'How quickly those things would come in, hit and go away': Fast storms and tornado cause long recovery in Sapulpa

Mark Nerren said it lasted about 30 seconds. He could hear the damage being done outside.

“By the time I got my cellphone and keys, it was already over with,” Nerren said. “I didn’t realize it would be that fast. It just never struck me how quickly those things would come in, hit and go away.”

A line of thunderstorms swept across the region late May 25 and early May 26. Multiple tornado warnings accompanied that storm. And a tornado or a series of tornadoes tracked from Sapulpa and Kellyville, through Jenks and south Tulsa before dissipating in Broken Arrow.

Nerren owns a historical building at Park Street and Dewey Avenue in Sapulpa, he said. The tornado removed bricks and damaged the cornice. He said none of his tenants was significantly affected by the twister. Nearly two weeks later, construction crews were still stripping material “that could be a falling hazard,” Nerren said. He was having the falling hazards removed before considering construction to repair the damage.

“I thought it was just going to be a regular thunderstorm, and it hit all of a sudden,” Nerren said.

As the storm crossed Dewey Avenue, residents reported seeing a funnel cloud amid power flashes and lightning.

Debris from the storm remained on the ground Wednesday throughout the town, though much of it had been moved into piles. Crews have been collecting the wood — branches, twigs and whole trees — at a central location for shredding and transport.

Trees were downed for several blocks on either side of the damage path, and the storm snapped at least a dozen power poles along Hobson Avenue. The wood power poles were quickly replaced with metal poles. Some debris from the snapped poles remained on the avenue.

As of Wednesday, city officials had received more than 500 damage reports in connection to the storm, Sapulpa Fire Chief David Taylor said. Most residents and business sustained minor damage. The Sapulpa Fire Museum sustained significant damage.

“The biggest problems were the trees,” Taylor said. “I had guys out clearing the streets with chainsaws and we had a massive amount of people that just wanted to come in and see what was going on.”

Taylor said there was a handful of houses that sustained major damage, mostly from falling trees. No serious injuries or deaths were reported during this tornado.

“The ground was already so soft from all the rain that we’ve had, I think that played a big role in these large trees going down,” Taylor said.

The National Weather Service confirmed EF-1 tornado damage near Kellyville and in Sapulpa and EF-0 tornado damage in Broken Arrow. Some of the straight-line winds exceeded 80 mph.

That line of storms had spawned the deadly EF-3 tornado in El Reno before coming east toward the Tulsa and Sapulpa areas. Two people were killed in El Reno, where the tornado hit a motel, mobile home park and several businesses near U.S. 81 and Oklahoma 66.

Larry Rogers, who lives in northeast Sapulpa, said they had plenty of warning before the storm hit just after midnight May 26. He got his wife into the cellar, but he sat in a south window and watched the storm, describing it as “just utter destruction.”

Rogers did not go to sleep that night.

“Police and fire trucks were up and down the streets. They had our backs, they were watching us,” he said. “Been here 58 years, that’s the first time I got hit. I count my blessings.”

Rogers said it has not been easy balancing full-time work, reroofing and getting his downed trees ready to be hauled off.

Rogers motioned to a house catty-corner to his. On that house, tarps were nailed down to the roof and parts of the porch awning dangled by wire and strips of wood. A large tree trunk lay across the yard, cut into pieces. The stump was leaning toward the house and its roots were exposed. The grass above the exposed roots was still green.

Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready, who toured the damage Wednesday, said the “vast majority” of the damage there was insured, “so there’s quick financial recovery there.”

”The damage here in Sapulpa is not getting the attention that some of the places around the state are,” Mulready said. “There’s substantial tornado damage down here.”