Cleveland County Residents Nervous After Severe Storm

"We are hoping to be better prepared and use the experience we had from Saturday," said Jane Turner as she sat in her living room with her radio tuned to the weather band right beside her.

Turner and her neighbors had emergency plans in place when the rain moved through Cleveland County late Wednesday. They said they have learned from the storm that destroyed a house on Dyer Drive on Saturday.

They said it was simply raining when a lightning hit the roof of the mobile home so hard that it rattle the dishes on the self of Carolyn Mosteller’s home almost two football fields away. Wednesday morning she said, "I've always been scared of storms and I've kind of gotten over it until Saturday. That blew my mind."

Wednesday she watched the news, waiting to hear if the weather would turn severe. Turner organized plans to secure her terminally ill relative as soon as the weather alert radio chimed a warning. They both said since the storm Saturday they have a brand new respect for severe weather.

Cleveland County Emergency Director Dewey Cook said it's a good idea for everyone to have a plan and be watchful. He said the severe storm season starts soon and strong thunderstorms can threaten your home even if the storm is over a neighboring town.

"They have documented cases were lightning strikes have occurred 10 miles from the center of a thunderstorm," Cook said.

He said his best advice is that if you can hear thunder or see lightning, you should get inside immediately. Another concern, said Cook, is that when these strong thunderstorms arrive they can spawn tornadoes.