EF3 Tornado Strikes Beggs Middle School Tornado Shelter
Brandon Bookout walking with a Fox 23 News reporter to visit the middle school’s Monolithic Dome storm shelter (and school auditorium).
An EF3 tornado smashed through Beggs, Oklahoma, in early March. It uprooted trees, flipped trucks, lifted roofs, demolished buildings, and, sadly, killed two people. But for the dozens of residents sheltering in Monolithic Dome safe rooms, it was serene.
In an interview with Fox 23 News, Brandon Bookout, Principal of Beggs Middle School, said they opened the dome around 7 p.m. for people to shelter during the tornado. “Honestly, once you are in this building, it’s a blessing to have [the dome] in this community. We didn’t hear it. We didn’t feel it.”
There are four FEMA-rated Monolithic Dome storm shelters in Beggs. Normally, these structures are classrooms, auditoriums, cafeterias, and even the Beggs Event Center.
On this evening, they were used as storm shelters. The tornado caused substantial damage to the middle school’s conventional structures. The Monolithic Domes weathered the storm unbothered.
In an interview with News On 6, Bookout reported that 75 people sheltered in the auditorium dome at the middle school and about 100 in the elementary school dome shelter.
“It was chaos. I mean it really was,” Bookout said. “There was debris everywhere. We didn’t know we were in a tornado simply because in here we didn’t feel it—no pressure change, no nothing, the lights just went out.”
The tornado was part of an outbreak from March 5 to 7 ranging from Oklahoma to Michigan. According to Wikipedia, the Beggs Tornado struck on March 6 as an EF3.
This intense, large, and deadly tornado first touched down in western portions of Beggs in Okmulgee County and tracked northeastward, where it would impact the Beggs Public Schools campus. Beggs Middle School and Beggs High School sustained severe roof damage, and the bus barn suffered significant damage to its roof and garage doors.
All but one bus was heavily damaged by the storm when a portion of the school roof struck the bus barn. The district arranged for other buses from other districts so classes could resume on March 23. However, the middle school will be closed for the rest of the school year, as the structure is deemed unsafe and requires additional rehabilitation. The district is making accommodations for middle school classes in the other school buildings.
Related Stories and Resources
- Tornado outbreak of March 5–7, 2026 on Wikipedia
- Beggs Community Storm Shelter on City of Beggs website
- Beggs, Oklahoma Builds Two Monolithic Domes on monolithic.org
- A snapshot of two current Dome Technology projects on dometechnology.com
- Beggs community begins recovery after deadly tornado damages school by FOX23 News posted March 7, 2026
- Beggs residents assess damage after tornado kills two, injures two, and destroys four homes by KTUL posted March 7, 2026
- EF-3 tornado damage found after deadly storm in Beggs by 102.3 KRMG posted March 8, 2026
- ‘It Was Chaos’: Beggs Middle School Damaged After EF-3 Tornado by News on 6 posted March 9, 2026
- Tornado kills 2 in Beggs; community organizes cleanup and recovery efforts by 2 News Oklahoma posted March 9, 2026
- Beggs schools race to reopen after EF-3 tornado heavily damages middle school by News Channel 8 posted March 9, 2026
- Beggs Middle School building will be unused for remainder of school year by FOX23 News posted March 10, 2026
- One building at Beggs Middle School will NOT be used for the rest of the year by 2 News Oklahoma posted March 10, 2026
- One week later: Beggs community, nonprofit helping students find normalcy after tornado by News on 6 posted March 13, 2026
- Why doesn’t every Oklahoma school have a storm shelter? by News9 post April 21, 2026