Insulation floated over debris-covered streets as residents in Norman apartments surveyed the damage by the tornado that touched down Sunday night.

Following the storm, residents living in off-campus apartment complexes expressed the need for accessible storm shelters.

Bruce Pollock, a meteorology senior who lives at The Avenue at Norman apartment complex located off of Southeast 12th Avenue, said the at-least EF 2 tornado and heavy winds damaged his residence.

Pollock said though he was not in his apartment when the tornado touched down, many of his friends asked where to seek shelter. Since The Ave doesn’t have a storm shelter, Pollock could only suggest hiding in the building’s innermost rooms or away from the west side of the compound, where the storm came from.

Pollock, who previously lived at Millennium apartments, said the lack of storm shelters in Norman apartments is nothing new. While he said he understands it isn’t financially reasonable for apartments to build shelters for residents, he wishes there were more alternatives.

Heavy Damage South Norman, Oklahoma Highway 9 and 12th. Down power lines and trees everywhere here. Stay safe tonight as this continues into Eastern Oklahoma. #okwx #tornado #Weather @NWSNorman pic.twitter.com/P3BtG9nSag

— Daniel (@danielcarterfsu) February 27, 2023

“I don't even care if the apartment complex itself builds a shelter,” Pollock said. ”But the City of Norman … We need more public sheltering options, especially on the south side of town where there aren't any options because being told to go to campus isn't viable.”

Many apartment complexes around Norman have no shelters available for residents. The Ave, Alight 12th Avenue, The Hampton Woods, The Collective, The Renaissance and Alight Norman are several examples of apartments with no storm shelter.

'It's not really that safe'

Brooke Spears hunkered in the bathroom of her second-floor apartment when Norman’s tornado sirens wailed at 9:16 p.m.

The Hampton Woods’ resident and her boyfriend grabbed their pets, took shelter and hoped to weather the incoming cyclone. That was, until the wind started howling and the couple peeked onto their wooden balcony.

East of Oak Tree Avenue in Norman, the apartment complex was one of many buildings impacted by the tornado Sunday night. Spears, like many residents, was left without an adequate tornado shelter.

“We heard it got crazy, so we came out to the balcony,” Spears said. “We wanted to see what was going on. Then, the wind started picking up, and we were like, ‘Shit, get inside.’”

Spears and her partner rushed back into the bathroom. Once she took two steps inside, the power went out and trees started snapping all around the apartment complex.

“It was just so overwhelming that all of this happened,” Spears said. “It just felt surreal. Walking outside. All the trees on the ground. Everybody was outside at the moment we came out. It felt like a whole community over here just out with their flashlights, checking on everybody. It was crazy.”

While taking refuge in the bathroom, Spears remembered hearing a loud “thud” on the roof of her building amid the peak of the storm. A large, metal power line collapsed through the branches of a tree and onto the apartment’s roof.

Branches lined the ground and the residents emerged from hiding once the storm passed. She remembered hearing the sound of running water, which was later found to be an upended natural gas line next to the neighborhood.

Emergency services paraded through the streets, asking if residents were OK. The moments were surreal for Spears, who had never been through a natural disaster before, but her biggest fear was being without a safe shelter.

“That's why it was so scary,” Spears said. “We were upstairs in our bathrooms. It’s really not that safe.”

'It just came out of nowhere'

Zachary Acosta, an OU alum, and his fiancé Morgan Gerhardt, milled around the complex with a flashlight in hand after the storm.

After waiting hours for the crews to cap a gas leak, Acosta and Gerhardt discovered they had a pole lodged into their black, Hyundai sedan.

The couple, like Spears, live in the Hampton Woods’ apartments. The pole was a location meant for throwing away dog feces found around the buildings.

After the tornado struck, poop, the pole and several branches were flung onto the car, seemingly totaling it. The couple is originally from Clinton, Oklahoma.

“It just came out of nowhere,” Acosta said. “Now we’re just talking to insurance to see what they want us to do. The little pole over there that had the doggie bags just ripped off and went into our car.”

