Tardy tornado season gets under way with a fatality
TULSA -- Tornado season is off to a deadly start. At least eight twisters were reported in Arkansas and Oklahoma Wednesday and man was killed near Tulsa.
The tornadoes that swept Oklahoma lit power transformers like they were firecrackers. The strongest had winds as high as 135 miles per hour and nearly leveled a mobile home park near Tulsa.
Nearby, 74 people -- mostly children -- raced to the basement before the roof collapsed on a gym run by Jennifer Patterson. She said there were instructors and children there at the time. But she said they were unharmed.
"I'm just glad that I wasn't in it," said Jamarie Wilson, who was there at the time.
Gov. Mary Fallin declared a State of Emergency in 25 counties, including the one surrounding the city of Moore. "We're the best state in the nation when it comes to handling a tragedy or some type of natural disaster," she said.
An EF 5 Tornado decimated Moore, just two years ago. Last night's tornado is similar to the path taken by four major tornadoes in the past 16 years.
Harold Brooks with the National Weather Service says that's bad luck, not bad geography.
"There could be something physical but we just don't know enough about the atmosphere to actually say that there's anything real," said Brooks.
But longtime resident Joette Strain, who rode out the storm in her closet, has decided to make her own luck.
"This is it, I don't want to live here anymore, 40 years is enough," she said.
Despite the damage here, it's been a relatively quiet tornado season. Before last night, the storm prediction center had received reports of about 20 tornadoes nationwide since Jan. 1. That's well below the average of 150 for that time period.