Osage Casinos Still Offering Free Rooms For Tornado Victims Across Four Cities

Osage Casinos said its doors are still open for tornado victims. People are in free rooms in four cities, including Pawhuska and Bartlesville.

Management at Osage Casinos is assessing the need one day at a time, so right now, there is no timeline for when they will stop offering free rooms to tornado victims.

At last check, there are still more than a dozen rooms available in Tulsa Friday night for tornado victims, along with 10 more in Ponca City.

One couple News On 6 spoke with said having a safe and comfortable place to stay has given them some peace.

It's only a 45-minute drive from the flattened homes and changed lives, but Tulsa feels like a world away.

"Breathing fresh air. You know, being able to relax, when it's all said and done, and go to a nice, clean room, and man, we're really grateful to the Osage Nation for letting us have this room,” Barnsdall resident Yvonne Cornsilk said.

Cornsilk and her boyfriend Amos Johnson took refuge in Tulsa the past three nights, with a free room at the Osage Casino north of downtown.

"It's been good,” Johnson said. “You know, finally had a comfortable place to sleep where you don't have to worry about not having electricity or being hot and this and that."

With a pole on their house and no electricity, they know their problems are small compared to others.

Yvonne worries about the weeks and months of recovery ahead for the community she's called home for the last five years.

"I know people are gonna start leaving Barnsdall. It's not gonna be as big of a deal to anybody because they're not from there. So just realizing that the help and everything's gonna be gone soon. It's not gonna be there forever, it's kinda weighing on me,” Cornsilk said.

The couple is heading back up the road Friday, thankful for what they do have.

"We get to go home tonight, and we don't have any electricity, but we have a roof,” Cornsilk said.

Osage Casinos said the 25 rooms available for tornado victims at its hotel in Bartlesville and ten rooms in Pawhuska for tornado victims are full.

Osage Casinos is asking for proof of residency but understands some people may have lost that in the tornado.