(Oklahoma City) A tornado destroyed homes, forced the evacuation of a nursing home and toppled trees and power lines as it passed through a small Oklahoma town.
It was one of several tornadoes that originated in the central United States during a series of powerful storms that lasted through Tuesday. At least one death has been reported.
The tornado struck the town of Barnsdall, which has a population of about 1,000 and is about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa, Monday night. This is the second tornado to hit the city in five weeks ― a tornado that occurred on 1er April with winds of a maximum speed of 145 to 16 kilometers/hour damaged houses and brought down trees and electrical poles.
Between thirty and forty homes were damaged in the Barnsdall area Monday evening, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and one nursing home said it had evacuated its residents due to a gas leak that could not be stopped due to storm damage. Numerous road closures due to debris were also reported, according to Osage County Emergency Management.
“We have one confirmed death and numerous injuries,” Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden told KOKI-TV.
Barnsdall Nursing Home said online that all residents had been found and were unharmed. They were transported to other establishments. She asked families to be patient “because there is chaos in the city (…). Please pray for us.”
Damage was also reported in Bartlesville, about 30 kilometers to the northeast.
“We were directly hit by a tornado” in the city, revealed Kary Fox of the Washington County Emergency Management Department. “Please stay off the roads. Stay away from damaged areas. We have a lot of difficulty getting there to assess people and check if they are injured, due to traffic jams. »
The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center warned of an increased risk of severe thunderstorms in the Ohio Valley on Tuesday, with the possibility of few and potentially strong tornadoes, hail and high and damaging winds .
The main threat moved east on Tuesday, added Roger Edwards, the center’s chief forecaster, although it was not as intense as Monday.
The storms started earlier Monday with gusty winds and rain. But after dark, tornadoes were spotted in northern Oklahoma. At one point in the evening, a storm in the small town of Covington “produced tornadoes intermittently for more than an hour,” the National Weather Service said. Across the region, wind farm turbines spun rapidly in the wind and blinding rain.
In Kansas, some areas were hit by apple-sized hailstones with a diameter of 3 inches.
The storms moved across Oklahoma as some areas, including Sulfur and Holdenville, were barely recovering from a tornado that killed four people and left thousands without power late last month. The Plains and Midwest have been hit by tornadoes this spring.
The Oklahoma Emergency Operations Center, which coordinates storm responses from a bunker near the state Capitol, remains activated since last weekend’s deadly storms.
The whole week promises to be stormy across the United States. The East and South are expected to be hit hardest by bad weather for the rest of the week, including Indianapolis, Memphis, Nashville, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities where more than 21 million people live. The weather should clear up over the weekend.
reference: www.lapresse.ca