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‘This was the real deal’: 1200 homes impacted by Bartlesville tornado

By Naomi Keitt,

2024-05-09

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Hundreds of Bartlesville families are cleaning up damage that left a mess for neighborhoods and businesses.

“This entire fence you can see it was bowing and it just pulled up, I counted, 7 pillars from the concrete,” said Kyla Schofner.

Kyla Schofner was born and raised in Bartlesville. During Monday night’s tornado, her fence was plowed over, her favorite tree was ripped from the group and a littering of branches and roots have been seen throughout her neighborhood.

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“It’s just a reminder of how fragile everything is,” said Schofner.

While she’s seen her fair share of tornados, this was something different.

“This was the real deal,” said Schofner.

She lives in the northern part of Bartlesville near Highway 75, one of two main areas that saw debris.

The other section is a neighborhood southwest of Bartlesville High School.

“The whole house started shaking,” said Schofner. “I’ve never experienced that.”

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What’s left behind is mainly uprooted trees and roof damage along with a battering of the utilities.

“Power, water, gas, cable, internet interruptions as well,” said Kary Cox.

Bartlesville’s Emergency Manager Kary Cox has been working natural disasters for decades.

“Pretty significant damage here in town, said Cox.

He says nearly 1,200 homes have been impacted by the storm. While it’s the same twister that hit Barnsdall, the damage is more consistent with an EF-1.

“Trying to coordinate that and make sure folks get the help that they need, but they’re not overwhelmed with that offering too,” said Cox.

As crews are making headway, Cox says there’s another issue that’s impacted the clean-up effort: Lookie Loo’s.

“That’s been one of our toughest issues,” said Cox.

“I was really surprised to see so much traffic the minute I opened the door after the storm was over,” said Schofner. “It’s like a parade of big trucks with people with their windows rolled down just looking.”

Cox says as these families work to get back to normal the community should respect the process.

“If you don’t live in that damaged area, stay out of that damaged area,” said Cox.

Of all the homes that saw damage from the storm, only a few are unlivable.

Click here to donate and help tornado victims.

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