TULSA COUNTY — Dozens of power lines toppled across Northeast Oklahoma as powerful winds pushed through the area. 2 News checked in with Tulsa County communities and PSO to get the latest numbers.
“We didn’t know what was burning,” said Rachel Samuelson.
Rachel Samuelson was with her husband, Michael, and their grandkids on March 19 when the smoke started up.
“It was moving at a rapid pace,” she said.
Their home backs up to the old White Hawk Golf Course near 151st and Yale.
“By the time we got out and to the car, the smoke was so thick,” said Samuelson.
When all was said and done, they came back home, and their grass was burnt to a crisp in both the front yard and backyard. The home, though, was standing unscathed.
“It’s an overwhelming sense of gratefulness,” said Samuelson. “You’re just still stunned that your house is standing. It’s not even charred.”
The City of Bixby says eight power lines toppled in the wind on March 10, sparking the fire.
“The power had gone out shortly before that, and we were in the house, and suddenly everything flickered, and it went out,” said Michael Samuelson.
Cities all over Green Country have dealt with the same thing.
On March 14, 2 News was in Owasso and saw crews fixing a downed line near 76th Street North and Mingo.
It was one of at least three downed power lines Owasso police noted online.
In Tulsa, the fire department says from March 14 until March 19, they responded to 78 calls of downed lines sparking plenty of fires.
“A large majority of those fires were caused by lines down,” said Tulsa Fire’s Andy Little. “Some of those were motor vehicle accidents where they hit power poles and knocked them down. In other situations, they were lines arching that caught trees on fire.”
Broken Arrow says 9-1-1 dispatch received 30 calls reporting downed power lines. The city estimates 10 lines were downed due to the high winds on March 14.
PSO says over 24 hours starting March 14, crews replaced 100 utility poles, 50 cross arms, and 25,000 feet of wire.
OG&E says 1% of its customers were out of power on March 19, but all of that power is restored.
The Samuelsons say they’re blessed and grateful as they move into their next steps.
The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management says at its peak, there were 77,000 power outages across Oklahoma.
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