Recent Oklahoma Storms Spur New Website

Darren Brown, News9

OKLAHOMA CITY --  Finding a safe place to ride out Oklahoma's storms can be difficult, but an Oklahoma City man hopes to make it easier with a new website.

ShelterFinder.org was launched last Thursday in response to Tuesday's tornado outbreak.

Joshua Trent is the site's creator.  He grew up in western Oklahoma and claims to have had his share of close calls.  As a highschooler he watched from a school bus as a large tornado destroyed parts of Cordell, Oklahoma.

"And then we had to actually drive through Cordell and see all the damage,"Trent said.  "It had pretty much flattened the city."

Those images stuck in Trent's 'mind, and were the inspiration for ShelterFinder.org.  The idea is not a new one to Trent.  He had thought of it before, but he was forced to put it on the back burner, until last week.

"I had the idea about a year ago," Trent said.  "With these tornados last week, it kinda refueled my passion to start it."

The site currently has less than a dozen locations, mainly ones that Trent already knew about, but he hopes to have thousands of locations available within a year.

The site provides a place to submit locations or even to submit personal stories of your own tornado experiences.

 "It's really worth it 'cause there's so many people that pass away or are victims of tornados," said Trent.  "There should be a better system in place to help these people find shelter."