Oklahomans Rebuild After Being Hit by Multiple Tornadoes

Residents work to recover items from a home that was hit by a tornado in Norman, Okla., on Feb. 27, 2023. Nick Oxford/Reuters

Oklahomans in areas hit by a string of tornadoes on Sunday are trying to get back on their feet and rebuild their lives with the help of emergency crews and volunteers.

Strong winds caused injuries, power lines to fall, and road closures, with severe weather leaving Tuesday.

In Norman, a city of 128,000, 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, 12 people were transferred to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries caused by a storm that hit at 11 pm, police said on Monday.

The twister that hit Norman was one of 11 that touched down in Oklahoma, and two more were later reported in Kansas, said the National Weather Service (NWS) reported KOCO-TV.

“It was pretty rare, historic in the amount” of wind shear, said Bruce Thoren, an NWS meteorologist, regarding the Oklahoma twisters, noting that the state has seen only 51 tornadoes in February since 1950.

Help Needed

There is no shortage of help needed in Norman, with hundreds of homes being damaged by the tornado.

Volunteers from Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Reliefat assisting in Norman told KOCO-TV in a Wednesday report that if people wanted to assist with recovery efforts, they could use a hand.

“As volunteers want to come, they can come to this building right behind me and tell them they’re here to help, and we’ll find them a place to go,” said Jason Yarbrough, state director of Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief.

His relief group was working on 44 homes affected by the tornado.

KOCO-TV said that disaster teams will be in the city for two weeks to assist those affected by the storm rebuild their lives.

Chandler Browning looks over his in-laws' home that was destroyed by a tornado after a tornado in Norman, Okla., on Feb. 27, 2023. Nick Oxford/Reuters

Cars that were hit by a tornado lay in a pile in a damaged neighborhood in Norman, Okla., on Feb. 27, 2023. Nick Oxford/Reuters

Some 12,000 homes and businesses were without power across Oklahoma, Poweroutage.us reported after the winds reached 90 miles per hour.

Video footage and photographs of the destruction on local news and social media showed power lines resting in the middle of roadways, debris strewn across neighborhoods, and roofs ripped off buildings. One photo showed a red sedan flipped over and resting on top of another vehicle.

Roof Torn Off

Norman resident Frances Tabler told KOCO-TV that she suffered a small cut on her head when the storm hit her home, tearing off much of its roof and sending debris flying. She said it was a miracle her children weren’t hurt, although her daughter was trapped for a while in a bedroom.

“I could hear the wind coming. All of a sudden, all the back windows, where the kids’ bedrooms are, I could hear them just crashing, busting out. And I got up, and then the wind just threw me back, and I’m screaming,” Tabler told the TV station.

“It was just like a blizzard in the house with all the debris flying. I was screaming for my kids.”

The rough weather comes after days of a winter storm clobbered the Plains, Midwest, and the Great Lakes regions. More than 130,000 homes and businesses lost power, Poweroutage.us reported.

On Monday, the NWS Twitter account wrote that the “heaviest amounts” of snow will be “confined to the interior” portions of the Northeast region.

California, meanwhile, got a break from severe weather Monday after a storm flooded streets and dumped snow in the Los Angeles area, but severe weather was expected to reemerge on Wednesday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.