Comanche County_A late spring in Southwest Oklahoma, but Mother Nature is making up for it. Wednesday night's wind, rain and pounding hail ravaged parts of Comanche County, closing roads, destroying roofs and breaking out windows. Trees were torn from their roots, large gates were knocked down and some structures are a total loss. Thursday was clean up for many residents--and that includes the county itself.

7News was in Elgin Thursday, one of the hardest hit cities in the county. Comanche County officials, F.E.M.A. representatives and the State Department of Emergency Management were supposed to assess the damage from the storms just a few weeks ago. But, because many of them were up all night, that meeting has been postponed.

When it is rescheduled, they will have much more damage to report. "It's like the whole world was exploding. We just grabbed everybody grabbed the kids took them down to our bedroom, put them in the tub and we just hunkered down," said Rebecca Eden.

Eden and her family somehow survived the damage Wednesday night. "Glass was crashing all around us! You could hear the wind. Wood snapping and breaking....I had my doubts if we were even going to make it at all," said Eden.

Fortunately they did. The room they were in is the only one where a part of the roof remains untouched. Unfortunately, her husband just left for Iraq Wednesday night and has no idea that the home they have been living in for 15 years is destroyed.

   

The storm's force was felt throughout the northeast corner of Comanche County.

"Started getting reports of power outages high winds, trees being blown over," said...Neighboring towns sent in reinforcements. "Cache Fire Department sent some three trucks, paradise valley sent some trucks...we teamed up with Fletcher and sterling and we all worked together to make it happen," said Elgin Fire Chief Mike Baker.  "Widespread damage across out county and other counties," said Emergency Management Director Clint Wagstaff.

Though damage assessment is an important issue, County officials have other things on their minds. "Right now our main concern is getting power restored...getting all of our citizens taken care of from this latest round of storms," said Wagstaff.

By noon power was restored to those in Comanche County. As for residents who lost it all...they are still in shock. "What are you doing" where do you go from here? "I don't know. I don't know yet we haven't figured that out," said Eden.

County officials said even though there was a lot of damage county-wide, no fatalities or injuries were reported. And county officials warn that if you are driving in those storm-damaged areas, be extra cautious. Even though they are working hard to clean up most of the damage, debris still remains in some areas.