`Looked like a bomb hit it'
Cleanup begins after deadly tornado hits El Reno, OKC
EL RENO — Already turned in for the night at about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sidonna Jeans said her bed started to bounce as a tornado dropped down on her El Reno mobile home.
“My window is right in front of me, and I watched my friend's trailer turn over like it was nothing,” said Jeans, 60, who lives at the Skyview Estates mobile home park near the intersection of U.S. 81 and Highway 66.
Jeans said her trailer was left leaning on its side, forcing her to spend the night at a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post that became a shelter for about 25 people left homeless from Saturday's storm.
A night of severe weather throughout Oklahoma left parts of El Reno in shambles by a tornado the National Weather Service gave an EF3 rating, which indicates wind speeds up to 145 mph.
Two were killed, and at least 16 people were taken to area hospitals, where some were undergoing surgery Sunday morning, said El Reno Mayor Matt White. The medical examiner had not identified the two fatalities as of Sunday evening.
“It' s been a trying time here,” White said.
First responders spent much of Sunday morning searching Skyview Estates and the American Budget Value Inn, which had much of its second floor missing.
“The roof caved in, desk flipped over, the room looked like a bomb hit it,” said Loyd Roberts, who was asleep in the motel when the tornado hit.
“I pulled the Sheetrock off of me and started looking for people. All I saw was people with scrapes and bruises.”
A pile of vehicles and debris littered the motel's parking lot, while a green dumpster was sticking out of one of the second-floor rooms.
Many survivors were taken to the VFW post where the Red Cross had taken sleeping cots and food.
“We have some Hispanic families that came through here that got displaced by the storm and I've been here allnight translating,” said Joel Mendez, a pastor at Heaston Church in El Reno.
White called his community's response to Saturday's tornado a“well-oiled machine,” due in part because the rural town of about 17,000 is all too familiar with this kind of tragedy.
“About six years ago, we had the largest tornado on record,” said White, referring to the May 31, 2013, tornado that killed 18 people in El Reno.
With a width of 2.6 miles, the 2013 tornado is the widest ever recorded, according to the National Weather Service.
The 16.2-mile path of that tornado passed over Highway 81 less than one mile from where Saturday' s tornado destroyed a motel, mobile homes and businesses.
“We' ve been through this before ,” White said. “Everyone knows what their job is; they know what to do.”
Saturday' s tornado left a visible trail of debris about two miles long and nearly hit another mobile home park about a half mile away.
“I saw all the debris flying and all the transformers popping. I don't even think a whole minute went by and I just shut the door and said, `It' s too late ,'” said James Cog burn, who live sat the Fort Reno mobile home park. “I thought we were dead, I thought we were living our last few second son earth and I started praying ` Dear Heavenly Father keep your hand of protection on us and
have mercy on us.'”
The storm system continued to move east and caused damage in parts of Oklahoma City, including along NW 23
where windows were broken in some businesses, and power lines blocked some residential streets.
The Oklahoma City Fire Department said it had no reports of injuries early Sunday morning.
Visitors at the Paseo Arts Festival in Oklahoma City also took shelter as the storm moved through the city, leaving some of the festival's tents overturned.
The storm capped a week of severe weather that led to flooding in many parts of the state, including in the El Reno area, where first responders were performing home rescues on Tuesday.
On Sunday, officials continued to search parts of El Reno, including the use of dogs through the mobile home park.
“I thought we were dead, I thought we were living our last few seconds on earth and I started praying `Dear Heavenly Father keep your hand of protection on us and have mercy on us.'” James Cogburn