Dozens injured, one fatality reported in record-setting tornado outburst in Oklahoma

Severe weather that brought tornadoes and thunderstorms with high winds Sunday across Oklahoma left dozens injured, thousands without power and one reported fatality, while several communities suffered damage to homes and businesses.

The National Weather Service told The Oklahoman it confirmed seven tornadoes, and because of better reporting and radar technology, the outbreak is the most on record for February, dating back to the 1950s.

Tornadoes struck Norman and Shawnee, and near Mustang, Minco, Hobart, Hollis and Cheyenne.

“That number could go higher,” weather service meteorologist Bruce Thoren said.

Weather service crews continue to survey tornado tracks while assessing damage across the state.

Update: Injury totals increase, one fatality reported after tornadoes strike Oklahoma

One fatality, dozens of injuries reported

In Rogers County, where a tornado struck near Cheyenne — a town of roughly 800 people about 130 miles west of Oklahoma City near the Texas Panhandle — Emergency Manager Levi Blacketter told reporters there was one fatality.

Blacketter did not provide more details.

The storms, which moved rapidly across the state, caused dozens of injuries.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health on Monday afternoon confirmed 55 injuries, including 16 due to falls, 13 from being struck and 10 people left cut or pierced.

Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. reported 33,000 customers were without power during the peak of outages Sunday night.

Tornado strikes Norman

Officials in Norman confirmed a dozen injuries from Sunday’s tornado in their city.

Fatima Dembele, a 32-year-old Walmart cake decorator, had just put her three children and a nephew to bed in her home near Eastridge Park in Norman when her power went out.

"We all knew the tornado was coming, but usually we're not affected here. It's like a safe zone," Dembele said. "So, we're just chilling, until suddenly all of our power goes out. We tried to go to bed, when we heard the sirens and the wind."

Dembele rushed the family toward the back of the home, pressing them down flat on the ground as the heavy storm winds whipped near the house.

She and her family emerged unscathed, but the door to her built-in garage took so much damage that the entire structure smashed inward and buckled.

The fencing to her backyard is almost completely gone, and some of her roof will need repairs, but she said she's just grateful none of her family was hurt.

"I've lived here for about six or seven years, and I've never experienced something like this," Dembele said.

More:See damage from Oklahoma tornadoes, severe weather Sunday

An interrupted bedtime story

Sylvie Mawoh, a neighboring resident, was reading her two children a bedtime story, but she didn't get to finish.

"It was scary; it felt like the whole house was going to fly away," Mawoh said.

Mawoh hid herself and her two children in the closet of a master bedroom until the tornado passed.

They emerged to wood, glass and other debris scattered across her lawn and driveway, with EMSA and police vehicles already swarming the neighborhood.

Her children "are OK" she said, and were attending school Monday as she tried to assess the damage to their home.

Parts of the roof had been blown off, and a car she'd just bought amid the aftermath of a previous storm was already in need of serious repairs.

"But my kids are OK," Mawoh said. "Shaken up, but they're OK."

'It really does sound like a train'

Ann Seely, 62, hid in her closet, too, with her small dog as the tornado funneled through the neighborhood.

"They always tell you it sounds like a train," Seeley said. "It really does sound like a train. It's very loud and frightening."

By the time Seeley exited the closet, she saw her front door had been completely shattered, part of her roof had been ripped away, and debris had shredded her backyard.

An avid gardener, Seely was admittedly upset about the state of her backyard.

Trees and fencing were completely uprooted in her backyard, and only a post, recently implanted by a relative, remained in place.

"I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something, but I don't know what, so I'm just standing here, trying to stay out of the way," Seely said. "I've had better days, but I've also had worse days."

Late Monday morning, repairmen were already adding patches to her roof. She said she'd likely have the roof fixed within the next two weeks.

