Tornado Tears Through Southwest Tulsa

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TULSA, OK –A tornado hit southwest Tulsa Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

They were out at 78th Street South and 28th West Thursday, surveying the site and looking at the damage.

Cable lines were down, a barn was blown apart and the tin sheets were all over lawns, up in trees on the lines and parts were even found a few blocks away.

A home in the neighborhood sustained the most damage. Neighbors say they knew it couldn't have just been the wind.

"A wind hit my wall like I had never heard before," Peggy Hughes, storm victim, said. "I could tell it was really not just wind."

It was an abrupt awakening for Peggy Hughes at 4:53 Thursday morning.

"I looked out and my lawn, porch furniture cushions were flying around in my front yard. So I ran to get my husband and said 'we're having a tornado," she said. "It just was really freaky. Just a really odd feeling. And then it stopped. All at once it just stopped. No sound."

Hughes says the storm happened so quickly there was little time to react.

"We didn't even do what we were supposed to do. We just started looking out all the windows. We didn't go to our safe place," she said. "I think maybe we've learned a lesson. That you need to hide and then go look."

Hughes house was spared, but her neighbor's house was not.

The home was the hardest hit in the area. The roof is gone. The garage is blown in. The roof of the front porch now sits on the front lawn.

"And the firemen said back there on this part of the house it's dry and no damage but you can see the tin in the treetop! It's off of his barn over there I think," Hughes said.

Not one person was injured. The owner of the home was out of town on vacation. She even had her pets with her.

"We're just grateful she wasn't in there," Hughes said.

The owner of the home returned Thursday afternoon. Her sister tells the News On 6 she is doing well, all things considered.

Her neighbor, who happens to be a contractor, pitched in to help cover the roof temporarily.

Insurance was out surveying the damage. They say the house may be too damaged to repair.