Tornado causes extensive damage to small Oklahoma town as powerful storms hit central US
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A tornado destroyed homes and toppled trees and power lines when it roared through a small Oklahoma town, one of several twisters that erupted in the central United States amid a series of powerful storms that forecasters warned could stretch into the early hours of Tuesday.
The tornado ripped through the 1,000-person town of Barnsdall, about a 40-minute drive north of Tulsa, on Monday night.
Law enforcement officers and residents surveyed the damage in one neighborhood as lightning flashed and heavy rain came down, local TV news footage showed. The tornado had ripped off the roof of one house before spitting it back out onto the street. Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden told KOTV that there were no confirmed fatalities as of 11 p.m. local time.
The National Weather Service in Tulsa had warned earlier in the evening that “a large and life-threatening tornado” was headed toward Barnsdall, with wind gusts up to 70 mph (112 kph). Meteorologist Brad McGavock said information on the tornado’s size and how far it traveled wasn’t immediately available Monday night.