Tornado tears through Cordell, leaves damage behind
CORDELL, Okla. (KFOR) - Oklahoma saw another round of severe weather Tuesday night. This time, a tornado tore through the city of Cordell.
“It was crazy. I’ve never been that close to one,” said Danny Schmidt.
Schmidt told KFOR he was wrapping up a shift at Western Welding on E. Main Street when the storm hit.
“I could see the roof starting to lift up just a little bit and the lights were swinging,” said Schmidt. “It was something to experience.”
Meanwhile about a mile and a half north, Sherrie Spradlin and her husband were taking cover in their safe room.
“[It sounded like] a big boom,” said Spradlin. “Like his pick up hit the front of the garage or something.”
Minutes later, they stepped outside and saw the destruction.
The high winds blew their two sheds a few dozen feet, damaging nearly everything inside.
“I think mostly everything got broken,” said Spradlin.
Spradlin said her husband mostly stored tools in his shed. Inside hers was holiday decorations and keepsakes from her late parents.
"Most of my mother's stuff that was breakable was what I had kept and it's all pretty well gone,” said Spradlin. “I did find a bible of my dads… And it appears to be fine."
Over at Western Welding its carport collapsed, the garage door was damaged and part of the structure was uprooted.
"That wind just picked up the whole back area a little bit and shifted it,” said Schmidt.
However, the city’s just thankful no one was seriously hurt.
“We're fine. Our neighbors are fine,” said Spradlin. “You hear people say it's just stuff and you think, 'Yeah, but it's my stuff,' but then when it happens to you it is just stuff. It really is."
The city posted on Facebook its looking for donations of hammers and nails to help with the cleanup effort.
There's also a Red Cross shelter in Cordell at the First Baptist Church, located at 102 E Second Ave., New Cordell, OK. The shelter is providing a place to sleep, meals and water, health services and information regarding disaster-related resources.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service gave the Cordell tornado an EF-1 preliminary rating. The survey team says the tornado traveled a two-and-a-half mile path with a width of 200 yards and peak wind speeds of 105 to 110 mph.