault rocked back and forth, and the people inside could hear the devastation occurring on the outside.

Jan Davis, an employee of the credit union, said, “It was crowded, but if there were more people, we would have crowded them right in.”

All 22 people inside the bank vault survived without any injuries.

Oh, and because we are your security resource, according to Tinker Federal Credit Union’s Facebook page, “The computer systems we use in our branches simply pass data back and forth to our main systems which is not located in a branch. No member data or paper files with member information are stored in our branches, including the Moore branch, which was destroyed in [the] tornado.”

Even though this is "Tornado Alley," this is home.

Sources:

http://situationroom.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/22/22-people-survived-in-bank-vault/?hpt=hp_t2 

https://www.facebook.com/TinkerFCU