Checotah Hammered By Hail, Severe Storms

Severe storms that moved through parts of green country mean some hefty repair bills for many people. Tennis ball sized hail pounded parts of Checotah in McIntosh County.

After intense storms moved through and hit hard, many people in Checotah, like Kenny Dunlap, now have damaged and dinged cars.

"It sounded like somebody was shooting a gun when those things was hitting the concrete. Just boom, boom, boom, boom," Dunlap said.

Dunlap has hail damage to his car, a mirror is damaged, but at least his windows weren't shattered.

"Looks like you just took a baseball bat to it," he said.

Others aren't as fortunate. Giant hail pounded the area, breaking windshields and damaging some roofs.

Checotah's emergency management director said just about the entire town got hail.

Video shot by an employee of a Checotah tire shop shows the giant hail stones slamming to the ground. He said it seemed like it went on forever; not only damaging cars outside, but slamming through skylights.

Fortunately, emergency management isn't reporting any injuries from the hail storm; Dunlap is thankful for that.

He said he can't remember a time when it hailed so hard, with such large hailstones.

"All over the top, on the hood, busted the mirror, other than that, I guess we'll survive," said Dunlap with a laugh.

A wind gust was measured at 70 miles per hour in Mayes County, but, the emergency management director said, despite the strong wide, they're not getting reports of any significant damage.