Deadly tornado in Moore, Oklahama
(Level: Upper-Intermediate / B2 / ***)
On 20th May 2013 a deadly tornado occurred in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.
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Oklahoma, USA
(from: earth-chronicles.ru) |
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| Moore, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA (from: en.wikipedia.org) |
It was an EF5 (*) tornado with peak winds estimated at 340 km/h, killing 24 people.
(*) EF = Enhanced Fugita Scale; a scale rating the strength of tornadoes in the USA and Canada based on the damage caused by them.
For more détails: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Fujita_scale
You are now going to watch a CNN report focusing on the devastating tornado.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/weather/2013/05/21/early-pkg-sambolin-okla-tornado-destruction.cnn.html
Before watching /listening
The following words and notes could be useful:
to tear: to move quickly in a violent way (passer à toute allure)
(to leave) a trail of destruction: to leave a series of marks behind (tout détruire sur son passage)
to fling: to throw ... using a lot of force (jeter / balancer)
barely: hardly (à peine / presque pas)
a parking lot (US): a car park (UK)
haystacks: a large pile of hay (meules de foin)
to pour into: (for a lot of people) to arrive at the same time (arriver en masse)
to toss: to throw (lancer / balancer)
grim: harsh / gloomy (dur/ pénible / sinistre / macabre)
a twister = a tornado
to churn through: to move about violently (+/- tourbillonner avec force)
a funnel: a thin tube with a wide top used to pour liquid into a container / here: the form of the tornado (entonnoir)
to roar (for a storm): faire rage / passer avec une force inouïe
a 7-eleven: part of an international chain of convenience stores (dépanneurs / magasins de station-service ) located in the United States, Japan, Thailand, Canada, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia.
While watching /listening
Complete the missing words or phrases in the transcript:
The
massive tornado tore across 20 miles of Oklahoma City suburbs, ..................................................
From the sky, the mile-wide ................................................. hard to comprehend
and utterly ................................
The ferocious storm flattening homes and buildings,
......................... cars in the air, and leaving two schools and a hospital ................................................... in the hard-hit town of Moore.
(...)
Decimating everything in its path. Homes crushed to ..................................................
What looks like haystacks were houses once stood. As the injured poured into
hospitals, cars tossed like toys from the parking lot of the Moore medical
centre piled up, blocking the main entrance.
(...)
Nearby, a mother and her 7-month-old found dead where a 7-11 once
stood. They tried to take cover in a .......................... during the storm.
(...)
A massive recovery effort at one of two schools for children buried
under the .............................. continued into the night, the grim reality setting in with
rescuers and their anxious parents. Bloody teachers seen here carrying children
away from Briarwood Elementary School destroyed from the monstrous twister
.............................. close to 100 students, tears of relief for one mother as she reunites
with her first-grade son and a hug to his teacher.
(...)
For miles, entire ................................................................................ Many describing the horror
they faced.
We grabbed our .....................................................................and hid in the ...................................
and prayed like hell and luckily the only room that was spared was the room we
were in.
Debris churned through the powerful black funnel as this storm roared.
You can hear the piercing winds reaching up to 200 miles per hour. At a family
farm, as many as .......................................... and most of the ........................................................
(...)
President Obama declared Oklahoma a .................................................. late Monday and
called the state's governor.
I know there are families ............................................ where their
loved ones are and right now we're doing everything we can.
When you are finished, check your answers!
The massive tornado tore across 20 miles of Oklahoma City suburbs, in just 40 minutes.
From the sky, the mile-wide trail of destruction hard to comprehend and utterly catastrophic. The ferocious storm flattening homes and buildings, flinging cars in the air, and leaving two schools and a hospital barely recognizable in the hard-hit town of Moore.
(...)
Decimating everything in its path. Homes crushed to piles of debris. What looks like haystacks were houses once stood. As the injured poured into hospitals, cars tossed look toys from the parking lot of the Moore medical center piled up, blocking the main entrance.
(...)
Nearby, a mother and her 7-month-old found dead where a 7-11 once stood. They tried to take cover in a freezer during the storm.
(...)
A massive recovery effort at one of two schools for children buried under the rubble continued into the night, the grim reality setting in with rescuers and their anxious parents. Bloody teachers seen here carrying children away from Briarwood Elementary School destroyed from the monstrous twister trapping close to 100 students, tears of relief for one mother as she reunites with her first grade son and a hug to his teacher.
(...)
For miles, entire neighbourhoods destroyed. Many describing the horror they faced.
We grabbed our motorcycle helmets and hid in the closet and prayed like hell and luckily the only room that was spared was the room we were in.
Debris churned through the powerful black funnel as this storm roared. You can hear the piercing winds reaching up to 200 miles per hour. At a family farm, as many as 100 horses were killed and most of the barns demolished. (...)
President Obama declared Oklahoma a disaster area late Monday and called the state's governor.I know there are families wondering where their loved ones are and right now we're doing everything we can.
