OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Emergency officials set out today to assess damage from a series of violent storms and tornadoes that killed nine people as it swept through Oklahoma City and its suburbs with tornadoes, large hail and heavy rain. More than 100 people were injured.
Muddy floodwaters stood several feet deep in the countryside surrounding the metro area. Torrential downpours followed for hours after the twisters moved east, and water damage was reported at the city’s airport.
The storms battered a state still reeling after a monstrous storm known as an EF5 — ranking at the top of the scale measuring tornado strength — ripped through suburban Moore on May 20, killing 24 people and decimating neighborhoods.
Water surged up to the hoods of cars on many streets, snarling traffic at the worst possible time: Friday’s evening commute. Even though several businesses closed early so employees could beat the storm home, highways were still clogged with motorists worried about a repeat of the chaos in Moore.
Though it was in the tornado warning zone, Moore was spared major damage by the storms, but still experienced heavy rain and high wind. A convention center where the town held its graduation in the days after the storm suffered minor flooding damage, officials said.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office said a man was missing from a vehicle near Harrah, east of Oklahoma City, and a pair of sinkholes were reported on each side of the metro area.
When the storm passed between El Reno and Yukon, it barreled right down Interstate 40 for more than two miles (three kilometers), ripping billboards down to twisted metal frames. Debris was tangled in the median’s crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs, metal pipes, a giant oil drum and a stretch of chain-link fence.