CLAREMORE — Nearly two dozen people were left injured after a tornado swept through Claremore Saturday night.
The National Weather Service has confirmed the tornado hit Claremore but did not have further details Sunday morning.
City officials report 23 people injured from the storm, including 19 hospitalized and three with life-threatening injuries.
The storm also took power from all four of the city’s electrical substations, snapped utility poles and damaged homes and buildings.
Claremore was closed from incoming traffic Sunday morning. City Manager John Feary said the city would only be open to area residents that afternoon.
“There is nothing anybody can do right now until we have a place to store donations, getting the logistics of getting supplies out, making sure that we’re doing it responsibly,” he said. “Right now, we don’t know what we need.”
Feary said at 9 a.m. Sunday that officials were still assessing damage and seeing if anyone else was injured. They were also working to get power back to two hospitals, Rogers State University and the city’s water treatment plant by end of day.
NWS has confirmed storm damage from Claremore all the way to northwest Arkansas. Meteorologist Joe Sellers said storm surveyors would be in Claremore on Sunday to document the damage and release more details about the tornado.
While no deaths have been reported in Claremore, several news outlets say two deaths have been verified in Mayes County.
Tornadoes were also confirmed in north Texas on Saturday night.
