1 dead after large tornado touches down in rural Oklahoma

ROFF, Okla. — A broad tornado capable of leaving “catastrophic” damage in its wake churned across the Oklahoma landscape Monday, prompting forecasters to declare a tornado emergency for two communities directly in its path.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, had warned that a “substantial tornado risk” could develop in portions of the Southern Plains and Ozarks late Monday. A series of violent thunderstorms dropped tornadoes near Oklahoma City and in the rolling hills south of the capital.

“You are in a life-threatening situation,” forecasters declared when they declared a tornado emergency for Roff, population 725, and Hickory, population 71. “Flying debris will be deadly to those caught without shelter.”

Television images showed at least three homes destroyed, multiple overturned vehicles and trees torn limb to limb. A roof lay near a hay barn after the first tornado reports from near Wynnewood along Interstate 35.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed five miles of the main roadway between Oklahoma City and Dallas as the storm approached. It opened about 15 minutes later.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Meteorologists said twisters with wind speeds above 111 mph were possible from eastern Oklahoma to central Arkansas. Hail 2 inches or more in diameter is possible from eastern Texas to southeastern Kansas.

About 41 million people from Houston to Sioux City, Iowa, are at risk for some type of stormy weather.

While the threat was less farther north, forecasters issued a tornado warning for a storm near Lincoln, Nebraska.

An emergency manager says a man was killed when a large tornado tore through a home at Wynnewood, Oklahoma.

The twister was among a number of violent storms that raked the Plains on Monday. The Storm Prediction Center said portions of the Plains and the Ozarks faced a “substantial tornado risk” into Monday night.

The emergency director in Garvin County, Oklahoma, Bud Ramming, said a man believed to be in his late 70s was found dead in a home. The twister prompted forecasters to issue a “tornado emergency” for communities east of Wynnewood, noting the storm could be particularly violent.

Shot taken earlier southwest of Wynnewood, Oklahoma. #okwx #tornado @GCarbin @USTornadoes pic.twitter.com/g8yium9mKz

— Kyle Bush (@thereelkylebush) May 10, 2016

Officials in other communities said a number of homes were damaged by tornadoes.

Dana Lance was driving through the Pontotoc County community of Roff on her way home from work Monday when the skies grew ominous, sirens wailed and forecasters on the radio told people to take cover. “I parked and went into the school, which has a safe room,” Lance said. “There were kids and elderly people, dogs and cats, babies. It was like the whole town was there.”

Rope out of tornado earlier 5 miles E of Fairfield @NWSHastings #tornado pic.twitter.com/Vyzss4g0Xv

— SevereChase (@severechase) May 10, 2016

The Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management reported the storms destroyed a radio station building in Coal County and an undetermined number of homes in Murray, Garvin and Johnston counties.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, had warned of a substantial tornado risk and said Arkansas could see tornadoes overnight Monday.

The bad weather should settle in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Tuesday, forecasters said, while another storm system should bring storms to the area from north Texas to near St. Louis on Wednesday.

In Hugo, near the Red River, Charles Webb piled one of his dogs and one of his cats in the laundry room Monday and hunkered down as the storm came over his house, clipping trees and spinning up debris. Webb said he emerged from his home minutes later to see blue skies.

“We’re real lucky, but we’ve been lucky for a lot of years, fortunately,” Webb said Monday.

In the rolling hills between Oklahoma City and Dallas, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed Interstate 35 near Wynnewood for 15 minutes Monday so the storm could pass.

Jessica Randolph, a cashier at the Love’s Travel Stop in Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma, said the tornado came so close that managers ordered employees and customers to take shelter.

“They put us in the showers,” Randolph said. “I drove in when all of that was going on. All we had was pea-sized hail.”

Despite the danger, Randolph said she has seen severe weather before and wasn’t frightened by the experience.

“Not for me. I’m used to it,” she said.

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in central Iowa, with no immediate reports of damage, and another hit near Nehawka, Nebraska, about 30 miles south of Omaha.

#Tornado damage near Nehawka from earlier storm. @chrismachian photo. pic.twitter.com/KopB9OiAcO

— World-Herald Photo (@OWHpictures) May 9, 2016

Sandy Weyers, the director of the Cass County Emergency Management office, said a homeowner didn’t make it inside by the time the tornado arrived so he grabbed onto a tree and “rode it out.” Weyers said the man suffered only cuts and scrapes, while the home was a total loss after the roof and four outer walls gave way.