DRUMRIGHT — Severe storms that swept across Oklahoma last weekend brought destructive winds, downed trees, and widespread power outages. Drumright City Manager Shawn Gibson said the most significant damage to city property included a large tree that fell in Way Park and damage to an awning over an entrance to the Drumright Police Department.
Gibson said the city's cleanupprioritywasremoving fallen trees. City workers were primarily responsible for the cleanup and clearing on city property since the city had not requested or received any additional aid from county, state, or utility partners.
“There was not a lot of damage to city property,” said Gibson.
He did not have an estimate on repair costs for the city.
The Drumright Fire Department responded to 10 storm-related calls following the severe weather, according to Assistant Fire Chief Lucas Andrews. However, the department did not respond to any storm-related fires or rescue incidents.
“Most of the calls were for downed trees, power lines, and debris in the roadway,” he said.
One incident involved a large tree falling onto two vehicles and the front porch of a residence.
“Fortunately, no one was home at the time, and there were no injuries,” he added.
According to OG&E Public Relations Manager Sheradee Hurst, severe storms on July 4 with wind gusts reaching up to 90 mph had gone through much of the OG&E service area causing significant damage to electrical equipment and leaving tens of thousands of customers without power.
By 11:30 a.m. on July 5, the utility reported that power had been restored to 49 percent of affected customers within 14 hours. At that time, over 30,000 customers remained without service with OG&E initially estimating that complete restoration would require three to four days. By July 6, restoration efforts had made significant progress with OG&E reporting that power had been restored to approximately 85 percent of customers who experienced outages, leaving about 7,000 customers still without electricity. The utility had also deployed 544 restoration personnel in Cleveland County where crews were replacing dozens of broken utility poles and clearing heavily damaged areas. On July 7, OG&E had reported 98 percent of customers had power restored with only customers in Norman still without power.
On July 13, Gibson confirmed all power in the Drumright area had been restored.
“All power was restored and OG&E replaced some power poles last week in the city. There are still trees down in the city but they are not affecting any lines that I am aware of,” said Gibson.
He had said residents needing to dispose of storm debris may check out a key to the city dump during regular City Hall business hours to dispose of fallen trees. He also encouraged residents to report storm damage through the state's disaster reporting website at damage.ok.gov, noting that photographs of damage can also be uploaded.
Andrews urged residents to use caution around damaged trees and downed power lines and to report hazards rather than attempting to remove them themselves. He also expressed gratitude to the firefighters, dispatchers, law enforcement officers, city crews, and utility personnel for their coordinated response while expressing appreciation for the community's patience during recovery efforts.