EF-4 Tornado In Marietta, OK Destroys Only Grocery Store In Town

national weather service is giving out its first ef4 tornado rating this year after surveying the damage in Marietta Oklahoma people who live in the city are working hard to clean up before that next severe weather threat rolls in joining us is Fox weathers Katie burn she's in Marietta Oklahoma Katie what are folks saying about this next round of storms moving in and also still digesting the fact that this was the first ef4 tornado that has occurred this year anywhere in America close by to where you're standing well Ian I definitely think people could use some more time to deal with the cleanup especially considering that we have all of this debris all over the place and thinking about more damaging winds potentially hitting us is a scary thing when you've got things like trailers uh just on front Lawns and and grass this is a site that you'll see all over the place in a number of towns across Oklahoma but where we are in Marietta is where they saw the strongest tornado rating so far this year the National Weather Service says the winds uh and everything that they saw as far as damage goes particularly with some of the big businesses deemed it an ef4 rating some of the worst damage we've seen here is at the Dollar tree distribution center this is a massive building the fox Flight Team flew overhead so we could get a bird's eyee view with the 1 million square foot Warehouse where 17 7 mph winds ripped out walls and ceilings more than 450 people worked there and 11 people were actually inside when the tornado hit luckily no one was hurt another huge loss for the community is the only grocery store in town they that's totally destroyed so relief groups like Oklahoma's Baptist disaster relief they're setting up Mass feeding stations and people who live here really need it because almost everything is shut down in town homeowner and tell them that we're there to help them um clean up this debris and we do that at no cost to them we're a volunteer group these folks that come from all over Oklahoma trained to do this um just to offer their time um and for us just to be able to help them gives them some hope and actually does in the midst of this challenge puts a smile on their face and you know people really need that kind of support when they're in such Devastation the governor was actually here earlier today touring some of the damage he says with some of these huge buildings that we lost the economy is going to take a big hit we've got the Dollar tree distribution center shut down we've got the only grocery store in town gone the hospital shut down right now and a nursing home he says the unemployment office is going to be stepping in to help fill in the gaps but I think that's another big concern people have right now this is a population of almost 3,000 and almost 450 were employed by that Dollar tree distribution site so that's a lot of jobs that are up in the air right now Ian Katie big point to make there that that's homes destroyed but also a livelihoods gone too a drone pictures from that Dollar General facil facility is just stunning that was uh the awful work of the first ef4 tornado in more than a year in this country the last one was back in March of 2023 that was in Iowa Fox weathers Katie burn in Marietta thank you

Channel: FOX Weather

Views: 21,061

Keywords: oklahoma tornado, marietta ok, severe weather, tornado outbreak, oklahoma tornado april 27 2024, oklahoma, tornado, marietta ok tornado, marietta ok tornado 2024, marietta ok tornado dollar tree, marietta oklahoma tornado 2024, marietta oklahoma tornado today, marietta oklahoma tornado dollar tree

Id: 2OdVI7cCUwE

Length: 3min 32sec (212 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024