CLAREMORE, Okla. — Thousands of residents are still without power in Claremore after the tornado last Saturday night.
Crews are working daily to get the power restored, but the City said it’s going to take some time.
FOX23 spoke with residents in a neighborhood near Will Rogers Boulevard and Lynn Riggs Boulevard about the lack of power.
A lot of people were getting cool air in their cars or even sitting out on their porch to try to get some type of breeze because they still are without power.
Dozens of power lines cover the roads of Claremore neighborhoods after power poles were ripped out of the ground.
“This is a disaster, I mean every street is just poles down,” said Russell Shipley, a Claremore resident.
Shipley has lived in Claremore for 30 years and said the action from Saturday night left a mess right in his front yard.
He said when he first heard the storm, he had no idea it was a tornado.
“At first I kind of got mad. I was like what’s my wife in there doing, she’s in there vacuuming. Then I laid there for a minute and I thought that’s no vacuum. Then when I stood up it was all you can do to stand the whole house you could literally just see the walls, the roof up and down. That’s when I was like OK this is a tornado,” Shipley said.
The EF3 tornado left him and his wife with no electricity and a yard full of power lines.
“The first few days I was in awe with it, but now that we’re on this day I’m kind of over it,” Shipley said.
He said he is using a generator for power right now.
“Generator, but that only runs the TV but we don’t have cable either. So just the fridge, our cell phones and of course we plugged our washer in now,” Shipley said.
Shipley walked FOX23 around and showed us his new routine.
“It’s not a good feeling, it’s just a lot of work. You get gas, you go to Verdigris and bring your gas back,” Shipley said.
He fills up his generator that runs throughout the day.
He said he hasn’t even asked how long it will be until power will get restored.
“I haven’t even asked, it’s just a disaster down through there. They’ve got a ways to go, it’s quite a mess,” Shipley said.
He said while it was a devastating event, he thinks it really helped the city of Claremore pull together.
Volunteers have been walking around the neighborhood during the day giving away water and sandwiches.