Storm Damage At Bells And The Tulsa County Fairgrounds

The Tulsa County fairgrounds were hit hard by a severe thunderstorm Tuesday morning. Several buildings at the fairgrounds have roof damage and no electricity. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren

Tuesday, June 6th 2006, 11:09 am

By: News On 6

The Tulsa County fairgrounds were hit hard by a severe thunderstorm Tuesday morning. Several buildings at the fairgrounds have roof damage and no electricity.

News on 6 reporter Jennifer Loren says the Ferris wheel at Bells Amusement Park was damaged. It is basically been folded in half.

Bells' owner says this is the worst storm to come through here in more than 20 years. The Zingo is also damaged with an uprooted tree now lying across its tracks.

The owner says there is so much damage, its going to take a while to survey everything and come up with a game plan for the future.

Big Splash is also closed. Debris filled their pools and clogged the pumps. They're hoping for electricity some time soon to get things up and running.

There was no apparent damage to the Expo Center, but over at Fair Meadows, part of the grandstand roof is gone. The opening race is 2 days away and they had to cancel Tuesday's practice races. Jockey Randy Wilson: â€œit slowed up the training process for a lot of people. But you know if a horse really isn't fit by this time of the year, they're not going to be fit. So a day or two is not going to hurt them."

The manager of Fair Meadows says no matter what, they will be ready for Thursday's opening.

Big Splash also hopes to be open by Thursday. But it appears Bells was the hardest hit. They plan to call a news conference in the next couple of days to announce their plans for re-opening the park.