Tulsa World from Tulsa, Oklahoma • 4

A 4 Thursday ebruary 12 2009 Tuisa World STORM: President Obama also called Gov Henry expressing condolences ROM Al by the tornado While some homes remained standing most were reduced to piles of twisted metal cinder blocks and debris devastation and the path of this tornado is tre Henry said takes your breath Henry said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano called him at 7:45 am pledging support President Barack Obama also called Henry on Wednes day expressing condolences and assuring that assistance will be provided names were not released Wednesday but a spokeswoman for the state Medical Office said no children were among the dead Most mobile homes in the Bar park were swept away The park was left with twisted steel foundations clothes and housing insulation strewn in trees and numerous personal belongings strewn for acres Residents were allowed to Mb Chickasaw Nation em ployee Marcus Wilmond helps clean up Shirley Mose's home Wednesday fol lowing a deadly tornado Tuesday in Lone Grove JOHN CLANTON The Oklahoman return and find belongings and some met with the gov ernor during his visit They included George Lovell 18 who returned a few minutes before ar rival and stacked some of the few remaining pos sessions six DVDs includ ing and Little a folded green jacket and his pink motorcycle helmet He also picked up a framed picture belonging to a neigh bor who he said is in the hos pital and a remote control that had been missing for years dad had been giving me a hard time about he said Kylat Campbell of the American Red Cross said 15 people stayed Tuesday night at a shelter established at Heritage Hall Center 220 Broadway in Ardmore More were expected to stay Wednesday night and Camp bell said the shelter will re main in place until the need is gone The Red Cross also has two mental health profession als staying at Heritage Hall along with two emergency response vehicles traveling the town and serving food Campbell said the Salvation Army is also serving food and Baptist disaster relief is doing much of the cooking start over' Survivors repeated their stories Wednesday for any one who would listen Lana Hartman and seven others were huddled in a small closet about 6 feet tall by 4 feet wide in a one story brick house when they felt the tornado roar past No one in the home was hurt Hartman said they could feel wind beneath the closet door A teenager in the closet began rising off the ground and others had to hold her down by grabbing her shirt Hartman moved into the house on Tuesday just hours before the tornado struck house is next door to the remains of ur niture on US 70 which was destroyed along with the ad jacent chamber of commerce building Wednesday morning couches and recliners were lined up in the store but several walls and part of the tin roof and insulation were missing Matt Opsahl 25 was watch ing television news in his mo bile home when he saw that a tornado was approaching Lone Grove Opsahl his wife their 3 year old daughter and his mother quickly went to a hallway The tornado blew off some walls and part of the frame of the home A washing machine struck Opsahl but he was not seri ously injured All of his fam ily members suffered bruises and scratches Still daughter said was One of two trucks was blown to the other side of the mobile home park and his mother in car was flipped onto its top Asked what do next Opsahl shrugged start he said buy me an other 4 Michael Kimball The Oklahoman I I 1 tone Grove DAVID HOUSHTulMi World CONIRMED TORNADOES Oklahoma City Edmond Duration: Touched down 2:33 pm 3 miles northwest of Bethany lifted 3:07 pm 4 miles south southeast of Seward Classification at maximum strength: 2 (sustained winds of up to 135 mph) Preliminary damage estimate: seven homes destroyed 17 homes and businesses sustained major damage 66 homes and busi nesses sustained minor damage 179 homes and businesses sustained superficial damage Casualties: three people suffered minor injuries Logan and Payne counties Duration: Touched down 3:30 pm 3 miles south of Langston lifted 3:55 pm 3 miles south of Stillwater No damage or casualties reported Pawnee County Duration: Touched down 4:35 pm 3 miles south southwest of Pawnee lifted 4:37 pm a half mile south of Pawnee Preliminary damage estimate: One barn destroyed some power lines down No casualties reported Jefferson Love Carter Murray counties Duration: Entered Oklahoma 6:35 pm in Petersburg lifted 8 pm 5 miles southeast of Dougherty Classification at maximum strength: 4 (sustained winds of up to 170 mph) Preliminary damage estimate: Tnfalc in I hop ftrnvp i inawdahlp