MARIETTA, Okla. — Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt paid his first visit to Marietta after an EF-4 tornado struck the town, damaging homes and businesses.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell and Senator James Lankford joined Stitt on the tour.
The Dollar Tree plant, located next to I-35, suffered some of the most impressive damage.
WATCH 2 News drone footage of the plant:
“This is significant. For us, for this distribution center and the loss,” Lankford said. “So for this community, it's essential, not only to get back up and get going quickly, but all the people that were employed here, it's important for all their families.”
Criswell made an emergency trip to Oklahoma so that she could relay information back to the White House, which would presumably send federal dollars to aid in rebuilding the town.
“We know there's different widespread and cascading impacts that these communities are gonna feel. So we wanna take all of that into consideration and make sure we bring in the right federal programs to help the community with the specific needs,” Criswell said.
2 News caught up with Linda Mueller, who traveled in from Wichita to volunteer in the recovery.
“Mother nature can be so beautiful and it can be so unbelievably destructive,” Mueller said, “but it's almost so destructive it's like a nuclear bomb.”
More on the damage in Marietta:
Those were the thoughts that went through her mind after she saw the remains of a Homeland grocery store, left to its studs and insulation.
“You know, just like that, they lost all of their sales tax revenue overnight,” Gov. Stitt said. “So we do have to get with their city leadership and figure out what we need to do from a state level to get them through this gap.”
He estimates the efforts will be in the multi-million dollar range.
Officials urged the public to report damage at damage.ok.gov. They say it will help them secure funds and decide the best way to spend the funds.
Additionally, Lankford mentioned the need for small business owners to obtain low-interest, small business loans to rebuild.
Donate to tornado victims here.
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