Full Notification

As everyone is aware, we had severe winds last Monday. These winds were caused by a severe storm that collapsed 20 thousand feet in about 5 minutes or so. This produced wind upwards of 96mph in some areas of the county and did substantial damage to the area. Not only was electrical infrastructure wiped out in many areas but there was also major damage to homes and churches. There were just a few injuries to report but to our knowledge, no storm related deaths.

Collapsing storms are difficult to detect on radar until it updates and if we pay close attention to storm heights, we see these things when they occur. When we look at velocities, we can’t really tell if we have strong winds on the surface unless it occurs near a mesonet sight or we get reports from our spotter network or even from citizens that call this information in to us. We know that there will be winds; we just don’t know for sure where it will occur. One thing for sure, this won’t be the last time that this happens.

I want to publicly acknowledge OGE and their partners for getting the infrastructure back up so quickly. I went out and watched again as different crews cleaned up an area, another followed them and set new poles and another was hooking up the lines. They have this system down since we seem to be in wind alley this year. GREAT JOB and we APPRECIATE YOU ALL.

As you could tell earlier this morning, we had a complex of storms move through the area giving us anywhere from 1.3 inches of rain in the western 1/3 of the county to about .75 here in Enid and 1.6 inches in the Hunter/Garber area. This is no where close to a drought buster but any rain right now is great. There is a slight chance for severe weather later today with the threats being wind, hail, lightning, and torrential rainfall. We’ll watch and update after lunch if needed on this.

As of about 9pm or so last night, all cities and towns within Garfield County had power restored. There will be a few sporadic areas that may not have it back yet so OGE officials ask that if you do not have power at your residence or business to call them and report it. There are still a few areas where we have found poles down so this can easily happen. Just let them know.

I also want to acknowledge the Red Cross, Drummond and Garber fire departments and any and all others for setting up cooling stations and supporting these places during this event.

For now, have a great day.

Mike


THE TIME TO PREPARE IS BEFORE THE STORM OCCURS, NOT AFTER THE STORM CLOUDS HAVE FORMED.

Mike Honigsberg, Certified Director
Enid Emergency Management
Office-580-249-5969
[email protected]