Oklahoma cleaning up after three days of storms

Saturday, April 24th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Investigators and emergency management officials assessed damage Friday from three tornadoes that had intermittently swept across eastern Oklahoma, tumbling barns and tipping mobile homes but causing no injuries.

Meanwhile, a twister touched down Friday in Tillman County near Grandfield, in the state's southwestern corner, as severe weather hit Oklahoma for the fourth straight day, the National Weather Service said.

Two grain elevators were damaged by the twisters, but no injuries were reported, said Jeffrey Rector, Tillman County emergency management director.

A tornado warning was issued for Cotton County to the east, and forecasters said the greatest risk for tornadoes Friday night was in southern Oklahoma all the way to the Arkansas line.

The weather service issued a flash flood warning for Grant and Kay counties, where flooding was expected along the Chikaskia and Salt Fork rivers at Tonkawa and Blackwell.

Forecasters expected the Salt Fork to crest 5.4 feet over its 17-feet flood stage at Tonkawa Saturday night. The Chikaskia River near Blackwell was forecast to crest 2.5 feet above flood stage by early Sunday.

Thunderstorms were expected statewide Saturday, too, but the string of storms would diminish as the front causing the unstable atmosphere moves out of state, the weather service said.

The threat "is not as great as it was yesterday," Robert Darby, the service's senior forecaster in Tulsa, said Friday. "The threat has somewhat diminished. If there were any tornado potential, it would be in far southeast Oklahoma, like Pushmataha or Choctaw counties."

After three days of heavy rain, potential flash flooding loomed over east-central Oklahoma, particularly in Adair and Cherokee counties where minor flooding has already occurred, Darby said.

The service issued a flash flood warning Friday afternoon for the two counties.

The storms had already dumped 3-to-5 inches of rain on eastern Oklahoma, and the service predicted another 2-to-3 through Saturday, pushing the limits that soil can absorb and drainage systems can drain.

The storms have also hammered Oklahoma with large hail, winds in excess of 70 mph and lightning when they weren't producing tornadoes. Hail Wednesday in Oklahoma City had to be shoveled away like snow.

A twister in Mayes County Thursday night left a damage path eight miles long and as wide as a football field, said Lloyd Colston, director of the county's Civil Emergency Management.

The twister did most of its damage south of Chouteau, blowing the roof off one barn, blasting another outbuilding while rolling an unoccupied mobile home, Colston said. The mobile home served as someone's weekend home, Colston said.

"Maybe we can go to church Sunday and have a tornado-free day," Colston said.

A small tornado touched down briefly in northern Muskogee County Thursday night, knocking down trees and blowing roofs off barns. An unoccupied mobile home southwest of Haskell was damaged, said Fire Chief John Masterson.

Thursday's first tornado touched down in the Tulsa suburb of Broken Arrow, crossing the Creek Turnpike and causing drivers to slam on brakes and swerve. The twister tore the front porch off an old house and deposited it onto an unoccupied parked car, officials said.

"We escaped pretty well unscathed," said Stephen Bradley, deputy director of emergency management in Broken Arrow. "It hit in a lesser populated area of the town."

That twister continued into Wagoner County, where a barn was blown over and mobile homes were damaged east of Coweta, officials said. Trees also were damaged near the town of New Tulsa, the sheriff's office reported.

"This has been one of our more active time periods that we can remember in many years," Darby said