Sapulpa Homeowner: Tornado Came Out Of Nowhere

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

SAPULPA, OK – Sapulpa was one of the first communities hit by Thursday morning's tornado.

The EF-2 tornado flipped a tractor-trailer before heading towards other businesses, only an hour before some employees were supposed to be at work.

A large blue tarp now covers the damaged shingles on a Sapulpa home that narrowly missed a direct hit.

"I don't know why we didn't get wiped out and why it would go like that. It looks horrible," Josh Beckerman, Sapulpa resident, said. "Why didn't it hit us? We got lucky, we got lucky."

Brian Doughtery says the twister came out of nowhere Thursday morning. He grabbed his infant son and barricaded himself in the bathroom.

"Five, ten, fifteen seconds it was done," Beckerman said. "Walked outside, that's when you could see it was all damaged up."

A nearby business was not as lucky. Its tractor-trailer remained on its side hours after it was flipped by the tornado.

The system terrified a poodle puppy at Sapulpa's Animal Care Central. It also destroyed an office, and left limbs strewn all over the parking lot.

"So we'll try to put the pieces back together, turn the lights back on, and get back to helping people," Brian Dougherty, Animal Care Central, said.

Neighboring Amron Enterprises is in even worse shape. It's missing part of its roof and wall. The business has shut down, and its owner is not sure when it will open again.

"If the structure's ok, we could be back online by Monday," James Nichols, Amron Enterprises, said. "If we have some problems with the crane ways, then we could be down for quite a while."

The saving grace, says owner James Nichols, is that the tornado rolled through at 5 a.m., instead of an hour later.

"My guys get here about six in the morning so if it had come an hour later, it could have been really bad.", Amron said.