Matt Swearengin/Durant Democrat
A wind gust Monday evening toppled this sign at Brown’s Funeral Home on West Highway 70 in Durant. Nothing else was damaged.
Bryan County residents are pulling together to help tornado victims in Moore today. Yesterday a tornado that began to form in Newcastle Oklahoma caused massive damage in Moore.
The tornado wiped out schools, hospitals and homes in the city of Moore just following Oklahoma City tornadoes that hit Sunday.
In the wake of the tornado yesterday afternoon Bryan County residents were on their Facebook accounts looking for ways to help the residents in the Moore area.
Several members of the Facebook page “Bryan County Sound Off” were uploading news feeds and weather updates throughout the night as well as organizing donations.
Some members announced that they will be taking supplies to the OKC area today while others have said they are collecting items.
CrossFit Durant also announced that the business is collecting supplies to take to the victims. CrossFit Durant is located at 2912 Enterprise Blvd Durant, OK 74701 near the Choctaw Casino.
CrossFit’s owner operator Colby Oller said that he has a trailer full of supplies would be taking at approximately 11 a.m. today.
Oller said he stopped by local churches before heading to the Moore area to collect more supplies. He said this was a last minute operation but has already had people donate to the cause.
“My whole deal was taking supplies but I decided I would stay and help out if I could,” said Oller. He will be taking his supplies to a bank in Sulfur that he had heard was a drop off point.
Oller said if all else fails he will take his supplies to a local Moore Church. The Southeastern Oklahoma Chapter of the American Red Cross said Churches are the place to take supplies such as clothing.
Another Facebook group has offered assistance to the cause as well. The “Bryan County Garage Sale and Bulletin Board” page had several people offer to donate supplies that they had planned to sell on the page.
To make monetary donations people can go to www.redcross.org or send a text message to 9099. Sending a text message will add a $10 charge to the person’s phone bill. This is a $10 donation to the American Red Cross.
Lynn Edwards, Chapter Director of the Southeastern Oklahoma Chapter American Red Cross, said that check donations can be earmarked “disaster relief services” so that the funds can be specifically used for those affected by the tornado.
Edwards said that the Southeastern Oklahoma Chapter has deployed workers to the Moore area to aid in relief efforts.
The Durant area was hit by extreme weather last night as well, with storm sirens activated around 7:30 p.m. after a possible rotating storm was observed south and west of Durant. Storm spotters with the Durant/ Bryan County Emergency Management reported high winds and quarter sized hail, and tornado warnings were issued Monday for areas north of the city including Milburn, Coleman, Caney and Tushka.
Emergency Management said that the damage in the area was minimal with downed limbs and 67 OG&E customers out of service.
Area winds did get high enough to blow over the sign at Brown’s Funeral Services located at 4900 U.S. 70. A tree was blown down in the 4000 block of Wilson Road, according to one observer.
Emergency Management reported that there is one city run storm shelter in Durant which is located behind the swimming pool at Carl Albert Park.
They did say that there are others not run by the city but Emergency Management is not allowed to divulge that information because these shelters are not under their control.
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