Piedmont Residents Unharmed by Storm

PIEDMONT -- A tornado damaged residences but spared residents of this Canadian County community Monday night.

Piedmont Fire Chief Rick Lofgren said that he had reports of damage to residences but "we have not had any injuries."

Piedmont residents Brad and Robie Coleman and their neighbors took refuge in the Colemans' new storm cellar just before the tornado tore off most of the Colemans' roof and damaged the garage and an attached shop.

Part of the shop roof landed in a neighbor's yard, and materials were strewn behind the house on Apache Road.

Robie Coleman said the family had just completed a storm shelter in December.

Brad Coleman, Piedmont's community development director, added the family and several neighbors in the rural neighborhood went to the shelter after seeing the storm's path on TV.

Richard Ferling and his son Chris, a Piedmont High School sophomore, were two of the neighbors who went to the Colemans' shelter.

"All there was, was a real high whirling sound, like a fan, and it was hailing," said Ferling, an Edmond police officer who lives next door to the Colemans. He saw the storm touch down in the field south of his home and then go back up before an even bigger funnel returned to the ground.

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