Brooklyn man survives Oklahoma tornado

NBC New York - An Oklahoma tornado survivor with New York City roots is thankful he and his family escaped serious harm but now faces the devastating dilemma of whether to abandon the life he has built in Moore for the last 18 years...

carrieheals

May 23, 2013

NBC New York – An Oklahoma tornado survivor with New York City roots is thankful he and his family escaped serious harm but now faces the devastating dilemma of whether to abandon the life he has built in Moore for the last 18 years.

Saad Muhammed lives in the western part of Moore, close to the Oklahoma City border. Originally from East Flatbush, he left Brooklyn in the late 1980s and has been living in Oklahoma for the last 18 years.

He was inside his home with his wife Desiree and their twin teenage boys when the tornado swept through. Saad ushered them into a tiny closet.

“I put the blanket on them, and I jumped on top of the blanket — just in case something came down and hit me first, so I could protect them,” he said.

Desiree recalled, “Our ears started popping, and we just went in there and we were like, ‘It’s coming now.’ And we could hear, it was almost like a train.”

Saad walked NBC 4 New York through his tornado-ravaged home on South Robinson Avenue in Moore Wednesday. Debris was scattered everywhere, and part of his roof was ripped off. The ceiling was caved in, with a two-by-four protruding through the living room ceiling. His children’s bedrooms were turned upside down.

With 18 years of memories, Saad and Desiree aren’t quite ready to say goodbye.

“It’s now hitting me, how difficult it is to know that you’re not coming back,” said Desiree. “And I keep wanting to come back here.”

“This is the hard part. We’re at a friend’s house, and I wake up and I’m thinking I’m in my bed. But it takes that few seconds and then I just keep wanting to come here, and I don’t want them to tear this part down,” Desiree said in tears. “I know it’s just a house, but it’s my house.”

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