Oklahoma tornados rip across state – as life-threatening storms tear up homes, down power, and flip cars
Multiple tornadoes touched down in central and southern Oklahoma after midnight Sunday, ripping siding off homes, overturning cars and downing power lines.
At 1:23 a.m., the National Weather Service first warned of one of the tornadoes moving through east Oklahoma City and heading toward nearby Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base.
Tornado warnings have been issued for more than 300,000 residents in parts of Oklahoma City — and six people have been injured so far.
Images of the aftermath of the storms showed heavily damaged homes and downed power lines across the city. Petrified locals revealed they had been woken by howling winds and flying debris.
Meteorologists predicted that severe thunderstorms will continue in northern Texas and Oklahoma through Monday. The NWS said high winds, flooding and more tornadoes are all possible in the coming hours.
A home in southeast Oklahoma City is completely destroyed in the aftermath
This home is near SE 89th & Sooner Rd, where five of the six reported injuries occurred
In the same area, a pickup truck was seen driving into someone’s yard
Daniel and Cherry Haggard revealed they were woken by loud noises and objects breaking their windows during the life-threatening weather front.
“We were lying in bed and we heard a big noise and it sounded like a train was passing by,” Daniel said KFOR. “Then we heard this banging and banging against the house. Stuff had blown in between our house and the house on our west side, breaking the windows in our bedroom.
The couple explained that they had to search for buckets to catch the water that flowed into their home through the windows and damaged roof.
Joe Payne had a similar, telling experience KFOR just about everything he owns is now totaled.
“We were all in bed and when I heard the sound when the thing hit, I thought it was just lightning,” Payne said. ‘It was a loud bang. But it was the roof coming off the house.”
Southeast Oklahoma City was one of the hardest hit areas, News 9 reported.
Daniel and Cherry Haggard, pictured, were sent out in the middle of the night when debris flew into their home through their bedroom windows
Joe Payne also said there was extensive damage to the roof of his home. He said most of his assets are totaled
At least six injuries have been reported so far, none of which were life-threatening, according to Oklahoma City police.
KFOR’s chief meteorologist Mike Morgan said there could have been up to seven tornadoes, while other sources reported the number was only three or more. as high as 13.
NWS teams have already started assessing the damage. They concluded that Valley Brook, a neighborhood in Oklahoma City, sustained EF-2 tornado damage.
That level of destruction is caused by a tornado with winds of 110 to 130 mph.
At least six injuries have been reported so far, none of which are life-threatening, according to Oklahoma City police.
Five of the injuries happened near SE 89th & Sooner Rd, in the southeast part of the city.
“We have several structures that sustained damage, along with downed power lines, traffic lights and trees,” the Oklahoma City Fire Department said. “Utilities were also affected and five individuals were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Amateur video taken by a citizen shows extensive damage to Newcastle Elementary School, which borders Oklahoma City to the southeast
Home video shows the heavy rain that hit Oklahoma during the tornadoes and storms early Sunday morning
According to publication, more than 50,000 Oklahomans are without electricity PowerOutage.us.
In the areas surrounding Oklahoma City – including Tulsa, the Choctaw Nation and parts of western Oklahoma – there are approximately 16,000 customers without power.
Amateur video taken by a citizen also showed extensive damage to Newcastle Elementary School, which borders Oklahoma City to the southeast.
The fourth and fifth grades of the school, together with the gymnasium, were completely missing their roof. KOCO 5 reported.
The video also showed what appeared to be insulation from inside the walls of the school building, spread across the grass, sidewalk and road.
During the storm, a huge power line was downed and landed on the roof of a house
This chart from NOAA provides a probability outlook for tornadoes to form in the areas mentioned above
This chart, compiled from NWS forecast data, shows the possible amount of rain certain areas in Oklahoma could experience through Monday evening
Another devastating video revealed damage to a homeowner’s garage.
The roof and what used to be the garage doors were completely gone, leaving the inside completely exposed. His cars were inside at the time of the storm, causing them to be crushed by falling walls.
The latest weather radar images show the storm moving past Oklahoma City and over Tulsa.
According to the most recent NWS forecastHeavy rain storms are expected to move east into the Mid-Mississippi Valley, as well as Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
“The continued active weather system over the south-central U.S. will produce additional heavy rain showers and severe weather for the remainder of today, with the heaviest rainfall expected to impact central and eastern Oklahoma in parts of northwestern Arkansas and southern Missouri. ‘, the NWS said.
Flash flood warnings remain in effect in several areas of southern Oklahoma, including parts of Marshall, Carter and Love counties.