Power Outage in Erick, OK

A tornado was observed crossing State Highway 30 to the southwest of Erick. The tornado moved east-northeast and then northeast to the south and southeast of Erick. The Erick Fire Department observed damage to trees and a barn on E 1280 Road. As the tornado moved northeast, another barn was destroyed, and damage was observed to power poles and a pivot irrigator.

This is the first tornado that occurred in Oklahoma with the southern tornadic supercell. The tornado appears to have developed 1/2 mile north of E1130 road and along Highway 30 in northern Beckham County, about 2 1/2 miles south of Sweetwater. The first evidence of a tornado was damage to an outbuilding at a gas facility on the west side of the highway along with some tree damage. The tornado moved north along and parallel to Highway 30, damaging trees, homes and some outbuildings. Damage in this area was mainly in the EF0 range. ||The most significant damage occurred when the tornado struck the Sweetwater school. At this location, the tornado is estimated to have been 100-150 yards wide. The most significant damage was to a metal building that was the school`s multi-purpose building, which was almost completely destroyed. The anchoring that connected the building to the foundation appeared to have failed, allowing all but the most northern section of the building to collapse. A small building that connected this building with the school`s gymnasium suffered only slight damage. The gymnasium, at the northwest corner of the school, suffered substantial roof damage, which appeared to have caused the west masonry wall of the school to collapse outward. ||Other damage on the school property consisted of a small storage building of similar construction as the multi-purpose building being completely destroyed, a bus barn/garage structure suffering damage when the large garage doors blew inward, and damage to trees, power lines and fences. ||A pick up truck, which had been parked in the school`s parking lot, was rolled/tossed approximately 100 yards to the north. A horse trailer that had been near the storage building at the southwest edge of the school property was found more than one quarter mile away in a field. ||A man suffered minor injuries near this location.||Just north of the school, a home was damaged and an oil storage facility was also hit. An oil tank from this location was found approximately 500 yards away. ||Several animals were killed when a garage was destroyed. A RV was also destroyed. Numerous cars and school buses were damaged/destroyed. ||The damage to the multi-purpose building at the Sweetwater school is consistent with damage at the low end of the EF-3 scale. The remainder of the damage was primarily in the EF0-EF1 category.||The tornado continued and crossed into Roger Mills County. Monetary damages were estimated. ||