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U.S. NEWS Monday 27 May 2019

Tornadoes rake 2 Oklahoma cities, killing 2 and injuring 29

Continued from Front northeast of El Reno. Pete nized his mother’s number,
Snyder, a hydrometeoro- but there was no voice on
“It’s a tragic scene out logical technician with the the other end when he an-
there,” White said, adding weather service in Tulsa, swered. “I thought, ‘That’s
later that, “People have said crews were assessing weird,’” he said.
absolutely lost everything.” damage to determine the Then his mother called
He said the city established tornado’s rating. The area back, and delivered a
a GoFundMe site, the City also experienced damage chilling message: “We’re
of El Reno Tornado Relief from strong straight-line trapped.”
Fund, for affected fami- winds, he said. He said when he arrived at
lies. Several other business- The Sapulpa Police Depart- his parent’s home, he found
es were also damaged, ment said on its Facebook it blocked by debris and sit-
though not to the same ex- page that it hadn’t heard ting with another trailer on
tent as the motel. of any deaths and that top of it. He began clear-
The two people who were only a few minor injuries ing a path to the home so
killed were in the mobile had been reported. that he could eventually lift
home park, White said. He Residents wandered a portion of an outside wall
did not provide additional around after sunrise to sur- just enough so that all five An historic railroad building owned by Farmers Feed Store was
details about them. The 29 vey the damage, carefully occupants could slip be- destroyed by a suspected tornado which hit Sapulpa, Okla.,
people who were injured avoiding fallen utility poles neath it and escape.q early Sunday, May 26, 2019. Associated Press
were taken to hospitals, that blocked some streets.
where some were under- Among the buildings that
going surgery. Some of the were destroyed was a his-
injuries were deemed criti- toric railroad building built
cal, he said. in the early 1900s that the
The National Weather Ser- Farmers Feed Store had
vice gave the tornado an been using for storage. A
EF3 rating, meaning it had furniture store’s warehouse
wind speeds of 136-165 was also destroyed.
mph (219-266 kph). Person- Tweety Garrison, 63, told
nel who investigated the The Associated Press that
damage said the tornado she was in her mobile
began around 10:28 p.m. home with her husband,
Saturday and lasted for two young grandchildren
four minutes. The tornado and a family friend when
was about 75 yards wide at she heard the storm com-
its widest point and was on ing and immediately hit the
the ground for 2.2 miles (3.5 ground. Moments later, she
kilometers). heard her neighbor’s mo-
The tornado was spawned bile home slam into hers
by a powerful storm sys- before it flipped over and
tem that rolled through landed on her roof.
the state — the latest in a Garrison said the incident
week of violent storms to hit lasted five to 10 minutes
the flood-weary Plains and and that she received a
Midwest that have been tornado warning on her
blamed for at least 11 phone but the sirens didn’t
deaths, including the two go off until after the twister
killed in El Reno. hit. Her 32-year-old son, El-
Early Sunday, another tor- ton Garrison, said he heard
nado destroyed several the wailing tornado sirens
buildings and downed trees and had just laid down at
and power lines in the Tulsa home about a half-mile
suburb of Sapulpa, which (1 kilometer) away when
is 110 miles (177 kilometers) his phone rang. He recog-