By head weather analyst Philip Duncan — On Tuesday someone tweeted a video from Oklahoma capturing the moment a family came out of their storm shelter to find their home – and every house and tree in their neighbourhood – was gone.

The man filming was in stunned silence until he quietly said out loud “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away”.  Oklahoma – like all its surrounding states – is in the bible belt.  Many people in this part of the US wanted Mitt Romney to win, they love their guns and love God even more.   It’s a little different to life in New Zealand.

In recent years I’ve been fortunate to visit parts of the mid-west and south.  From being in New Orleans to survey Katrina’s damage years on, to being in Denver where hail the size of baseballs fall during storms, to being in Nashville where tornadoes and spring storms frequently take lives and homes and cause significant flooding.

The one thing that hits me the most when I’m travelling there is that despite these clear and obvious conservative differences between where they live and where I’m from, most people in the mid-west are as warm and as kind as most Kiwis are. In fact, the accent is the only thing that really makes us different as people.  They are kind and incredibly loving people.  I’m yet to meet an American in America that has matched the more stereotypical views we see on TV far too often.

My heart breaks for those that lost children and loved ones in Moore – because the parents, kids and teachers  reminded me of schools my Dad taught at for many years.  Now this small school is headlining international news.

Here in New Zealand many of us couldn’t even comprehend a tornado larger than the town or suburb we live in heading directly towards us – this one was almost 4kms across at one point, twice the length of Queen Street in Auckland.. 

These communities in the south and mid-west are very strong – they will rebuild.  Family, Friends and of course Faith will give them the strength to do it.

*WeatherWatch.co.nz has very close ties with the US – via CNN America, CNN International and The Weather Channel (weather.com).

Moore, Okla. Tornado Facts (via NWS)

• Tornado was on the ground for 45 minutes
• Tornado travelled 27kms on the ground
• The tornado took just 10 mins to go from EF0 to EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale
• Winds peaked at 340km/h.
• Tornado was EF5 when it hit school.