Multiple tornadoes touched down in central and southern Oklahoma after midnight Sunday, ripping siding off homes, overturning cars and downing power lines.
At 01:23 hours, the National Weather Service first warned of one of the tornadoes sweeping through eastern Oklahoma City and headed toward nearby Midwest City and Tinker Air Force Base.
Tornado warnings have been issued for more than 300,000 residents in parts of Oklahoma City, and six people have been injured so far.
Footage showing the aftermath of the storms showed badly damaged homes and downed power lines across the city, while petrified locals revealed they were woken up by howling wind and flying debris.
Meteorologists provided that severe storms will last throughout North Texas and Oklahoma until Monday. The NWS said high winds, flooding and more tornadoes are possible in the coming hours.
A house in southeast Oklahoma City is completely destroyed in the aftermath.
This home is near SE 89th and Sooner Rd, where five of the six reported injuries occurred.
In the same area, a pickup truck was seen overturned in a person’s yard.
Daniel and Cherry Haggard revealed they were woken up by loud noises and objects breaking their windows during the life-threatening weather front.
“We were lying in bed and we heard a big noise and it sounded like a train was going by,” Daniel said. KFOR. ‘Then we heard these bangs and crashes against the house. Things had flown between our house and the house on the west side and broke our bedroom windows.
The couple explained that they had to scramble to get buckets to contain the water that was gushing into their home from the windows and damaged roof.
Joe Payne had a similar experience and said KFOR almost everything he owns is now totaled.
“We were all in bed and when I heard the noise when the thing fell, I thought it was just a direct lightning strike,” Payne said. ‘It was a loud explosion. But it was the roof that was detached from the house.
Southeast Oklahoma City was one of the hardest hit areas, News 9 reported.
Daniel and Cherry Haggard, pictured, were sent fighting in the middle of the night when debris flew into their home through their bedroom windows.
Joe Payne also said there was extensive damage to the roof of his home. He said most of his possessions are totaled.
So far, at least six injuries have been reported, none of them life-threatening, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department.
KFOR Chief Meteorologist Mike Morgan said there could have been as many as seven tornadoes, and other outlets reported the number was as low as three or as high as 13.
NWS crews have already begun assessing the damage. They concluded that Valley Brook, a neighborhood in Oklahoma City, suffered damage from the EF-2 tornado.
That level of destruction is caused by a tornado with winds of 111 to 135 mph.
So far, at least six injuries have been reported, none of them life-threatening, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department.
Five of the injuries occurred near SE 89th and Sooner Rd, which is in the southeast part of the city.
“We have several structures that have sustained damage, along with power lines, traffic lights and downed trees,” the Oklahoma City Fire Department said. “Utilities were also affected and five people were transported to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.”
Amateur video shot by a citizen shows extensive damage to Newcastle Elementary School, which borders Oklahoma City to the southeast.
Home video shows heavy rain hitting Oklahoma during tornadoes and storms early Sunday morning.
There are more than 50,000 Oklahomans still without power at press time, according to PowerOutage.us.
In the areas surrounding Oklahoma City – including Tulsa, the Choctaw Nation and parts of western Oklahoma – there are about 16,000 customers without electricity.
Amateur video filmed by a citizen also showed extensive damage to the elementary school in Newcastle, which borders Oklahoma City to the southeast.
The school’s fourth and fifth grade center along with its gymnasium was completely missing its roof, KOCO 5 reported.
The video also showed what appeared to be insulation from inside the walls of the school building spread throughout the grass, sidewalk and road.
A huge power line fell during the storm and landed on the roof of a house.
This graph from NOAA provides an overview of the probability of tornadoes forming in the areas mentioned above.
This graph, formed using forecast data from the NWS, shows the possible amount of rain certain areas of Oklahoma could experience through Monday night.
Another devastating video revealed damage to a homeowner’s garage.
The roof and what used to be the garage doors were completely gone, leaving the interior completely exposed. Their cars were inside at the time of the storm, causing them to be crushed by falling walls.
The most recent weather radar images show the storm passing over Oklahoma City and Tulsa.
According to the most recent National Weather Service (NWS) ForecastStrong rain storms are expected to move east into the Middle Mississippi Valley, as well as Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana.
“The ongoing active weather system over the south-central US will continue to bring additional rounds of heavy rain and severe weather through the remainder of today, with the heaviest rain expected to impact central and eastern Oklahoma in parts of northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri.’, according to the National Weather Service.
Flash flood warnings remain in effect for several areas of southern Oklahoma, including parts of Marshall, Carter and Love counties.
