EF-2 Tornado Skips East To Damage Wagoner County

By Dan Bewley, The News On 6

WAGONER COUNTY, OK -- After slamming west Tulsa, the May 13th spring storm went east to Wagoner County. Several homes suffered damage, and dozens of trees were uprooted. The National Weather Service has categorized this storm as an EF-2 tornado.

It's quite the scene at Midway and 111th Street in Coweta. Residents and family members are still cleaning up. They all say it hit quick, and they feel lucky to be alive.

The storm hit Coweta hard, ripping the roof off of Mike Henson's home, destroying two sheds and seriously damaging his neighbor's home.

"I thought it was a pressure wave from an explosion," said Coweta resident Mike Henson. "It sounded like a fighter jet taking off right outside my window."

A few blocks away, more than a half-dozen extra large trees were uprooted in the front yard of Rick and Betty McMahan.

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"When I saw two big huge trees laying over on top of the house, I was in shock," said Betty McMahan. "That was definitely the noise I heard."

"I'm very fortunate. Yep, we were protected - God bless," said Rick McMahan of Coweta.

SKYNEWS 6 shows debris thrown all across the country side, in some cases more than a half-mile away.

The residents say it happened fast; it was practically over before it began.

"For about five seconds, from the time I heard the wind and woke up to the time the windows imploded it was about five seconds," Mike Henson said. "It was just immediate."

To give you an idea of the close call it was for Henson and his family, he was asleep just on the other side of this window when the storm blew through. He says he's lucky it didn't wake him up because a 2x4 actually came from that shed.

Across town, at the Oil Capitol Rod and Gun Club, there's more of the same. Shattered buildings and metal siding tossed every which way across 160 acres.

"It's a - it's kind of unbelievable," said Tony English of the Oil Capitol Rod & Gun Club.

There is one bit of irony among the devastation though. Mike Henson, who lived here and narrowly survived the storm, won't have to go far to find someone to put his home back together.

"I actually own a roofing company, and we're going to be busy for the next few days, few months," he said.

Another piece of good news, no one was seriously injured. Only one woman suffered a few scrapes from flying glass but other than that, we're told, no one was hurt.