Tulsa Clean-Up Crews Hard At Work After Thursday's Storm

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- Roofing companies were busy giving estimates on Friday, and insurance adjusters are working on claims after storms tore through the Tulsa area Thursday.

There are quite a few homes missing rooftops, not just shingles, west of Tulsa.

In Tulsa, most of the damage is less severe, shingles torn off and trees pushed over.

The most substantial damage is likely trees falling on homes.

The intersection of 55th and Marion was hit hard. Large trees were uprooted. An oak tree crushed the garage on a house and flattened the car that's inside.

It missed the bedroom where Barbara Shoemake was sleeping.

"It was just a great big bang, with all of the noise, with the sirens going off and the thunder and lightning," Shoemake said.

The trees pulled down the power lines. Electrical crews are following tree trimmers so they can get in where they need to work.

The size of the trees that fell caused substantial damage to a few homes.

Many more had roof damage and that was common to homes between along 61st and 51st Streets, across south Tulsa.

The storm took off rooftops all over the neighborhood. Blue tarps are on a lot of houses.

The most extensive damage in the area is to the Discovery School. The storm took off almost half of the roof. At least seven classrooms have damage from water pouring in.

"Half the roof is gone on the elementary side," Fevzi Simsek, Discovery School Principal, said.

The charter school's principal said if the school can reopen soon they could finish out the year in as little as five days.

"It's still it's going to take more time," Simsek said. "We're expecting rain this weekend and it's going to take time to fix the roof."

The inside of the school is dark and damp. The electricity is off and hot air is being pumped in.

"All the warm dry air that's coming in here, we're trying to lower the humidity," Andrew Moss, TRC Disaster Solutions said. "We're attempting to stabilize the environment, because there's so much in here that's wet."

Moss figures it will take more than a week to dry out the building and repairs could take a month. Standing water remains in some classrooms - but it's being vacuumed out. A temporary roof is keeping most of the rain out for now.

The News On 6 has seen mobile command posts from insurance companies in the area to handle all the claims, many of which will involve roofing.

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