Tornadoes leave behind significant damage across Oklahoma: What we know (2024)

OH OH CONFIRMED TORNADO. THAT’S THAT’S MULTIPLE POWER FLASHES. MULTIPLE CONFIRMED POWER FLASHES. WE DO HAVE A TORNADO. UNION CITY GETTING YOUR TORNADO SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO ALREADY. YOU HERE FIELD METEOROLOGIST MICHAEL ARMSTRONG AND STORM COMMAND LAST NIGHT A TRACKING TORNADO WARNED STORMS ALONG WITH OUR METEOROLOGIST IN STUDIO AND OUR CHASERS OUT IN THE FIELD. KOCO BROUGHT YOU COVERAGE FOR MORE THAN SIX STRAIGHT HOURS, BRINGING YOU THE FIRST ALERT AND HOMES HERE IN THE METRO TOOK A HIT DURING LAST NIGHT’S STORMS. KOCO COLBY TERRELL JOINING US LIVE NOW COLBY, YOU’RE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE THE MAJORITY OF THAT DAMAGE IS. WELL, YOU CAN SEE OFF IN THE DISTANCE BEHIND ME THAT HOME THAT WAS DESTROYED. AND NOW THERE ARE A LOT OF CREWS HERE CLEARING UP THE DAMAGE, WORKING TO RESTORE POWER AND POLICE HAVE ASKED US TO STEP BACK WHILE THEY’RE WORKING. SO THIS TORNADO REALLY HAD THE MAKINGS OF SOMETHING SCARY. BUT THIS NEIGHBORHOOD TOOK THE BRUNT OF IT. LOCALS ARE PICKING UP THE PIECES AFTER ONE HOME WAS DESTROYED AND ANOTHER WAS DAMAGED IN LAST NIGHT’S STORMS. THIS IS HERE NEAR CIMARRON ROAD AND 10TH STREET. YOU CAN SEE HERE SOME OF SUNDAY NIGHT’S TERRIFYING MOMENTS. THE HOMEOWNER, WHOSE HOUSE WAS DESTROYED, SAYS IT’S HARD TO SEE HIS HOME LIKE THIS, BUT THE COMMUNITY HAS BEEN OUT TOGETHER AND HELPING. ONE YOUNG NEIGHBOR DESCRIBED THE INTENSE MOMENTS HE SHELTERED AS THE TORNADO PASSED OVER. WE GOT INTO OUR STORM SHELTER AND AND I JUST HEARD WE HEARD BANGING EVERYWHERE ON THE GARAGES. WE HEARD JUST EVERYTHING ON THE ROOF. IT IT WAS, I WAS I WAS JUST SCARED FOR THE HOUSE. I WAS SCARED THAT EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO GET THROWN OR THE WHOLE HOUSE WAS GOING TO BE GONE. ONCE WE’RE DONE WITH IT. JUST A BIG MESS. WE HAVE TO CLEAN UP. THAT NEIGHBOR’S ROOF ONLY HAD MINOR DAMAGE COMING UP AT 430, YOU’LL HEAR FROM THE HOMEOWNER OF THIS HOME WHO SAYS HE’S STILL COUNTING HIMSELF. LUCKY COLBY, TERRELL, KOCO FIVE NEWS. YEAH, ABSOLUTELY. COLBY. THANK YOU. AND WE HAVE HAD CREWS AT THE HARDEST HIT AREAS ALL MORNING, ALL AFTERNOON AND ALL EVENING. WE WANT TO GO OUT NOW TO KOCO MEGHAN MOSLEY WHO’S JOINING US LIVE FROM HYDRO. MEGAN, WHAT DAMAGE HAVE YOU SEEN THERE? WELL GUYS, THIS IS A HOME THAT IS COMPLETELY LEVELED HERE IN HYDRO. BUT BACK IN THE MAIN PART OF TOWN, WE’VE SEEN SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO DIFFERENT STRUCTURES AND BARNS AROUND THE TOWN. WE ACTUALLY SPOKE WITH THE FIRE CHIEF ABOUT THE MOMENTS THE TORNADO ROLLED THROUGH THE TOWN OF HYDRO, WORKING TO CLEAN UP AFTER THAT TORNADO TORE THROUGH TOWN SUNDAY, THREE PEOPLE WERE SENT TO THE HOSPITAL WITH MINOR INJURIES. THERE WAS DAMAGE TO SEVERAL BUILDINGS AND BARNS, AND EVEN ONE HOME IN TOWN IS FLATTENED. CAMP HYDRO ALSO TOOK A HIT WITH TONS OF TREE DAMAGE. THIS CHURCH CAMP HAS BEEN HERE FOR NEARLY 100 YEARS, AND ONE OF THE PASTORS HERE TELL ME THEY WERE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO NOT HAVE ANY SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO ANY OF THEIR BUILDINGS, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, A LOT OF TREE DAMAGE. ONE OF THE SHEDS FROM A NEARBY HOUSE, EVEN TOPPLED OVER ONTO ONE OF THEIR BUILDINGS. BUT THANKFULLY, NO MAJOR DAMAGE TO IT. THE CHURCH ALSO TELLS ME THEY DON’T START CAMP FOR THE CHILDREN UNTIL LATE JULY, AND WE’RE HAPPY TO REPORT NO ONE WAS INSIDE DURING THE STORMS. THE FIRE CHIEF AND HYDRO