Rescuers search for more Okla. tornado victims

updated 9:57 p.m. ET Feb. 11, 2009

LONE GROVE, Okla. - The luckiest ones packed like sardines into a cellar as the tornado approached. For the least fortunate, at a mobile home park, there was no close place to seek refuge.

And then there was Lana Hartman's family, who did what they were supposed to do Tuesday evening when the twister hit the small southern Oklahoma town of Lone Grove: She, her two daughters, three grandchildren and two friends hid in a closet.

The storm that killed at least eight people nearly claimed a ninth when it blew part of the roof off Hartman's house and lifted one of her daughters into the air.

"The suction was so unreal," Hartman said.

'Did a lot of praying'
Everyone grabbed the woman to prevent her from being sucked out of the house and blown away.

"We held onto each other and did a lot of praying," Hartman's friend Carole McFarland said.

After the storm passed, they walked out of what was left of the house and saw debris everywhere. Around town Wednesday, trees were uprooted, cars had been flung around like toys and all that was visible of some mobile homes Wednesday were the cinder blocks they had sat on.

"I was in shock, I think I still am," Hartman said. "We're alive, that's all that matters."

Some people were killed by flying debris. One man died when a pickup truck fell on him. Another woman was found injured but alive beneath an overturned mobile home.

Residents of Lone Grove, a town of 4,600 about 100 miles south of Oklahoma City, awoke Wednesday to find much of their community in ruins. The National Weather Service assigned a preliminary EF-4 rating to the Lone Grove storm, with winds estimated at 170 mph.

"The devastation literally takes your breath away," said Gov. Brad Henry, who arrived in the area by helicopter Wednesday and declared a state of emergency in 17 counties.

'Looks like a war zone'
"It literally looks like a war zone. But on the flip side of that, it's amazing how many survived. In some way, this area was blessed by God," Henry said.

Shirley Mose was not at home when the tornado struck, but she returned to find the house destroyed and her pickup truck wrecked.

"I had a little Chihuahua that stayed in there," Mose said. "We found her bed, but not her. I guess she's gone."

The Lone Grove twister was among a cluster of unusual February tornadoes that touched down Tuesday in Oklahoma. A half-dozen homes and several businesses were also damaged in Oklahoma City and suburban Edmond, but no serious injuries were reported there.

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