Storm sweeps through area

Justin Lofton Staff Writer

Ada July 09, 2009 12:16 pm

— Wednesday’s quick summer storm blew through Ada surprising most of the town’s residents. The storm came through Ada in the afternoon, knocking out power, bringing limbs down and leaving structural damage in its wake.
Gene Linton, Ada’s Emergency Management director said wind speed appeared to be only a little over thirty miles per hour.
“The only reports I have received so far was a storage building out by ODOT had the roof blown off, some tree limbs down east of town, and we had some sheet metal torn off a roof at the AgriPlex,” Pontotoc County Emergency Management director Chad Letellier said.
Letellier said there was also a tank battery fire by Jesse which was responded to by the Stonewall fire department.
“Lightning struck a tank battery,” Letellier said. “It was actually a salt water tank that had a little bit of oil on top.” Ada and Fittstown fire departments also responded to the tank battery fire, he said.
OG & E confirmed that there were some power outages in the Ada area.
“Right now we’re reporting 831 out in Ada and some of the outlying areas,” Karen Kurtz of OG & E said after the storm Wednesday.
Wal-Mart in Ada was one of the many places left without power for about two hours.
“We were out for about two to two and a half hours,” Donnie Schroeder, co-manager of Wal-Mart said.
A spokesperson for Wal-Mart said the store was closed when the outages occurred but the generators allowed them to check out customers who were still in the store at the time of the outage.
Another isolated thunderstorm came through Ada Thursday morning. Damage was reported to be minimal at press time.

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