High winds in Pottawatomie and Lincoln Counties last week during the middle of the night took their toll on trees, electric lines and flag poles and shut down Meeker Town Hall for a day.
Dickie Walton, Meeker Town Administrator, said the high winds caused him to shut down the Town Hall last Thursday after the storm because they knocked out power to the building.
“I had to send the employees home because we didn’t have any electricity,” Walton explained. “It didn’t come back on until after 2 p.m. and the Internet wasn’t back up until after 4 p.m.
Walton said his house northeast of town was out of power until 9 p.m. or after on Thursday.
“A power pole on Payson Road snapped and the area was without electricity,” he added.
Lots of neighborhoods in the area lost limbs and branches and reportedly there were some trees blown over as well.
A flag pole at one area resident’s property on Garrett’s Lake Road also appeared to be missing.
“I think the winds were may more than 50 miles an hour. I thought the roof was going to come off,” said Rhonda Ellard, who lives south of I-40 in Pott County.
Her husband, Brett Ellard, said their flag pole was snapped off at the bottom, but he managed to get part of it back up and standing and the flag flying that evening. A neighbor is repairing the part that broke off, Ellard added.
Greg Ward said he and his wife, Tammy, lost a lot of limbs and branches on their property. Ward estimated one of the branches torn off one of their maple trees was probably eight inches in diameter.
“It took me two days to just pick up the limbs and branches so I could finally mow the grass,” he added.
Ward thinks the winds were much higher than the 50-60 miles per hour reported in the area, guessing they may have topped 70.
He noted at least his flag pole was spared.