Without a safe shelter, Acosta and Gerhart were forced to take cover inside of their bathtub. They remembered feeling extra anxious due to the tub’s proximity to a window, as branches, metal and other debris crashed into the surrounding buildings.

“That's about it,” Acosta said of the type of shelter provided by the apartments. “We live on the bottom floor so that's the best place for us. It's right in the middle. … It seems like everybody was doing all right. Last night, we were all kind of milling around and talking to everybody making sure everyone was all right.”

'It was a shock to come home'

The Ave, which mainly experienced damages to the sides of buildings and roofs, wrote in a Monday afternoon email to residents that they are working to repair any damages to the outside and inside of the apartments.

Additionally, The Ave wrote the insulation — which Pollock called “dandruff” coating the street, cars and sides of buildings at The Ave — is not a health hazard, and they are currently taking steps to clear it off the buildings, sidewalks and roads.

This was from yesterday’s #norman #Tornado event at the Ave at Norman. Video is from a friend that she sent me as her apartment was two building west of mine. Scary, just hear those winds and look at that debris.#wx #norman #oklahoma #OklahomaWX #storm pic.twitter.com/jJNs0l3Iet

— Sheridan Vargas (@sher_wx) February 27, 2023

According to the Norman Transcript, Norman adopted the policy of encouraging people to shelter in place since having a public shelter might result in traffic jams that would increase liability.

Pollock said though the apartment complexes he lived in suggested going to campus for cover, OU’s campus doesn’t have space for non-resident students to take shelter.

According to an OU spokesperson, OU Campus buildings are not public storm shelters since space is only available for on-campus students, staff and faculty.

In light of last night’s storm, Pollock said he wished The Ave sent out messages warning residents where to shelter or what to do in severe weather.

“Yesterday, the messaging could have been, ‘Hey, there's severe weather in the forecast, do you have a way of receiving warnings,’’” Pollock said. “‘Do you know where to go and shelter? If you don't feel safe in your apartment, here are some public sheltering options maybe you can go to that aren't campus (and) that aren't the weather center.’”

Alongside Pollock, Ashleigh Gill is a resident at The Ave. She graduated from OU in December 2022 and was not inside the apartments when the tornado hit.

She returned home around 11:45 p.m. and remembered seeing power lines down, while police cars and fire trucks worked to aid the people inside of the buildings. Gill’s roommates were in the living room, unaware of the storm’s severity, as it ripped off the side of her building.

“They were sitting in the living room and didn't realize that it was as bad as it was,” Gill said. “They had heard how loud it was outside, but they thought it was just really heavy winds. They didn't realize till afterwards what had actually happened.”

Gill, in turn, was watching the radar as it converged into the city. Once the news described the severity of the storm, she knew the situation was serious. She immediately crouched down with her friend in a hallway, with a mattress over their bodies.

“I kept an eye on the radar, and I saw that the storm was hooking as soon as it was about to hit Norman,” Gill said. “I was like, ‘Oh no, this is it. Here we go.’ Then, I heard the wind howling and then the siren started going off.”

Once the sun rose, the damage became more clear. Gill and her roommates’ bedrooms were untouched, but she heard reports of some buildings plastered with fiberglass, both inside and out.

Some damage here at The Ave Norman (Just south of 12th Ave and Highway 9). Appears everyone is okay, although hearing of lots of broken windows and the powerlines out front were down @NWSNorman pic.twitter.com/eNqsPFLZ3G

— Preston Roesslet (@roessletwx) February 27, 2023

A fence, which enclosed two spotted cows, was ripped to shreds. The two cows occasionally poked their heads through the fence to seemingly survey the damage themselves.

“It was a shock to come home,” Gill said. “There was just slats all over the stairs and white stuff everywhere. Our back porch is covered in insulation, but underneath our roof over here that's been damaged as well. So yeah, not a good time.”

This article was edited at 6:34 p.m. on Feb. 28 to reflect that the Millennium apartment complex has a storm shelter.

This story was edited by Alexia Aston, Karoline Leonard, Jazz Wolfe and Colton Sulley.