Storm Takes Toll On Tulsa Area

It looked like a bomb was dropped on Tulsa Sunday. The rain was powerful enough to shake cars as they drove around the streets, not to mention the booming sound of the hail.

The News On 6's Jeffrey Smith reports Tulsa police say there were dozens of traffic incidents because of the storm.

The most damaging part was the winds that reached speeds in excess of 70 miles per hour. That's equivalent to hurricane force winds. Dozens of trees were picked up and knocked over.

Even though tens of thousands are still without power, some have lost their homes altogether.

While the wind and rain has moved out of the area, for many homeowners, the trouble is just beginning.

 "It was just loud. It was just like wham! It was like they all fell over at one time," said Christine Tidwell of the trees around her house.

Heavy rains and 70 mile an hour winds uprooted four massive trees. All four ended up on top of her home.

"I looked up, and my whole ceiling started cracking. It had two or three cracks in the ceiling. I had my grandbaby on the bed, and I grabbed my grandbaby and I started screaming for my son to get out of the bath," said Tidwell.

She says she can't believe her eyes.

"It's like oh my god, I don't know. I, just, don't know. It's like, ‘what am I gonna do, you know?' That's my basic question. What am I going to do?" said Tidwell.

Dozens of trees have been uprooted. Some of their limbs smashed right onto vehicles. Fire crews worked all day to clean-up the mess from broken branches.

The wind shattered storefront windows across Tulsa, but uprooted trees were the biggest problem.

"I see my tree going like this, and I go, ‘It's going over!' And it went right over!" said Sally Sallee.

One tree missed Sallee's home by a few feet. Her home has minor damage to the roof and windows.

"Can't get better than that when you have this much damage. I feel for the people who have more," said Sallee.

"It's just like what am I gonna do? Where am I gonna go? You know, I've got kids?" said Tidwell.

Tidwell has been told her house in unlivable.

"I've never, ever been in something like this," said Tidwell.

She says she'll have to start over from scratch and stay with relatives until she figures something out.

EMSA has taken at least five people to the hospital with storm-related injuries and they've given medical treatment to several others who were injured mostly trying to clean-up the damage.

There were no serious injuries from the storm, but PSO says 44,000 Tulsa customers are without power. A spokeswoman for the company says they'll be working around the clock to get the power back, but she says it could be Tuesday night before full power is restored.