Suspected tornadoes cause damage, no injuries
A round of severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes left damage but no injuries Wednesday night and Thursday morning across parts of Oklahoma.
A confirmed tornado touched down about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday near 36th Avenue NE and E Tecumseh Road in Norman near Lake Thunderbird, said Michael Scotten, a senior forecaster for the weather service.
The weather service assigned that tornado a preliminary rating of EF1.
Possible tornadoes were also reported in Pontotoc, Cleveland, McClain and Tillman counties, he said. Surveyors from the weather service continued to assess damage from those storms Thursday afternoon. No injuries have been reported.
A travel trailer was missing Wednesday night, but there were no injuries from Grady County, said Lisa Hatchett, sheriff’s spokeswoman.
She said a house sustained roof damage near Amber about 8 p.m. shortly after a funnel cloud was spotted about 7:58 p.m.
About 9 p.m. Wednesday in Midwest City, Michele Gebhardt was putting her 10-year-old daughter to bed in the 400 block of Woodland Drive in the King Avenue addition.
A 50-foot tree suddenly toppled onto the house during high winds and heavy rain.
“It sounded like an earthquake, like the earth opening up,” she said. “There was a cracking sound and the house shook.”
The tree smashed through the roof and landed in the attic, but caused no injuries. She said the tree was leaning before the storm and likely toppled from high winds but not from a tornado.
“We were pretty lucky,” she said.
Wednesday evening, Oklahoma City firefighters rescued a man who was stranded with a car in high water near Lake Hefner, fire Battalion Chief Benny Fulkerson said.
About 8:50 p.m., the man lost control of the car while driving south on Lake Hefner Parkway just south of Hefner Road.
The car stopped in high water in a creek on the west side of the roadway near the lake, Fulkerson reported.
As water filled the car, firefighters told the man to get on the top of it, and they threw ropes to him.
Firefighters were able to pull the man to safety just before water swept the car into trees, Fulkerson reported.
The man, whose name was not released, was not injured.
It sounded like an earthquake, like the earth opening up. There was a cracking sound and the house shook.” Michele Gebhardt