On May 19th, 2013 a tornado hit east Norman at about 96th Avenue NW and continued north easterly to Betel-Acres and the rural Shawnee area. Cleveland Count had 200 total homes damaged or destroyed.
houses destroyed in the Pecan Valley area of east Cleveland County
“Please don’t let the tragedy in Moore divert attention away from our neighborhood. Thousands live here and were impacted from Sunday night’s twister,” Pecan Valley resident William Ries said. Pecan Valley was one of the residential areas that got hit the worst in the county on Sunday.
Cleveland County commissioners said Pecan Valley has not been forgotten.
“We don’t want those people to feel left out,” County Commissioner Darry Stacy said. “We had a significant event and numerous people lost their homes in eastern Cleveland County. We’re trying to refocus so we can take care of all our citizens in Cleveland County.”
Today, a community cleanup day is being hosted. Persons involved in the community sentencing program will be part of that cleanup effort, and other volunteers are encouraged to help.
Those who would like to join the effort are asked to meet at 8 a.m. at the Absentee Shawnee Resource Center, 1970 158th Ave. NE. Stacy said volunteers also can go out to the resource center at any time to help with the relief effort, as well as deliver donations there.
A community briefing with a question-and-answer session for residents will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Pecan Valley Baptist Church, 18901 Pecan Valley Road in Newalla.
Supplies and donations are still needed in the eastern Cleveland County, as most donations have been directed to Moore. Stacy said they have coordinated with numerous churches, including Journey Church and First Baptist Church, to help with the demand of supplies needed.
“With more chance of severe weather coming, there is a lot of requests for tarps. Homeowners have also requested plastic totes so as they dig through their belongings, they have something to put them in that is waterproof to some extent,” Stacy said.
Ries said they also are in need of bottled water, sunscreen, leather gloves, wheel barrows, manpower to pick up limbs, roofing material that was ripped from homes, chain saws and generators.
Norman Transcript May 22, 2013
NORMAN — A spring storm ripped across eastern Cleveland County Sunday evening, carrying hail, strong winds and what many officials were reporting was a tornado near Lake Thunderbird.
Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Lester reported several homes damaged on Barker Drive near 168th Avenue Northeast and East Indian Hills Road and at 164th and Franklin Road after a tornado touched down on Lake Thunderbird in Norman around 6 p.m.
Officials are also reporting injuries on Barker Road, near 180th Avenue NE, north of SH 9. The damage is in Cleveland County near the Pottawatomie County line.
The initial rotation lowered on Alameda Street between 36th Avenue and 48th Avenue before it touched down on the northeast side of Lake Thunderbird, just north of Little Axe, according to scanner reports. Television footage shot from a helicopter showed what appeared to be a tornado crossing over Lake Thunderbird before hearing northeast.
The storm continued to 192nd Street toward Pink, Stella and Bethel Acres, northeast of Lake Thunderbird. Tornado sirens sounded at least four times in Norman and residents were advised to seek shelter.
According to the OG&E website, 776 customers in Norman were without power. Also without power Sunday night were Oklahoma Electric Cooperative customers. OEC spokesperson Patti Rogers said that two substations were down in Pink, one at 120th Avenue NE and a second at 149th Avenue.
“We have crews headed toward the substations right now,” Rogers said.