Buildings damaged when storms hit Delaware County – Enid News & Eagle
May 22, 2011
Buildings damaged when storms hit Delaware County
Anonymous From The Associated Press The Enid News and Eagle Mon May 23, 2011, 12:04 AM CDT
GROVE — Severe weather hit portions of eastern Oklahoma late Sunday, damaging a number of buildings in Delaware County and dropping large hail in Tulsa.
As clean-up work started here, state emergency officials also dispatched a number of workers to Joplin, Mo., where a tornado hit a hospital on the south side of town and flattened several blocks of homes.
There were no reports of injuries in the Oklahoma storms, though firefighters in Delaware County went door-to-door in West Siloam Springs in an attempt to account for everyone, television station KFSM in Fort Smith, Ark., reported Sunday night.
Michelann Ooten of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said damage was reported at Grove, at Zena and at Bernice in Delaware County before the storm, possibly a tornado, moved into Arkansas and Missouri. Power was out in many areas.
The storms hit amid an outbreak of violent weather across much of the Midwest. In addition to the tornado at Joplin, another significant storm hit Minneapolis.
The Tulsa Police Department’s Disaster Response Team sent eight team members to help at Joplin, and the state Health Department said Health Department workers equipped with ambulances were dispatched after Missouri sent out a call for assistance.
For a time, highway officials shut down the Will Rogers Turnpike leading into Missouri to keep extra traffic out of Joplin. Motorists were allowed back onto eastbound lanes late Sunday night.
Earlier Sunday, large hail and high winds were reported south of Oklahoma City.