Digging out: Tornado damages home, downs power lines; minor injuries reported

Feb. 27—It wasn't a siren that warned Kellan Gills of a powerful tornado touching down in her Willow Grove Villas neighborhood on Wheatland Drive near 24th Avenue SE around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

It was a sudden change of pressure.

"I was sitting in my living room and then I felt a pressure in my ear," Gills told The Transcript on Monday morning. "And then I told my wife to grab the baby and let's get in the bathroom."

Gills was lucky. His family only lost a gate. The siren, it turns out, sounded after the tornado had passed through the neighborhood and continued on toward Meeker, where it mercifully ran out of gas.

City and county officials assessed the damage Monday and helped residents clear away debris after a long-track tornado packing winds of at least 111 miles per hour, touched down in neighboring Goldsby on Sunday night.

The tornado, given an EF2 rating by the National Weather Service, moved east and north, damaging homes and other structures and knocking down power lines along the way.

City Manager Darrel Pyle, speaking at a news conference at Reaves Park, offered thoughts and prayers and continued support to "neighbors and friends" who experienced minor injuries or property damage.

"We're here for you, and we will not rest until everyone has been addressed and their needs met," Pyle said.

Norman police Chief Kevin Foster reported 12 minor injuries, including a broken leg sustained in a car accident during the storm.

Foster told reporters several homes, businesses and schools appeared to have some damage from the storm.

"And the areas affected stretch from about a mile south of the river and I-35, and goes northeast through the Classen and Highway 9 area, and continues northeast along that route past Franklin and 120th.

"There are multiple roadways still closed dues to debris and downed power lines, a few of the major roadways that are still closed: State Highway 9 between 12th Avenue SE and 48th Avenue SE ... 24th Avenue SE between Wheatland and Ann Branden Boulevard ... Lindsey Street, between 36th and 48 SE ... Alameda, between 36th Avenue SE and 48th (due to construction in the area).

Also Highway 9 on- and off-ramps from Highway 77 are closed, Foster said.

Two elementary schools were closed Monday, including Raegan Elementary, 1601 24th Ave. SE, which sustained no structural damage, according to a Norman Public Schools spokesperson.

Washington Elementary, 600 48th Ave. SE, lost a recess canopy and was also closed Monday.

A third school, Terra Verde Discovery School, 1000 36th Ave. SE, was closed Monday because the school was without electricity, according to a Facebook post.

It wasn't clear Monday afternoon if the schools would re-open Tuesday.

Among the areas that sustained heavy damage was a neighborhood just north of the U.S Postal Service training center on Highway 9. The training center also sustained damage, including shattered windows, according to a Facebook post.

The center was without power and sent students home, The Transcript learned late Monday.

Neighborhood bands together

Homes on Clearwater Drive, Eastlake Drive and Wheatland Drive were damaged, and at least two homes on Old Central Drive were leveled, according to Transcript photographer Kyle Phillips.

The neighborhood is bordered by 24th Avenue SE to the west, 36th Avenue SE to the east, Highway 9 to the south and Lindsey Street to the north.

Phillips said people were out cutting down trees and putting tarps on their roofs and were being assisted by contractors and city clean up crews.

"Everybody seemed okay, nobody seemed freaked out, everybody seemed pretty clam," he said. "A lot of neighbors talking to each other, that sort of thing.

A police presence limited cars traveling into the neighborhood to residents, Phillips said.

People who live in the neighborhood south of Eastridge Park and Reagan Elementary Schools were coming to terms with the tornado that struck their homes and caused extensive damage.

Residents and others, including utility workers, surveyed the damage and witnessed roofs caved in, cars blown into garages — one of them was tossed on top of another vehicle. Fences blew away, trees were pulled from their roots, and trash bins found themselves stuck in trees.

Residents said the weather event brought the neighborhood together.

"Honestly, the entire neighborhood came out after it happened," said Riley Allen, whose fence was knocked down and his home had exterior damage.

"Everyone was offering help and making sure everyone was OK, walking door-to-door. It was amazing. The sense of community we felt last night with everyone coming and checking and not just the police, but regular people walking around offering to help."

Gary Smith's daughter was on her way to her storm cellar when she felt her ears pop. As the house began to pressurize, the cover to the crawlspace got sucked up into the attic.

"She seen it flying up into the attic as she was going down into the cellar," he said.

Carly Ochoa's home had significant damage. Ochoa had only been home from work for about 10 minutes before the tornado hit.

"By the time that I got blankets, pillows and the dog and everything, I had walked back in to grab my phone and it just hit," she said. "It was like a train was going through my house. It was insane."

Power lines, gas meters take a hit

As many as 8,000 OG&E customers in Norman were without power Sunday night. As of Monday afternoon, that number had been reduced to 3,000 customers, a spokesman for the energy provider said.

As the storm moved through Sunday night, Norman Fire Chief Travis King said crews responded to "numerous" reports of downed power lines and gas leaks in the area of 24th Avenue SE.

"The challenge we had there was access because of the downed power lines," King told The Transcript. "So we got our rigs as close as we could and then it was just on foot, door to door, checking on people, checking for injuries, alerting them to not get out by the power lines, and then identifying the gas leaks."

King said most of the gas gas leaks were caused by cars and other debris colliding with meters.

"So the concern was, if they find an ignition source, are we going to have an issue here, and we were concerned about that," he said. "There were plans under way to evacuate people."

Public works Director Shawn O'Leary said damage to city infrastructure, including roads, bridges and buildings, was "very minimal."

"Probably our greatest godsend is no damage to our wastewater treatment plant, which is located just south of Highway 9 at Jenkins Avenue," O'Leary said. "That could have been really catastrophic, not being able to treat the wastewater."

CrossPointe Church, 2601 24th Ave. SE, provided showers and laundry service and food throughout the day, Monday.

The Red Cross is operating a shelter at the 12th Avenue Recreation Center, 1701 12th Ave. County health department workers were giving tetanus shots if needed.

Mental health counselors were on hand Monday along with representatives from the local veterans association to assist with storm-related needs.

An elderly woman was among those who sought refuge at the center Monday. She arrived wrapped in an OU blanket at 4 a.m., she told The Transcript.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said the tornado left her home on Robinson Avenue near 72nd Street uninhabitable.

"The police brought me here this morning," the woman said. "I tried to stay in the house when they first came to check, but when they came back a second time and investigated they said it wasn't going to be safe to stay here.

The woman said because her husband is in the hospital, she had not been checking the weather as often as she usually does. When the sirens sounded, she fled to a safe room shelter in her home.

"As soon as I got in there to close the door and lock it, it hit," she said. "I'm so thankful we had that built in the house because there would have been no time for me to get to anything outside.

Red Cross coordinator Olivia Danner said no other people who had been to the center reported homes that were totally destroyed and "maybe that's why we don't see a lot of folks coming up here."

In addition to the woman, the center had welcomed two families who stopped in for water and snacks because of power outages to their homes, Danner said.

The National Weather Service reported Monday afternoon the tornado touched down in Goldsby, in McClain County.

The tornado, described as a "massive mesocyclone," continued northeast, traveling north of Lake Thunderbird, before continuing to nearly Meeker before running out of power.

Thousands across parts of Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City metro area, are without power after strong winds, some reaching 80 miles per hour or higher, moved across the state.

Reports have the number of confirmed tornadoes in Oklahoma on Sunday night between seven and 15.

Transcript Editor Tim Willert, reporters Mindy Ragan Wood, Jeff Elkins and Brian King contributed to this report along with OU journalism student Caleb Wortz.