Storm leaves damage in Oklahoma County

Thunderstorms damaged homes and other structures, knocked down trees and power lines and disrupted electric service in parts of Oklahoma on Tuesday.

Wednesday, July 1st 2009, 12:18 pm

By: News 9

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Thunderstorms damaged homes and other structures, knocked down trees and power lines and disrupted electric service in parts of Oklahoma on Tuesday.
   One minor injury was reported with the storms, which brought strong, straight-line winds and heavy rain to Beckham, Greer and Oklahoma counties.
   In Oklahoma County, winds left damage in a two-mile area near Harrah, about 20 miles east of Oklahoma City.
   "There is a farm out there that received a lot of damage to it. I know several grain bins were destroyed, moved from their foundations," Mark Meyers, a spokesman for the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department, said.
   One house was damaged when a power pole fell on it, authorities said. Utility poles and other debris left one road impassable, Meyers said.
   At one point, Oklahoma Gas & Electric reported about 14,000 customers without power in the county, but the number had dwindled to just under 1,830 by late Tuesday.
   In western Oklahoma, a thunderstorm damaged a softball field and inundated streets with rain in Mangum, said Glynadee Edwards, Greer County emergency management director.
   "There was a softball game going on and it took the fence around the field and blew it down into the dugout," Edwards said. "Poles that were set in concrete, the wind blew them down and pulled some of them out of the ground."
   Edwards said a girl who was sitting in the dugout as the fence came down sustained a minor injury when a pole hit her leg.
   An estimated 1 1/2 inches of rain fell in Mangum, causing street flooding, Edwards said.
   "In the downtown area the water got up high in the streets, but it didn't get into any buildings, she said. "There was one car parked along a street and the water got up to the doors."
   Edwards said no motorists were stranded by the water.
   "It was a freak little storm," she said.
   Christine Riley, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman, said the damage was caused by winds.
   A 60-mph wind gust was reported in Beckham County in western Oklahoma, but emergency manager Lonnie Risenhoover said only power lines were damaged.
   Severe storms also were reported in eastern Oklahoma.