Storms punch state

By John David Sutter

Published: April 10, 2008

A hefty storm system that shoved its way into Oklahoma on Wednesday toppled trees and power lines, caused minor flooding and spawned at least one tornado.

About 7 p.m. a storm chaser near Soper and an emergency manager near Kent in Choctaw County reported spotting tornadoes, or possibly the same tornado. The two towns are about eight miles apart. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also reported the one near Kent. No damage was reported.

The weather service's offices in Norman, Tulsa and Shreveport, La., had issued at least 10 tornado warnings for Oklahoma areas by 9 p.m., but no other twisters had been reported.

Flooding caused the Department of Transportation to close five highways. Included on that list were stretches of State Highway 4 and SH 66 in Canadian County, U.S. 259A between Broken Bow Lake spillway and Beavers Bend State Park in McCurtain County, U.S. 270 between Wister and Heavener in Le Flore County and SH 80 between Hulbert and Wildwood in Cherokee County.

In northern Oklahoma, officials closed U.S. 177 in Noble County near Black Bear Creek because the roadway was under water, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for several eastern Oklahoma waterways, including the Baron Ford River near Eldon, the Illinois River near Watts and Tahlequah, the Caney River near Ramona and Collinsville, Bird Creek near Sperry and Owasso, the Deep Fork River near Beggs, Black Bear Creek near Pawnee and the Poteau River near Poteau and Panama.

About 8 p.m. trees were reported down on SH 100 near Cookson in Cherokee County, according to law enforcement. Strong winds blew over two vehicles on Interstate 35 near Paoli in Garvin County about 4:45 p.m.

A trailer was reported blown over east of Yeager in Hughes County and a roof was reported blown off a house in Holdenville around 6 p.m. The highway patrol discouraged travel in and around Muldrow in Sequoyah County because of power outages and heavy hail after 10 p.m. The power outages caused traffic problems and the roads were covered with hail, troopers said.

Lightning from the storm is being blamed for a house fire in Edmond. And the death of a woman driving in a downpour may also be linked to the weather.

The house fire in Edmond started after lightning struck a house near Covell and Coltrane roads. The home belonged to Nicholas and Kimberly Kretchmar, according to county records.

Pamela Bobelu, 62, died after her car hydroplaned on U.S. 62 near Apache. Her car ran off the road and hit a telephone pole and tree, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

In western Oklahoma, thousands of acres of pasture have burned in recent weeks. Matt Lehenbauer, the Woodward County emergency manager, said his county has seen two federal disaster declarations because of the fires this year.

He welcomed the rain that fell, with all of western Oklahoma getting close to an inch of rain, some areas getting more.

"It's good news for us out here,” he said.

Comments