Strong Winds Damages Homes, Boats At Grand Lake

GRAND LAKE, Oklahoma -- Some folks spent the day cleaning up from a Memorial Day storm. A 200 foot section of breakwater floated away from a popular resort at Grand Lake.

It's back together now but two families' vacation homes were right in the storm's bullseye.

It was a long night in Holden's Cove.

"Rain coming in through my screened-in porch, sideways, like needles," lake resident Jay Rector said. "I stuck my head out the sliding glass door and couldn't breathe, couldn't stand up."

Those gale winds seem to focus on one cabin built by Angie Wolf's grandfather 40 years ago. She and her family were inside when a tree toppled over. Roots tore from the ground and landed directly above where her son was sleeping.

"I'm just thankful that there were two other trees that broke its fall so it didn't come crashing clear on through the cabin and crush my son," Angie Wolf said. "It could have been a lot worse."

Residents are thankful the trees narrowly missed the power lines and no one was seriously hurt.

"It fell just perfectly that everything's going to be okay," Wolf said.

Strong winds also ripped a 36 foot Cruiser away from its dock and ripped a hole in it.

"About 80 mph winds broke it loose from the dock, broke the rope and tore the frame of the dock out," boat owner Brad Thompson said.

The Wolfs and Rectors spent much of Tuesday cleaning up and looking for a way to block those fierce winds the next time Holden's Cove is caught in the path of the storm.

"It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature, so we're trying to do what we can to make sure she doesn't do it again," Rector said.

Radar was picking up winds of less than 60 mph during the storm Monday night. That's enough for straight line winds. But the wind that whipped through the cove would have been much stronger.