Pauls Valley Residents Clean Up After Storm Damage

Chris McKinnon, News 9

Pauls Valley, Oklahoma -- Debbie Fowler examined the damage done Saturday night to the home she rents. Her neighborhood littered with tree limbs and other debris left behind after severe storms whip through the Pauls Valley area.

The wind blew off the bottom of Fowler's trailer, but she knows it could have been a whole lot worse.

"I was in my house and I heard a big, loud boom and I looked outside and there's the trailer, like that," she said as she points to what is left of her neighbor's home.

The wind tossed her neighbor's trailer, missing her home by only a few feet.

"That's why I was freaking out so bad, because it was too close, too close," Fowler explained.

As she walked through the wreckage, Fowler counted her blessings that everyone is safe. Her neighbor was out of town when the storm hit.

Debbie Fowler is convinced if anyone was inside the trailer when the storm came though, they would not have survived. It was the first thing authorities looked for when they arrived on scene.

"They wasn't sure that there wasn't a person in that trailer and that's what they were looking for at first but there was no one in there," Fowler said.

The rest of Pauls Valley's residents were left cleaning up Sunday morning after the damaging rain and wind storms. One homeowner pointed out a tree that split down the middle and landed on a nearby car. He was afraid the other half might fall onto his house so he plans to cut it down in the coming days.

The Red Cross also reported at least one house fire and several overturned vehicles in the Pauls Valley area, and as of Sunday they did not report any major injuries.

Debbie Fowler knows this time she dodged the storm. But it served as a reminder of how devastating Mother Nature can be.

"You don't mess with Mother Nature. Compare to what they lost, it's nothing. Them people lost everything. It could have been me too," Fowler said.