Lincoln County residents clean up after tornadoes

CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) -- Some Lincoln County residents spent Thursday cleaning up after unexpected tornadoes moved through central Oklahoma the day before.<br/><br/>Lincoln County Emergency Management Director

Friday, June 11th 2004, 5:33 am

By: News On 6

CHANDLER, Okla. (AP) -- Some Lincoln County residents spent Thursday cleaning up after unexpected tornadoes moved through central Oklahoma the day before.

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Ben Springfield described what blew through the county as mini-supercells that are born quickly, explode, run their course and can die in a minute.

Springfield said tornado radar detection systems have a hard time detecting them.

The mini-supercell, accompanied by no thunder or lightning, began about 6 p.m. four miles west of Chandler near Oklahoma Highway 66.

The twister traveled north, knocked down fences and power lines, damaged roofs, destroyed a lake home and a century-old pecan orchard.

Area resident Steven Fox said he might have been killed if a relative hadn't telephoned him that the storm was coming.

In Agra, buildings in a one-block area were damaged by a tornado. A roof was blown off a barn, a nearby mobile home was damaged and a pontoon boat was blown into a fence, said Wes McFarland, superintendent of Agra schools.

"There was a lot of debris in the air and tree damage," McFarland said.

Broken Arrow resident Kevin Goins of Broken Arrow rummaged through the debris of his family's crumbled mobile home near Chandler Lake that had been used as a vacation house since 1996.

Goins said he was thankful his parents had left the night before and that no one was in the home when the storm hit.