On May 3, 1999 the strongest tornado ever and strongest winds ever recorded on Earth passed within 5 miles of my house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Tornado_Outbreak
In the south Oklahoma City area close to 10k homes were either flattened or damaged to the point of being uninhabitable, yet thanks to our local weather channels and the NOAA Storm Prediction Center being only 20 miles away there were only 36 deaths. One advantage of being in tornado alley is that the Radar and tornado experts here are really good at letting you know when and where they are forming. For the 1999 tornado we had up to 30 minutes warning and 2 news choppers in the air showing where the tornado was going.
I drive by this area several times a week
This is the High School I graduated from
To answer baddog's question, Tornado season is in full swing. We had a few last week and even one in March during a real warm spell. It just depends on when we get the cool air mixing with the warm air. The location of the jet stream is a big factor. We have strong storms starting tonight and are supposed to have a bad pattern for tornadoes for the next 7 days in a row. May is usually the worst month, so sounds like perfect timing.