Talala-Area Tornado Captured By Police Chief

The image of a Green Country tornado was captured by a town's civil defense system - its police chief.

During severe weather, Talala Chief of Police Phillip Coe drives to the edge of town so he can give residents enough warning time to take cover.

"Whenever we have a storm coming from the west, I usually drive out to have plenty of time to set the sirens off," he said Tuesday. "We do that by cell phone."

When what News On 6 meteorologist Mike Grogan called a "stovepipe" tornado passed west of the town, Coe snapped a few photos of its signature shape in the distance.

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"Where I was at, it was eerily calm," he said. Coe sat in a driveway on a county road east of the tornado's path.

The town of Talala had no damage, though a home outside the city limits did sustain some. The tornado formed near Avant, traveling near Ramona and Talala before losing steam.

Grogan followed the tornado as it crossed Highway 75 then turned to heavy rain in the Nowata area.

"It was a pretty substantial size," he said. "It could have easily been a quarter or half a mile wide, but that's unofficial."