Oklahoma towns hard hit by tornadoes begin long cleanup after 4 killed in weekend storms
SULFUR, Okla. — Small towns in Oklahoma began a long cleanup Monday after tornadoes flattened homes and buildings and killed four people, including a baby, widening a devastating outbreak of severe weather in the central US.
The punishing storms that began late Saturday in Oklahoma injured at least 100 people, damaged a rural hospital, washed out roads and knocked out power to more than 40,000 customers at one point, state officials said. Tornadoes also caused widespread destruction in Iowa and Nebraska on Friday, leaving one person dead.
Devastation was widespread in Sulfur, a city of about 5,000 south of Oklahoma City, where a tornado destroyed many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and tore the roofs off homes over a 15-block radius.
“You just can’t believe the devastation,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit city. “It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”
Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulfur, including some who were in a bar when the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. An infant was among the dead, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.
White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke with Stitt on Sunday and offered the federal government’s full support.
The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that have wreaked havoc across the belly of the country since Friday. Another death was reported Sunday in Iowa, where officials in Pottawattamie County said a man who was seriously injured in a tornado on Friday had died.
In Oklahoma, authorities said the tornado in Sulfur started in a city park before tearing through downtown, toppling cars and ripping the roofs and walls off brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that were left standing.
“How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation,” said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong resident of Sulfur, as she surveyed the damage. “It’s crazy, you want to help, but where do you start?”
Carolyn Goodman traveled to Sulfur from the nearby town of Ada in search of her former sister-in-law, who Goodman said was at a local bar just before the tornado hit the area. Stitt said one of the victims was found in a bar, but authorities had not yet identified the dead.
“The bar was destroyed,” Goodman said. “I know they probably won’t find her alive… but I hope she’s alive.”
Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma city of Marietta, state officials said.
Heavy rains that poured into Oklahoma with the tornadoes also caused dangerous flooding and water rescues. Outside Sulfur, rising lake levels closed the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, where the storms swept away a pedestrian bridge.
Stitt issued an executive order on Sunday declaring a state of emergency in twelve provinces due to the effects of the severe weather.
Inside the Sulfur High School gym, where families took cover from the storm, Jackalyn Wright said she and her family heard what sounded like a helicopter as the tornado touched down above them.
Chad Smith, 43, said people ran into the gym when the wind picked up. The rain started to fall faster and the doors slammed shut. “Just give me a beer and a lawn chair and I’ll sit outside and watch it,” Smith said. Instead, he took cover.
Residents in other states were also digging because of storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, destroyed homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town.
The tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several people were trapped, but everyone was evacuated and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
One or possibly two tornadoes then crawled toward Omaha for about an hour, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph (217 to 265 kph), said Chris Franks, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Omaha. .
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds toured the damage Saturday and arranged aid for damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but states plan to seek federal assistance.
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Associated Press journalists Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.