Backyard Beauty In Broken Arrow Destroyed By Tornado

By Rick Wells, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Photos are emailed to the News On 6 every day. After last week's storms, the volume of pictures coming in is really high.

Two pictures, in particular, caught the eye of News On 6 reporter Rick Wells. When he found out the pictures came from a backyard in Broken Arrow, he went to check it out.

Esther Hatten and her daughter Alena Nelson, have dozens of photographs loaded on the computer.

"She has taken so many pictures," Nelson said. "Thousands of pictures, thousands and thousands."

The judges at the Tulsa State Fair thought so too. It won best of show couple of years ago in the Senior photographer division.

She's entered lots of these at the fair. Many have won awards.

All of them taken just outside her cottage by a pond in Broken Arrow.

When the creek is up after a rain, it's pretty noisy. But the picture that caught my eye was of a little bridge with all the fall color. It turns out that little bridge is a favorite photo subject in all seasons.

Now, she says that photogenic little bridge is gone.

Rick Wells, The News On 6: "This all happened when?

Esther Hatten, Photographer: "Thursday morning at 5 o'clock."

One of those Thursday morning tornadoes, came whistling down the creek, knocked down a tree and in the process ruined her bridge.

"I planted all these trees years ago," Hatten said.

And as if planning for photo layouts years in the future she selected specific types with beautiful fall color, the trees and the pond provide an environment for wildlife too. There's deer, humming birds and bees, and very large frogs.

Esther plans to replace the damaged bridge with a concrete walkway so she can get across the creek. It will be more storm proof, but probably not as picturesque.