FOX23 speaks with Salina residents following severe weather

SALINA, Okla. — FOX23 traveled to Salina, which is just east of Pryor, to look at the damage and speak to residents following the severe weather over the weekend.

Many people here in Salina said they are managing by working together as a community.

FOX23 spoke with the mayor about his initial reaction to all of the damage and his plans to move forward.

Salina Mayor Randall Plumlee said while it's difficult to witness the damage in his town, he's impressed with how fast the community came together.

“It's overwhelming knowing a town that always works really really hard with helping everyone else. It's hard to see it hit here. I believe 95% of the in town city limits have power back. They worked all night long,” Plumlee said.

Sequoyah Wildcat, a Salina resident, said Saturday night's tornado brought him many challenges.

“It took a while to get out here because our poles are all broken down, it snapped in half and we have a lot of really large trees along the roadway to get in. So it took maybe four hours to get down here,” Wildcat said.

This left him and dozens of others in Craig’s Cove without power and water.

Traci Rabbit is using the resources that are available to her.

“As a community we're all working together and being by the lake, we were able to use that and access that water,” Rabbit said.

Matt Ward is a firefighter for Osage Pleasant View Fire Department and was on the job when the tornado touched down.

“So we were in that area west of Pryor for the entire night and the next morning doing recovery, So we came over here once we finished that to check on our house,” Ward said.

When he came home, he saw a tree that had fallen on top of his home he was renovating.

“The other side of the house is destroyed. There was an add-on that is caved in,” Ward said.

Although there's a lot of work left, most residents said they feel grateful to be safe.

“We're counting our blessings. We have a great community that is here helping us,” Rabbit said.

The mayor said they have a 9 a.m. meeting on Tuesday to discuss and deploy resources to people in Craig's Cove.

If you would like to help the victims who've been impacted by the storms, click here. https://www.okdisasterhelp.org/