TULSA, Okla. – At least seven people were injured and authorities were evaluating damage that included a destroyed home after severe storms spawned multiple tornado touchdowns in northeastern Oklahoma on Wednesday night, authorities said.
National Weather Service meteorologist Amy Jankowski said a tornado touched down and lifted up numerous times as it swept through the northern Tulsa and Owasso areas.
About one square mile of a mostly residential area sustained “heavy damage,” Tulsa Fire Department spokesman Stan May said. One home was destroyed and other residences and businesses sustained roof and structural damage, he said.
Police and fire officials were going door to door in the area to make sure everyone was accounted for. There were no immediate reports of anyone missing, May said.
“We want to check each house,” he said. “We’ve got some elderly people in the area. We want to make sure people have the medicines they need.”
Raw video: homes destroyed following tornado in Oklahoma
Emergency Medical Services Authority, an ambulance service provider, transported seven patients, spokeswoman Kelli Bruer said. Bruer said one was in critical condition and several were in serious condition.
EMSA earlier said it had transported nine people.
May said a few others suffered minor injuries but declined treatment.
Public Service Company of Oklahoma reported nearly 5,000 customers without power in the area.
A wastewater treatment plant was without power, but no sewer services were affected, Tulsa public information officer Michelle Allen said.
The city streets and water departments were assisting with road barricades and debris removal, she said.
Nearly 9 million people in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas were in an enhanced area of risk Wednesday, putting them in the bull’s-eye for some of the strongest storms, the national Storm Prediction Center said earlier Wednesday. The area of highest risk included the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
In Louisiana, the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood watch for northern parts of the state until 7 p.m. Thursday. Forecasters say multiple rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms will produce 2 to 4 inches of rain, and perhaps 6 inches in some parts of the state.
“Heavy rain from waves of storms could renew flooding over north Louisiana,” said Cynthia Palmer, a forecaster at the weather service’s office in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The ground remains saturated in that part of the state, which saw record flooding earlier this month, Palmer said.
“We will see the heaviest rain in the Monroe area of northeast Louisiana starting late this afternoon and evening and another wave on Thursday,” Palmer said Wednesday morning. “This is the area that could see up to 6 inches.”
In northern Mississippi, forecasters said thunderstorms would bring rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches. A flash-flood watch was in effect through Thursday evening.
As the system moves east, strong storms were expected to develop early Thursday over Alabama, where forecasters say the main threats will be tornadoes, winds of up to 70 mph, quarter-sized hail and heavy rains.
In Georgia, forecasters said more than 4 inches of rain could fall in western parts of the state.
The possibility of additional tornadoes remained from the storms that hit Oklahoma, Jankowski said. She said that while the system wasn’t as strong as when it passed through the Tulsa area, it still has the structure to produce tornadoes.