1 dead, several injured, 1 still missing after Barnsdall tornado

The town of Barnsdall was one of the areas hardest hit by Monday night’s severe weather.

“When you see this kind of damage, it’s heartbreaking, you just don’t know how anyone could survive,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said.

The EF-4 tornado destroyed 30 to 40 homes.

Related Coverage:

1. Barnsdall Mayor and Highway Patrol discuss tornado recovery
2. 1 killed in Barnsdall after tornado damages town
3. Tornado leaves extensive damage in Barnsdall, 1 resident confirmed dead

“You just heard a lot of loud noise and stuff banging around and it sounded like a freight train coming through town,” Barnsdall resident Brianna Halford said.

Jim Gardner and Bob Mills SkyNews 9 got a bird’s eye view of the utter devastation Tuesday morning.

A war zone locally. “We went to the laundry mat, took shelter, came outside and everything was torn down,” Barnsdall resident Billy Wells said.

“It’s really devastating for this city,” Brianna Halford said.

“Oklahoma has been hit pretty hard in the last week or so,” Stitt said.

Barndall resident Arlyn Hendricks spent Tuesday afternoon cleaning up. “The walls are still standing,” Hendricks said.

He said he and his wife were grateful to be alive.

“Obviously the garage is no longer here, it’s leveled, but that’s just stuff,” Hendricks said.

Not everyone was so lucky. Barnsdall city officials confirmed that one person died, several people were injured and one person remains missing.

But despite the extent of the damage, residents said they were recovering. “It’s going to take a long time to clean this up,” Halford said. “Thank God it wasn’t worse. This community is resilient. They will rebuild,” Stitt said.