Tornadoes unleashed their fury across Oklahoma on Sunday, leaving a trail of destruction and leaving thousands of people without power. The storms reduced buildings to rubble in the heart of Sulphur, a rural town, injuring over a hundred individuals. The impact of the tornadoes was evident as Governor Kevin Stitt surveyed the devastation, stating, “You just can’t believe the destruction.”
The storms’ aftermath left a significant portion of Oklahoma grappling with power outages, affecting over 20,000 people. Sulphur bore the brunt of the damage, with a tornado tearing through a 15-block area, destroying structures downtown, overturning vehicles, and ripping off roofs. The destruction prompted Governor Stitt to declare a state of emergency, enabling the allocation of additional funds to aid first responders and recovery efforts.
The wrath of the tornadoes was not confined to Sulphur. Heavy rains caused significant flooding, necessitating water rescues. The rising lake levels forced the closure of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, where a pedestrian bridge was destroyed by the storms. Governor Stitt, while providing an update on the fatalities and devastation in Sulphur, remarked that this was “definitely the most damage since I’ve been governor.”
As of midday Sunday, more than 30,000 customers in Oklahoma remained without power, according to poweroutage.us. Neighboring Texas also faced power outages, with nearly 52,000 customers affected by the severe weather. The National Weather Service issued storm warnings for over 47 million people from East Texas to Illinois and Wisconsin, alerting residents to potential hazards such as strong winds, heavy rain, and hail.
