Widespread Damage Reported In Perry, Neighbors Pitch In To Help

The Oklahoma Standard is on display after the storms Tuesday night.

A Perry man who lost his home last night is helping others pick up the pieces. Even though Loyd Hughes lost his home of many years, he's more concerned about his neighbors.

"I'm not worried about it," said Hughes. "I'm at a point in my life where I have friends in need, that's what's more important to me."

Life lessons he says his granddad taught him.

"He said 'You'll be a lot happier in life if you focus on your deeds, not your dollars,'" he said.

Those deeds kept him busy going house to house boarding up windows and doors. The widespread damage went beyond his neck of the woods where lots of homes were damaged, barns destroyed, tree and power lines downed and crumbled up metal.

"We weren't quite sure where to respond because we responding everywhere," said Noble County Sheriff Matt McGuire said.

Sheriff McGuire said they were busy responding to the down power line, a family trapped by the live wires and overturned semis. He said the response among neighbors was also widespread.

"These are our neighbors," Sheriff McGuire said. "We're a very tight-knit community and so we want to make sure not only our neighbors are okay, but to see what kind of assistance we can get them."

"This is Oklahoma but specifically it's Perry," said Hughes.

A place Hughes considers home. As he looks down the hill to his house, he's not concerned, he says he has insurance.

"I hadn't stopped to think about it," he said. "I don't care about the materialistic things, it's more about what you can do to help people, you gotta be here for some reason right? If you're not helping people what are you here for?"

Cody Folson lives in rural Noble County and his house was damaged and barn destroyed. He described the storm as a vacuum, sucking his walls in and out. Like many of his neighbors, Folsomm is picking up the pieces. He and most of the county were still without power as of late Wednesday afternoon. Down the road at his mother's home also sustained damage. A large tree in the yard was ripped out of the ground by its roots.

"I heard the hail hit at my house over there, I called my mom and told her to get to the safe room she's in a walker, and by the time she could even get in there, the windows were busted out and hail was raining in on her," said Folsom

With fences down, another concern was livestock, like a loose calf, where neighbors, the sheriff and even a lineman working to restore power jumped in to wrangle the calf back home to its mother.

No injuries were reported.