More:Wild storms, tornadoes slam Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas; heavy snow possible in Northeast

'This is pretty catastrophic'

Jake Jensen, a 29-year-old roofing restorer out of Oklahoma City, could hardly describe the damage he saw throughout the neighborhood.

"This is pretty catastrophic," Jensen said. "I mean, (one) roof alone would cost $15,000 to $20,000 with the damage alone, and so many other houses have it worse."

Some houses would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair or replace, while several houses would need to be bulldozed completely, he said.

Small wedding after-party takes shelter in bathroom

Adriana Sanders, 23, said she was in a house with six other family members and friends, throwing a small wedding after-party, when the tornado struck the neighborhood.

She credits the house's bathroom, which the group bunkered in as the tornado passed through, with keeping them safe.

The house, however, took severe damage from the storm.

All of its windows are shattered, doors are gone, little more than the framework of the roof remains. Sanders' car on Monday morning was still flipped upside down, slammed atop another car and pushed into the sidewall of another house nearby.

"I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was this bad," said Timothy Dorrough, 24.

Another house in the neighborhood took such significant damage that nearby residents said it would have to be completely rebuilt.

But Jacob Gutierrez, 22, said he saw the residents of the house emerge from that house Sunday night "just fine," mainly worried about where their cats had gone.

"Everybody came out of this OK," Gutierrez said. "Our houses are damaged and a lot of our cars are worse for wear, but everyone managed to come out of this unhurt."

The Ave apartment complex sustains damage

The Ave apartment complex, off 12th Avenue in southeast Norman, also took damage during the storm.

Ashlyn Glenn, a 19-year-old student in nursing at the University of Oklahoma, was visiting her boyfriend and friends in the second story of one of the buildings when the storm hit.

"Me and my friends were cooking around 9 o'clock (Sunday night), and the wind picked up," Glenn said. "It started speeding up and the sky was turning green. It was really scary."

Glenn and her loved ones came out of the situation unharmed, but the building in which they'd stayed showed signs of damage to its roof, with debris still hanging from the fencing of the second-floor patio.

Two windows of Glenn's car had been smashed.

Relief efforts underway

While city crews in Norman worked Monday to open roads damaged by the storms, relief efforts were under way for those in need of shelter and supplies.

The Red Cross operated an emergency shelter at the 12th Avenue Recreation Center, where those in need could find snacks, water and cleanup supplies.

Misti McClellan, executive director of the Central and Southwest Oklahoma chapter, told The Oklahoman the Red Cross and local emergency management officials were assessing what the community’s needs were in terms of overnight shelter.

By early afternoon, McClellan said a few people had come by the shelter, where the local health department, OG&E and other community partners were available to help.

“It’s kind of a trickle thing, as the sun starts to go down, people start to show up a little bit more,” McClellan said. “Right now, especially since we’re so blessed to have the nice weather we’ve got, people are going to take advantage and start getting … those initial steps to recovery.”

The Red Cross also has teams going out to damaged areas and handing out any supplies needed, McClellan said.

Tornado hits Shawnee

Tree limbs, shingles, glass shards and even Christmas decor littered the streets and yards of northern Shawnee’s Snider Heights neighborhood Monday morning.

Dia Ingersoll, 42, said her neighbors had a gas leak after the storm.

“You could hear it, you could smell it,” she said. “We had to go get them out of their house.”

Emergency vehicles arrived soon after to shut off gas and electricity for the neighborhood, she said. The gas and power remain off for residents.

Across the street live Jennifer Davis and Jody Davis, who sheltered in their cellar with their daughter and son-in-law. Next to their home sat their 40x50-foot shop, which was destroyed by the tornado that passed through.

The couple’s home has about six inches of insulation along the floor and electrical wires hanging throughout their kitchen, keeping them from being able to get any cleanup done.

“Everybody shows up or calls when something happens,” Jody Davis, 73, said.

He expects to have a big group of friends and family to help clean up once their insurance company gives the go-ahead.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma tornadoes damage, destroy parts of state, one death reported