More Storms Possible As Cleanup From Weekend Continues

Sunday, May 6th 2007, 1:56 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Strong storms moved across Oklahoma for a third straight day and produced a possible tornado, but no injuries were reported early Monday. A tornado touched down about two miles east of Seminole and caused damage, authorities said.

``The tornado was about 300 feet wide and traveled to the north,'' sheriff's dispatcher Terry Thomason said.

A woman became trapped when her mobile home was blown off its foundation, but she was rescued from the structure and was shaken up but not hurt, Thomason said.

A mobile home also was damaged in the town of Little and power lines were toppled around Oklahoma Highway 99A. Thomason said the twister eventually crossed Interstate 40.

Ernie Willis, emergency management director for the city of Seminole, said storm spotters were watching the skies and the storm ``popped up before we knew it.''

``I feel fortunate we don't have anymore damage than we have,'' Willis said.

Additional assessments will be done Monday, Willis said.

An automotive business was heavily damaged when a 60 to 70 mph wind gust blew down a wall in west of downtown Oklahoma City, officials said.

A tornado Saturday night destroyed Erick-Sweetwater High School's multipurpose building, gymnasium, agriculture building and maintenance shop all were destroyed, and most of the classrooms were damaged when the tornado ripped the roof off the school.

School Superintendent Don Riley says the school was in shambles after a tornado ripped through the western Oklahoma town four years ago, but calls the damage from the twister this weekend worse.

The tiny community hugging Oklahoma's border with the Texas Panhandle has been the hardest hit in a three-day severe weather outbreak that has spawned at least a half-dozen tornadoes in western and east-central sections of the state.

More severe weather was possible through midweek as a storm system moved slowly eastward across the Plains. Tornadoes may still be possible, but there are greater concerns about flooding in the coming days, according to the National Weather Service.

That could make continued damage survey efforts problematic for Riley and school officials.

``It's not a very good situation,'' said Riley, who estimated damage at about $2 million. ``Some of these buildings are totaled.''

The last week of school likely will be canceled, but Riley believes the school itself will be rebuilt as it was when a twister heavily damaged it in 2003.

Overall, at least eight homes were destroyed, several more were damaged and one person was injured after a series of storms spawned tornadoes Saturday night, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management reported.

The Sweetwater tornado also destroyed three homes, heavily damaged the First Baptist Church and tossed several vehicles, said Billy Bankston, emergency management director for Beckham County.

Two children in a mobile home just north of the school were rescued by a neighbor, who took them to a storm cellar as the tornado bore down on their home, Bankston said.

``There's nothing left of that trailer,'' Bankston said.

Tornadoes also touched down Saturday in Woodward County, destroying a home west of Sharon and damaging three homes and two barns near Mutual, authorities said. In Ellis County, four homes were destroyed east of U.S. Highway 283.

It was the second night of tornadic storms for western Oklahoma, where another large twister that formed in the Texas Panhandle moved east into Ellis County and hit areas around Arnett. There was limited structural damage with that storm and no injuries were reported.