Morris Homeowners Working Hard To Clean Up Storm Damage

By Dan Bewley, The News On 6 

MORRIS, OK -- People in Okmulgee County are still picking up the pieces nearly a week after storms moved through.

The News On 6 went south to Morris in Okmulgee County. The small city is still working hard to get back to normal.

Close to 1,300 people call Morris home. For the last week, they've spent much of their time cleaning up and looking back at a destructive Thursday morning.

Roger Winn couldn't believe what he saw after the storm. His garage was gone while the rest of the house was still standing, yet he and his daughter weren't hurt at all.

"I don't know, just lucked out I guess," said Winn.

Morris Police Chief Perry Wiggin says the storm jumped around town, uprooted tree after tree, and caused major problems where it did touchdown.

"It actually started on the south side of Okmulgee and hit a ranch," said Chief Wiggin.

At that ranch, a barn is gone and the grain silos look like they were hit with a battering ram.

Morris West is the newest housing addition just outside of town. You look around and see a little bit of damage. There's a basketball backboard, for example, that's torn up and you think they've dodged the bullet. That is until you turn around and you see a different mess.

The roof of one home was ripped away, piles of bricks are everywhere and it seems only a chain is holding the house together.

"It's pretty bad," said Bobby Hand, who is a construction worker.

Winn says his garage can be rebuilt, but it's a 40 foot tall Willow that he'll miss most.

"It was 15-years-old. We stuck it in the ground when it was little ole bitty, just a twig," said Winn.

The National Weather Service has determined that it was an EF-2 tornado that caused all of that damage. But the good news in it, no one was seriously injured.