EF-4 Tornado In Marietta, OK, Was Strongest In State Since 2016

sturdy homes leveled brick walls completely taken down to the foundation Katie I want to ask you first how are people feeling what's the pulse of the community and what do the structures look like around you well Michael I think people are still in a State of Shock and the buildings all over the place uh look totally destroyed this is the town that's seen the strongest tornado and felt the strongest tornado of the year so far are a hospital a nursing home and several businesses including the town's only grocery store which used to be this building behind me you can barely tell that this was a grocery store before these are the spots that have taken direct hits from Saturday's tornado some of the worst damage we've seen is nearby at a dollar a Dollar tree distribution center too where you can see it's absolutely massive the fox Flight Team gives us a bird's eyee view of the 1 million square ft Warehouse where winds a strong is 170 mph ripped out walls and ceilings you can see boxes of supplies out in the open and a lot of debris along the road nearby it's right by a highway here the loss of that building it's a big hit to the economy here they employed more than 450 people and it's something the Oklahoma governor Kevin stit talked about as he toured Marietta earlier today just in the last couple hours he says people who worked there were inside that night luckily no one was hurt we were we're right here overlooking the Dollar General that just had a kind of a direct hit there were 11 people inside and uh no no injuries they were able to get to a safe room because of the um the advanced notice that our that our media did yes such scary moments for so many people the governor also then assessed damage at a hospital nearby called Mercy Hospital which is shut down right now because of damage patients are being taken care of somewhere else because it could take months for that to reopen they've set up a mobile clinic uh right by to treat minor injuries that's going to be at the love County Fair building and that's also serving as a central hub for donations and food too people have been telling me this is called love County for a reason I've heard of landscapers showing up in town to take care of people's cleanup for completely free and strangers offering people rides to grocery store because the nearest one is now at least 30 minutes away Michael yeah Katie I think about like access to not only food but access to clean drinking water has that been access to electricity charging phones cell phone reception is that still is that in place at all in Marietta well I can tell you while we've been here we've seen a number of those bucket trucks around uh doing what they can to restore power to people who are still without it but I know at that Central Hub where they're collecting donations and giving things out to people who really need it water is one one of the biggest things they still are in need for so bottled water uh that's in high demand there and they're also looking for cleaning supplies hygiene products all those things that you don't think of in the immediate aftermath but people are going to need especially if they don't have a car and the nearest grocery store is now you know so far away you know I can I can only imagine you know I'm looking at the the weather report from where you're at I mean it's 77° outside it's it's hot it's sticky it's humid you're jumping into the 80s later on 80s are with you through the day tomorrow you know there's there's limited access to drinking water I can imagine it's a it's a tough and very vulnerable space for a lot of people Fox weathers Katie burn for us live in maretta Katie thank you so much for your report we really appreciate that [Music]

Channel: FOX Weather

Views: 20,954

Keywords: oklahoma tornado, severe weather, oklahoma tornadoes, tornado damage, tornado outbreak, sulphur oklahoma tornado 4/27/24, tornado damage april 26 2024, marietta ok tornado 2024, oklahoma, tornado, marietta oklahoma tornado 2024, marietta oklahoma tornado april 27 2024, marietta oklahoma tornado footage, marietta oklahoma tornado video, marietta ok

Id: wLqbVdTXkpw

Length: 3min 55sec (235 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 30 2024