Natural disasters hit states nationwide, but Oklahoma is, as the Associated Press calls it, Disaster Central.
Twisters and harsh storms ripped apart Moore, along with other cities in Oklahoma; the state is first on the list of tornado disasters, and comes in at number three for flooding, according to information released by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The tornado was named the 74 presidential disaster stated in Oklahoma over the past 60 years. Merely the larger and more heavily populated states of California and Texas have had more than that.
Keep in mind, those numbers do not include drought, which plagues the Sooner state nearly every year.
Out of the 25 counties that have logged disasters the most number of times since 1953, nine are in Oklahoma.
Additionally, Oklahoma County has appeared on the disaster list 38 times.
That's more than the whole state of New Jersey.
Caddo County, west of the Oklahoma City downtown area, has had federal disasters strike nine times since 2007, including floods, ice storms and twisters.
Why does Oklahoma suffer so greatly at the hands of Mother Nature? The answer can be attributed in part to atmospheric conditions that bring on twisters and floods and partly location of homes and how they are built.
According to Mike Lindell, director of the Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center at Texas A&M University, Oklahoma is right in the thick of it.
"Oklahoma really is the bull's eye for awful tornadoes," he told the Associated Press.
The state is located in the middle of Tornado Alley, where the Midwest experiences twisters multiple times a year.
Low-pressure winds move south and mesh with warm, moist air, which creates enormous thunderstorms that often turn into tornadoes.
As more homes pop up in Disaster Central suburbs, more people are at risk of being hit. Moore, one of the cities most heavily affected by the recent twister, has a population of 56,000 which grew exponentially between 2000 and 2010. Many of the homes that were built in that window of time were destroyed by the natural disaster.
Despite the logistics, the human capital in Oklahoma bears no number, as families work to rebuild their homes and their lives after the cruel and unyielding tornadoes.
Tulsa-based disaster consultant Ann Patton noted the resilience of Oklahoma residents.
"Things happen around here," she said. "Of course, sometimes it can make you stronger."
