Strong Winds Cut Power To Thousands In Tulsa County

Strong winds caused power outages in a number of places in Tulsa County Tuesday afternoon.

Public Service Company of Oklahoma said more than 4,000 customers were without power at the height of the outage. 

Authorities asked residents along the south side of 36th Street from Hudson to Joplin Streets to leave their homes. Three transmission poles came down in the area and more were in danger of falling.

Pat Parker and her fellow neighbors near 36th and Hudson learned firsthand the power of the wind sweeping down the plain.

"I was on the computer and there was two big bangs and I went out and looked in the backyard and the telephone pole was at a 45-degree angle," said Raymond Garlington.

Cheryl Henry took a sick day and was trying to sleep when her plans were abruptly changed.

"I woke up to this sound of popping and it was like transformers were blowing. I didn't know if it was gunshots, what was happening," Henry said.

PSO says the 36th Street outage caused the majority of the problems. About 3,600 customer initially lost power.  PSO crews were immediately dispatched to the scene and started repairing the lines.

Near St. John Medical Center stop lights were on the fritz and a number of people were forced from their darkened offices. The hospital says it had to use backup power for a short time, but there were no major effects on the patients or doctors.

The broken poles also knocked out power to the University of Tulsa. While the school does have generators, some places on campus were still in the dark.

Some students at the law school working on their laptop computers while they waited for electricity to return.

And for those who don't have laptops, many were on the hunt for computers that did work so they could finish their homework.

Residents on the northwest side of town were also in the dark. A downed feeder line cut power to at least 800 customers in that area.

The Tulsa County Election Board says none of its voting locations were affected. 

No injuries were reported. PSO says all of the power except to those homes right next to the downed transmission poles has been restored.