#14 Postby tropicana » Thu Apr 22, 2004 10:18 am
WED APR 21 2004
Severe thunderstorms tore through Enid late Wednesday night, snapping power poles along Garland and tearing portions of roofs off several businesses on the west side of the city.
More than 3,000 OG&E Electric Ser-vice customers were without power in Enid after the storm blew through around 11 p.m. OG&E also reported 189 customers without power in Lahoma during the evening, as well as hundreds of other customers without electricity throughout northwest Oklahoma.
“On Garland we’ve got a bunch of poles snapped and lines down,” said Bruce Johnson, an inspector with Enid Fire Department. “We’ve got transformers down all over the place.”
Johnson said some poles had fallen on homes, but no one was trapped. “Not yet that we know of,” Johnson said around 11:20 p.m., about 20 minutes after the storm moved through Enid.
Firefighters were going door to door in the Garland Park housing addition to see if any people were trapped or injured.
Homeland on West Garriott lost part of its roof. Assistant Manager Cheryl Wright said employees who had inspected the damage said “it looked like an explosion.”
Damage extended from the southwest corner of the roof to the middle, Wright said, and “water is just pouring in.”
The gas was shut off after employees smelled gas, she said.
“Everybody’s OK,” she said.
“Sounds like a good section of the west side of town is out of power,” Enid Police Sgt. Jeff McGehee said at around 11:30 p.m.
He said there were a lot of power lines down on the west side of town.
He said businesses along West Garriott were reporting roof damage, including Homeland and Stevens Ford. He said he knew other businesses were reporting damage, but he had not received all of the reports.
“I don’t know what the wind speed was here, but I know it was high. It was kind of shakin’ some of the vehicles out here (at police headquarters, 301 W. Garriott).”
A spokesman at Vance Air Force Base’s weather center reported winds up to 70 mph in Lahoma and Drummond. The wind topped out at 68 mph at Vance.
Authorities said there were several streets in Enid flooded and portions of Oklahoma 74 was under water.
-justin-
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