Homes lost, Legacy Music Fest canceled, 5 tornadoes touchdown in Oklahoma

Two homes were completely destroyed by a tornado in the Loco community, along with multiple homes damaged in Thursday’s tornado-warned storm that went through Stephens County. Gary Curtis, the Stephens County Emergency Management director, and Undersheriff Rick Lang both confirmed the area was hardest hit. Five tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, with two of those being reported in Stephens County – Loco and Velma. The reports are unconfirmed pending National Weather Service confirmation. The other towns were Arnett, Crawford and Henryetta. There were reports of softball size hail in Lawton and Fort Sill.

“That was the worst storm I’ve seen in a long time,” Lang told The Review early Friday.

Curtis said the storm was about three-quarters of a mile wide.

Legacy Fest, a county music festival that was in the works for the last year, to be held on Cherokee Rd., was canceled today for the remainder of the weekend. The festival was set to open Friday, but the storm rolled through moments before. Jesse Tilley spoke with The Review this morning about the damage. He said there is upwards of a million dollars in damage between the actual venue and the vendor’s products and booth. The stage collapsed and video and audio equipment were destroyed.

“Fortunately, there were no spectators on the ground.” He said one of the reasons the event was set for this particular weekend is because weather is usually not an issue. The second storm that rolled through around midnight did more damage, he said.

“Tens, if not thousands in (dollars) of poles and fencing were destroyed. It might take a week or two to clean up.”

Curtis said he heard reports of a dispatcher alerting a homeowner in Loco only moments before the storm hit the community. The unnamed individual took shelter and after the storm passed, that person’s home was gone, according to Curtis.

In Comanche, there were reports that a roof hit a Comanche police car during the storm. Lang said Hwy 53 and US-81 in the heart of Comanche was shut down because of the debris damage. “It was too bad to move anything.” Comanche Police and Fire were in charge of that situation. Lang said there is numerous tree and power line damage throughout the southern area of the county.

“We just ran from spot-to-spot checking on things. One of our challenges is how deep into the storm to go, in trying to help people.” It was definitely a situation in which all available persons were on duty. He also said maintaining communications really proved challenging in this storm.

“We’re getting mixed reports about sirens in the southeast corner of the county. Something went wrong and it could be a repeater, but we are looking into it.” Some of the sirens may not have sounded in the Loco community that took the hardest hit.

Lang also said most of the people at the Legacy Festival located on private property at Cherokee and SH-7, were able to leave and take shelter, but he said the equipment received property damage.

Other reports included traffic lights out at 12th and SH 7, and generators being used to keep power going in a few county-operated facilities. Lang said there could be more storms rolling through the area on Saturday.

As of 11:15 p.m. Thursday, the Stephens Substation Circuit Breaker was down, and crews were onsite for repairs. An update by the City of Duncan on its Facebook page Friday morning at 10:15 a.m. noted that between two crews working (one overnight and another this morning as relief) 95 percent of the city’s power that was out, has been restored. According to the post, electrical equipment that serves the Country Club Condominiums on Fairway Drive and West Club Rd., sustained damage. All residents are encouraged to check their lines because it is possible any damages could require a licensed electrician.

As of 10 a.m. today, Friday, June 16, 2023, Stephens County has about 417 residents still without power. Serving Stephens County are Cotton Electric Cooperative, OG&E Energy Corp., Public Service Company (PSO) of Oklahoma, Red River Valley REA, and Rural Electric Cooperative. Customers in the Cotton Electric and PSO areas are those without power. Love County in Oklahoma is mostly without power – with more than 3,100 residents affected. Serving Love County are OG&E Energy Corp. and Red River Valley REA. *Source – poweroutage.us

At one point during the height of the storms, more than 33,000 Oklahoma residents were without power.

Multiple people shared their images on The Marlow Review Facebook page of the storm clouds as seen from throughout the area.

The community of Perryton, Texas, is devastated. Location in the Texas Panhandle, there are reports of at least three people dead, many injured and the extent of the damage is severe. First Responders and neighboring communities from Oklahoma descended on the city of about 8,000 to help after it took a direct hit from a tornado. Perryton is about 4 hours northwest of Marlow, OK.