Former Conway resident Noah Hill, 27, was at the church where he works in Moore, Okla., at about 3 p.m. May 20 when he heard that a tornado was bearing down on the city.
Hill and his wife, April, 29, moved to Moore in February and bought a home on Bouzidan Street, and they were still getting to know neighbors, he said.
“We happened to talk to them Sunday, and they said, ‘We’re supposed to have a storm tomorrow. We have a shelter; come on over; you don’t even have to knock,” he said.
Hill said he and the church secretary drove toward his neighbor’s storm shelter the next afternoon.
His wife, April, was at home watching weather reports on television. “So I got my family — we heard it was kind of headed toward us,” he said.
The Hills and their two boys, Karson, 4, and Max, 1, got into the shelter.
“About three families gathered in that storm shelter, about 12 people, and six or seven kids. It was a big storm shelter, but it was pretty full,” he said.
The children were scared and reactions ranged “from crying to just really holding onto the parents and us reassuring them, ‘We’re OK.’”
“When the tornado starting getting close, one of the kids said, ‘Is that a train?’ It really does sound like a train. The pressure in the room kind of sucked out — the storm shelter even kind of shook a bit.
“As the tornado came over, it blew the door open, and it started blowing in concrete and chunks of wood,” Hill said. “The three guys [in the shelter] kind of barricaded our families against the back wall ... it was an intense few moments. I feel like we lived through that old movie Twister, but it was real.
“It seems like forever, and it seems quick at the same time,” he said.
The Hills were first-time homeowners and their house, on which they had made only two payments, was heavily damaged, but not destroyed.
Many homes on the street were reduced to rubble, he said.
“Quite a bit of house was left. There was a room on the back of the house that was just completely gone; that was kind of our playroom.”
All the boys’ toys were gone. Two new couches were in the playroom. One is now in the front yard, he said, and the other hasn’t been seen. “We’ve seen pillows from the couches as far as a block away,” he said.
The room also was where they left their dog, Piper, in his kennel.
He said Piper, a Maltipoo was found unharmed under some roofing.
“We were able to pull him out of there, and he’s perfectly fine. That was one of the first things we looked for,” Hill said.
The tornado tore the roof off the side of the home where the bedrooms are and destroyed furniture and clothing.
“We saved most of our important papers and pictures,” he said. “We feel very blessed to have been able to save as much as we have.”
Hill and his wife previously lived in Sherwood and Camden, and he said he never had been in a tornado.
“It was a surreal moment. We walked out and we were like, ‘What do we do?’ The first thing we did was we looked at the sky to make sure everything was OK, and made sure our kids were OK, and started going to these houses that were rubble and calling for people.”
They didn’t find anyone, because many families were at work during the tornado, he said.
“We’re right in the middle of everything,” he said.
The Hills’ home is one to two miles from Southgate Baptist Church, where he serves as student pastor.
The church is 1.1 miles from Plaza Towers Elementary School, where students were killed.
Hill said the church is one of few buildings on Fourth Street still standing.
“We feel like God spared here so people could come find some relief and hope and things they need most,” he said of the church.
Southgate Baptist has become a hub for supplies coming into the city.
Moore’s population is about 60,000, Hill said, approximately the same as Conway’s.
“It reminds me of Conway a lot in a lot of ways. We loved our time in Conway, and we feel blessed now to have been in the city that reminded us of that,” he said.
Hill graduated from Central Baptist College in 2007. His wife graduated from CBC and in 2007 from the University of Central Arkansas.
Thousands of homes were destroyed in Moore and 24 people were killed, including 10 children, and more than 375 were injured.
Hill said the homes of 10 church families were destroyed.
He said his family is staying with the church’s pastor, Doug Brewer.
Brewer is the father of Nathan Brewer, the high school student pastor at Antioch Baptist Church in Conway.
“Moore is my hometown,” Nathan said.
He lived there until 2008, when he moved to Conway to attend CBC.
“I was there for the 1999 tornado; there was another one in 2003. I didn’t see them. My family’s house was damaged in a tornado in 2010,” he said.
When the May 20 tornado hit, Nathan, like his friend Noah, was at his church job.
“I was sitting at my desk and got a text message from one of my friends in Conway that said: “‘Your family’s from Moore, right?’”
“All I could think is something happened and I got on [the Internet] and realized a big-time tornado had hit,’ he said.
He called his father.
“My dad was standing at the door of a cellar ready to jump in,” Nathan said. “He lives just east of Moore. It had just hit Moore and was on its way but, thankfully, it stopped.”
“The community’s destroyed,” Nathan said, and the storm did billions of dollars in damage.
Supplies are being gathered throughout the River Valley and Ozark area to help those affected.
Nathan and others from Antioch Baptist, as well as CBC and Lifeword Ministries in Conway, are taking supplies to Moore.
“I just read something that said (my home church) is in need of size 11 and up shoes. Towels and wash cloths.
Obviously, everything,” Nathan said.
He said last week that community members were steadily bringing supplies to Antioch, and he can assure people the items will make it to Oklahoma.
“I can tell them the names of the people the stuff will go to — that’s how connected we are,” Nathan said.
“I’m hooked on Twitter, this week, especially,” Nathan said. “I personally will make sure those get to Moore.”
He said he was leaving Wednesday for his hometown.
Don Searls and other Antioch church members are leaving Saturday from Conway for a day trip to Moore.
Searls said members are taking their personal trucks and a church trailer full of supplies.
A list of items needed are listed on the website BMAlife.com.
He said supplies for the trip will be accepted through Friday.
Searls said they will be the third group going to Moore, after CBC and Lifeword Media Ministries, so they can take anything left behind.
“It’s just a bunch of mostly guys from our church that do this. I personally have been to Mississippi after Katrina, made three trips down there; went to Mountain View after that tornado and went to Joplin [Mo.].
“It’s just something I feel led to do. My heart kind of lies in service for the church and God,” Searls said.
He said they will give out supplies, dig through rubble or use chain saws to help clear debris.
“We witness to them, if we need to,” he said. “At Joplin, before we left that site, we got with one of the family members, and we just stood in a circle and prayed.”
Hill said he is thankful for the support.
“There’s a lot of immediate help and things going on, but it’s going to be long-term. When you drive down Fourth Street and you just look to your right and see all the devastation, it’s going to be a long recovery,” he said.
“We really have just cried over just the love that our family has received from so many churches and friends, and just to see how people have rallied around this communty,” Hill said. “It’s really been an amazing thing to see how Oklahoma has come in and taken care of its people — the nation, and even the world involvement.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.