May 21, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
A tornado that spun out of Monday night’s severe weather did thousands of dollars worth of damage in Greer County, but – considering the severity of the weather lasting several hours – it’s surprising that damage wasn’t spread throughout Southwest Oklahoma.
No injuries were reported, however, several farm animals are dead today, according to Greer County’s Emergency Management Director, Glynadee Edwards who witnessed the oncoming twister heading for Mangum.
She said no injuries were reported in Mangum nor in nearby Granite as far as she’s aware at this point. She admitted that two pigs were killed in the tornado at the Ag farm in Mangum while ranchers north of town were forced to put three cows down due to injuries and people near the Mangum airport reportedly lost two horses.
The tornado that was headed toward Mangum, but curved west and skirted the northwest corner of town has been estimated to have been on the ground for several minutes, but Edwards hasn’t been able to confirm anything with the National Weather Service.
A storm chaser for one of the Oklahoma City television stations thought the Mangum tornado appeared strong enough to be classified as an EF-3 containing winds ranging from 136-165 miles per hour.
The round of severe weather in Southwestern Oklahoma and the rest of the state comes on the heels of a tornado-producing storm two weeks ago when three tornadoes spun out of a line of severe thunderstorms on May 7. A category EF-2 touched down that night ripping a 20-mile patch across pastureland and through the town of Rocky before losing strength and dissipating. Though one mobile home owner lost their residence, no lives were lost and there were no injuries.
Edwards says Greer County residents are thankful and grateful.
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