TELLING ME DURING TIMES LIKE THIS, IT’S A COMMUNITY EFFORT, BUT WE WILL REBUILD THE COMMUNITY OF HYDRO REALLY COMES TOGETHER AT THIS. IN THESE TIMES. WE’VE GOT A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE RIGHT NOW WITH SKID STEERS, CHAINSAWS, AND THEY’RE GOING THROUGH CLEANING EVERYTHING UP. WE’LL BE ALL RIGHT. WE’LL BE ABLE TO GET EVERYTHING ALL CLEANED UP. IT’S JUST GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME AND, UH, EFFORT. AND YOU CAN SEE WE GOT A LOT OF WILLING WORKERS. IT’S JUST A MESS. BUT THE GOOD LORD LOOKED AFTER US. IT COULD BE A WHOLE LOT WORSE. AND COMING UP TONIGHT AT SIX, WE ACTUALLY SPOKE TO THE HOMEOWNER OF THIS HOUSE HERE IN HYDRO ABOUT THEIR JOURNEY AND WHAT’S NEXT. AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THAT TORNADO CAME THROUGH, REPORTING LIVE IN HYDRO MEGHAN MOSLEY KOCO FIVE NEWS. OKAY, MEGAN, THANK YOU FOR THAT. WELL, OUR FIRST ALERT STORM TEAM AND OUR METEOROLOGIST ARVEST WERE LIVE ON AIR FOR HOURS WITH THOSE TORNADOES. YEAH. CHIEF METEOROLOGIST DAMON LANE. IT FEELS LIKE WE SAW A LOT OF TORNADOES YESTERDAY AND LAST NIGHT. WE CERTAINLY DID SEE A LOT OF TORNADOES OUT THERE YESTERDAY AND LAST NIGHT. RIGHT NOW, LOOKING OUTSIDE, THOUGH, IT IS CURRENTLY 87 DEGREES HERE IN OKLAHOMA CITY. BUT I WANT TO TAKE YOU BACK RIGHT NOW TO ALL OF THESE TORNADOES THAT WE HAD YESTERDAY HERE. AND EVEN AS WE GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO WHAT WE’VE SEEN ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. AND SO THIS RIGHT HERE LOOK AT OKLAHOMA, IF IT FEELS LIKE OKLAHOMA HAS HAD A LOT OF TORNADOES, WE CERTAINLY HAVE. THESE ARE ALL THE TORNADO WARNINGS THAT WE HAVE HAD SO FAR THIS YEAR. OKAY. IRMA HAS BEEN A HOT SPOT. THE SOUTHEAST HAS BEEN RELATIVELY QUIET. NOW, WHEN YOU LOOK AT ALL THE TORNADOES THAT WE HAVE HAD, UH, IN THE STATE RIGHT NOW, ALL THE TORNADO WARNINGS, I MEAN, LOOK AT ALL OF THESE RED POLYGONS RIGHT HERE. THESE ARE ALL THE TORNADO WARNINGS WITHIN THESE. WE’VE NOW HAD 80 TORNADOES. WE TYPICALLY AVERAGE 58 TORNADOES FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. SO WE ARE WELL ABOVE AVERAGE FOR THIS SPRING. AND LOOK AT THEM ALL, ESPECIALLY FROM YESTERDAY THAT RAN FROM CHEYENNE TO ELK CITY, RIGHT IN TO OKLAHOMA CITY. HERE. SO THAT WAS ONE BIG SUPERCELL. AS OF RIGHT NOW, I SAY WE’VE HAD BETWEEN ABOUT SIX AND TEN TORNADOES. THEY’RE STILL CALCULATING THEM HERE. BUT HERE’S THE ONE THAT WAS GOING TO BE DOWN BY I-240. HERE ARE THE ONES THAT RAN ACROSS SOUTHERN CANADIAN COUNTY DOWN BY HYDRO, OUT TOWARDS CUSTER CITY. THAT ONE TRIGGERED THE TORNADO EMERGENCY. AND SO THEY ARE STILL MANY, MANY TORNADO REPORTS THAT ARE STILL BEING CALCULATED RIGHT NOW. IT CAN TAKE DAYS SOMETIMES TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THESE AREAS OF CIRCULATION AND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT’S A TORNADO AND WHAT STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. BUT AS WE GO BACK TO THIS GRAPHIC RIGHT HERE, IF IT FEELS LIKE THIS SPRING HAS BEEN A BUSY ONE, I THINK ALL THE RED THAT YOU SEE RIGHT HERE ON THIS MAP WILL CERTAINLY CONFIRM THAT IT HAS BEEN A VERY BUSY ONE, AND WHAT’S GOING TO BE CHANGING IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS IS WE’LL BEGIN TO WATCH OUR TORNADO SEASON BEGIN TO TAKE OFF OUT ACROSS THE PANHANDLE. BOTH TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA, AND THEN BEGIN TO GO UP INTO, UH, UP INTO COLORADO AND INTO KANSAS. SO WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES TO TALK ABOUT THIS WEEK. THE RISK WILL RETURN FOR