EF1 Tornado Damages Businesses, Homes, Uproots Trees In Stilwell

People are cleaning up in Stilwell after an EF1 tornado ripped through the town on Wednesday morning. The National Weather Service Tulsa office said on Twitter that damage begins on the northwest side of town and continues to the east-northeast for a few miles.

The power of the storm is on full display at Davis Oil, just off Highway 51, where strong winds ripped a gas pump out of the ground. As an employee was inside the building, the roof was blown off and thrown into the nearby livestock arena. Keith Davis said his employee is okay after hiding as best she could.

"She said she just kinda hunkered down under the desk and when it was over then she come crawling out and seen the roof was gone,” Davis said.

Even without a roof, Davis is thankful nothing worse happened at the business he has had for more than 40 years. "I'm just glad my employees were okay. You know, I mean the rest of it can be replaced, fixed, you know. Just glad God had His hand on us and took care of us that way,” Davis said.

Crews from Ozarks Electric Cooperative worked to restore power to about 75 customers, after a 40-foot elm tree uprooted and hit power lines. Snapped and uprooted trees are all throughout Stilwell, but a straight line of more than a dozen trees are all uprooted and knocked over in the same direction, just off Highway 51 near N Orchard.

"Now it's just cleanup and get back to normalcy,” Adair County Emergency Management Director Ray Sallee said. Sallee said a few people were hurt Wednesday morning, including the driver of a semi the storm knocked over. Sallee said that driver and everyone else hurt are expected to be okay.

"This just makes us come together,” Sallee said. “We have learned over the last couple of hours we've had just an outpour of help. We've had everybody from Cherokee Nation to EMSs as far as Wagoner offering their assistance." "No loss of life,” Sallee said. “That's always a good day."