at that point we knew there was going to be a reasonable chance that a tornado was going to set down on the western sides of norman, third largest city in oklahoma, and go right through town. hey, mike. we've got tower flashes right here. it's going to be about two miles just to the west of campus. just to the west of the norman campus. >> up in his news chopper pilot wells can see the storm approachg from the west. >> it's two and a half miles for the university of oklahoma. and you know, you see a lot of feel o people out on the streets. so my thought is these guys need to get covered and out of the way. >> captain david tysher is out in the city when the sudden appearance of a tornado takes us by surprise. >> we did have a little bit of a warning, but not a whole lot. >> when the storm first hits officers are told to return to the station. >> this is normally a rallying device incase communications go down. >> but the heavy rain makes returning to the station much more difficult. >> we could see the funnel cloud lowering, and we saw the power