ARDMORE, Okla. (KXII) – A tornado destroyed about six structures overnight just outside Pauls Valley.
Eddie Menefee is just thankful his house was saved. Menefee’s brother-in-law, Bob Busby agreed.
“No animals, no people, everything.,” Busby said. ”I think God had his hand on the house there, so it was quite a blessing that nobody got hurt.”
Busby said the storm was just a few feet from his family.
“It went right past the house,” Busby said. “I mean right up against it. Smashed the eve on the metal, busted the windows out.”
The home was spared, but the storm still wrecked Menefee’s shop.
“I think if it had been 30, 40 feet to the east we probably wouldn’t be here talking to you,” Menefee said. “I don’t know how it can do that but my little home is unscathed and my family’s safe and all this stuff back here, it can be replaced.”
Garvin County Emergency Management director David Johnson said the Menefee’s aren’t the only ones who were hit. He said the tornado skipped around about five miles and damaged around six buildings, but no deaths or injuries have been reported.
“I think I attribute that to the great warning from the National Weather Service, and people paying attention to their radios and telephones, things like that,” Johnson said.
Johnson said now that the tornado is over, the big danger in Garvin county is flooded roads.
“Right in this area, we got about five inches of rain in I guess three and a half hours,” Johnson said. “So the flooding was pretty overwhelming.”
He said if you can, stay home.
“We’d appreciate it if you didn’t get out and do that much,” Johnson said.
While Emergency Management tallies up damage in the county, the Menefees are doing the same at their home.
by Caroline Cluiss (2021, Apr 28) KXII