but at least 60 mobile homes dozens of structures damaged or destroyed Two Love County homes damaged one in Wilson Casualties: Eight confirmed dead 14 seriously injured in Lone Grove A ninth death was later reported Sources: National Weather Service state and local emergency management officials Carter County Sheriff Ken Grace Pawnee County Commissioner Gary Pogue 0 Tubs' Inhofe trying again to make EMA independent WORLD WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON US Sen Jim Inhofe believes that his proposal to turn EMA into an independent agency will receive a better reaction from President Barack Obama than it did from the Bush adminis tration look forward to working with the president as we look for ways to help EMA pro vide the best response pos the Oklahoma Repub lican said Wednesday In the wake of latest deadly tornado Inhofe reintroduced a bill to remove the ederal Emergency Man agement Agency from the Department of Homeland Se curity His bill would make the EMA director a Cabinet level adviser to the president Obama and Inhofe spoke Wednesday about the storm LONE: tell there was ever a trailer Mar gie Hughes said ROM Al hear the or the jet en the way victims always seem to describe a sound Hughes said Instead the storm fell quiet rain Hughes said Wednesday stopped It was as calm and peaceful as could At that very moment 7:30 pm Mike Wolford was in his car racing east on US 70 to ward a house in Ard more 10 minutes away TV forecasters in Okla homa City had been warning people for hours about a pos sible outbreak of tornadoes so Wolford had been watch ing the sky As flashes of light ening lit up the clouds he could see a swirling rotation half a mile going to stick he said knowing how notoriously dangerous trailer homes are during tor nadoes I got out of there Meanwhile less than 20 minutes away in the small town of Springer Steve Sparks was frantically dial ing the phone trying to reach Technically Sparks related to Donna McGarvey His family has been close to her for years though and he has always called her Granny cell phone coverage gets real spotty out Sparks said in bad McGarvey have a land line or a vehicle have anywhere to go or any way to Sparks said knew she was a sit ting With fewer than 5000 people living in Lone Grove just west of Ardmore most of them are packed into neigh borhoods within a few blocks on both sides of US 70 A quarter mile in any di rection and the twister prob ably would have hit only open pasture Instead it appears to have touched down on the south side of the highway When it was finished least eight people were dead The twister sheared off a church steeple ripped open the post roof and dam aged many homes Crossing the highway the tornado veered cast of the high school and plowed into a dense group of trailer parks Earlier in the evening Hughes had driven to Ard more just to get away from the area worried that the high winds might roll her trailer home onto its side By 7 pm she was back home but still watching the television seeing reports of an earlier twister that hit Edmond they said there was one coming for Lone Grove so I ran Hughes said would be a lot more people dead today if it been for the advance warn Hughes rushed down the street to save her elderly friend and both of them dashed into a nearby storm shelter Around 9 pm with news reports on a battery powered radio saying the storm had moved out of the area Hughes climbed out to find her trailer gone couldn't even tell there was ever a trailer shesaid She worried the most about family photos else can be replaced but they are gone she said By then Sparks was already searching through the rubble a few blocks away for any sign of McGarvey and two friends who lived with her was just flat tened I was just picking stuff up and looking under Sparks said wanted to find her but then again I want to I was hoping she was somewhere With police and firefight ers swarming into town from surrounding counties Sparks left the search and rescue operation to the profession als and drove to the Ardmore hospital He found the two friends who lived with Me 1'Garvey bothwith critical in juries told me it was like a hand grenade exploding when the tornado hit the Sparks said one sur vivor told him three of them tried to hold onto each other but they got ripped Sparks said By Wednesday afternoon Sparks still had noword about fate No lists of the dead had been released by Wednesday evening really have any hope left" he said know she is one of them who didn't make it Michael Overall 581 8383 michaeloveralltulsaworldcom Symbols of Love kA r'i A ci? 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