COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla_It didn't last
long, but the storm that brought strong winds and rain through Comanche County
last night did cause some damage, particularly in Pecan
Valley, just west of Lawton. More than 70 homes in that housing
addition had some type of damage.
On Wednesday,
residents were picking up tree branches, scattered shingles and broken glass, thankful
it wasn't worse, and no one was hurt.
Most of the
damage is picked up by now, but that's just because this morning neighbors were
out working fast to get their yards cleaned up. Neighbors said last night's
storm may have been short lived but it was still powerful.
"When you
see the dog houses fly by and parts of sheds go by before the rain hits you
know you got a problem," Dave Francey said.
Francey was
home last night when the storm rolled in and took him by surprise.
"It
whipped around pretty quick. It got our vegetable garden and it cracked the
back fence and it whipped around to the other fence and by the time we knew
what was going on our front fences go down."
Francey's home
wasn't the only one damaged. Karin Alder described what happened at her house
as the storm rapidly gained strength.
"We saw
the rain come and we wondered how much rain we would get and after a few
minutes after we went inside the house. The storm really moved in and picked up
our patio table and it pushed it into the dining room window which broke."
Wednesday, everyone
was talking about how quickly everything happened. It was over so fast, John
Robinson didn't even know a storm hit until he came outside the next morning.
"I didn't
know what to think because I didn't think there was even a storm last night. I
went to bed early and evidently I slept right through it."
Residents said they
were getting estimates on the damage. Most expect their repair costs won't be
too high.
The storm did cause power outages for hundreds of people but by noon everyone
had it turned back on.
