One Year After Norman Tornado, Repairs Still Needed

One year after a devastating tornado ripped through Norman, many parts of the city are cleaned up, but there are still some areas that need some major work.

Friday, April 19th 2013, 8:44 pm

By: News 9


One year after a devastating tornado ripped through Norman, many parts of the city are cleaned up, but there are still some areas that need some major work.

The apartments here off 24th Ave. and Brooks St. were some of the hardest hit by the tornado and just a year later, you can still see a lot of the damage left.

"What a nightmare, an eyesore," says Steve Logsdon's who's lived in his Norman home for seven years.

"Bring the neighborhood back like it was."

Logsdon lives across the street from the former, The Brooks Apartments. It is still in need of much repair after a tornado tore off the roof last year and shattered windows. Parts of the city were cleaned and fixed right after the storm, like the West Oaks Apartments, which took a beating by the tornado, are repaired.

"There were definitely things to be addressed and we moved as quickly as we could to start addressing particularly the cleanup issues, then later some rebuilding efforts," says Terry Floyd, Norman Development Coordinator.

Floyd says the city says Norman only has minor issues to touch up now, such as a new pavilion at Rotary Park that was destroyed in the tornado. Construction at the apartments on Brooks has been going on for a couple months. Workers are replacing the roofs.

"We are aware of their rebuilding efforts, and I know they've been working very hard on that and have utilized some city input on making sure their building's to code and so forth. So yes, we're assisting them," Floyd says.

Logsdon says he understands it takes time to rebuild, but the other neighbors believe delays in the apartments' repair could bring down the area's property value.

"It hurts the neighborhood, you know people coming down here," Logsdon says. "There are a few houses for sale, but in coming across here, they see these apartments and are going 'Do I really want to live here?'"

Delta Solutions Construction is repairing the apartments. Workers say they'd like to have to have the place fixed in three months but have had problems with getting the wood needed.

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