Funnel brings moments of terror to Bethany

By Robert Medley

Published: May 7, 2008

People in the path of fierce, rotating winds described moments of terror in Bethany as storm damage was strewn several miles from the east side of Lake Overholser to NW 50 and N MacArthur Blvd.

Brent Swadley, owner of Swadley's Bar B-Q in Bethany, was looking out the glass windows of his office about 5 p.m. when he saw a funnel cloud across the street hovering above the building he owns that formerly housed the Route 66 Burger Shack.

"I was in my office when I could feel the pressure in the windows and the glass moved about one to two inches. I looked out and saw a funnel with clouds turning right here," Swadley said, as he stood under what had been the burger shack sign at NW 39 Expressway and Rockwell Avenue.

The sign was crumpled and bent over and was removed by workers Wednesday night.

Swadley said there were about 30 customers in the barbecue restaurant across the street when he screamed at people to get in the restrooms.

"I told all the customers in the restaurant to get in the restrooms. We were terrified," Swadley said.

He said the building rattled and the wind rumbled outside.

"It was like being in a tin can. The pressure was extreme and we knew it was there, it was obvious," he said.

Winds blew in all directions, he said and at one point the wind was blowing straight west.

"It was almost like it was a standstill moment of pressure," Swadley said. "It was one of the scariest moments I've ever had and I had no idea a storm could come and hit with no warning."

Bethany Fire Chief Scott Schroeder said he believes there was low rotation, about treetop level, that caused damage in the area, but he does not believe it touched down.

Just east of NW 50 and N MacArthur Boulevard in Warr Acres Realtor and sign company owner Darrell Duer said wind blew out a large plate glass window in a building he owns.

"The best I can determine it sucked the window right out," Duer said.

A block east, a Mexican restaurant under construction was damaged. The construction site of El Pollo Chulo was visibly damaged as steel framework was bent and mangled.

Swadley said tornado sirens in Bethany sounded five minutes after the storm moved on.

Bill Fronterhouse, 81, and his wife Rebecca, 82, said they were home in the 6800 block of NW 46 in Bethany when "the wind got up and it blew a largelimb off a magnolia," Rebecaa Fronterhouse said.

She said the couple watched low, rotating clouds that kicked up debris and passed overhead about 5 p.m.

At the Southern Nazaraene University baseball and softball complex on the north side of State Highway 66 near Council, winds toppled steel bleachers at the baseball field and damaged a dugout at the softball field, blowing pieces across the outfield.

Josh Sayez, 23, an assistant baseball coach and student, said he was playing catch inside the indoor practice facility when another assistant said sirens were sounding and debris was in the air.

"We looked out the door and saw stuff swirling around in the air. The walls shook and the lights flickered. It was weird," Sayez said.

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