Tornado Destroys Oklahoma Fire Station, Homes

May 24, 2004
A tornado touched down briefly Monday, destroying a fire station and damaging several homes and at least one business, authorities said.
ALFALFA, Okla. (AP) -- A tornado touched down briefly in this western Oklahoma town Monday, destroying a fire station and damaging several homes and at least one business, authorities said.

The tornado was reported on the ground at 6:16 p.m. and entered Alfalfa about 10 minutes later, said Mary Duree, Caddo County Sheriff's dispatcher.

The twister remained on the ground for another five minutes, damaging a mechanic's shop in Alfalfa and blowing over a trailer home along Oklahoma Highway 152 about two miles west of Eakly, Duree said. No one was home in the trailer when it rolled over, she said.

The storm also damaged four structures in northern Caddo County, Duree said, but no injuries had been reported as of late Monday evening.

``They had roof damage, windows broken out of residences, outbuildings totally destroyed, trees uprooted,'' Duree said. ``There were no injuries.''

Duree said there was baseball-sized hail in Carnegie and nickel-sized hail in Gracemont.

Farther south, in Jackson County, the National Weather Service's Doppler radar indicated a tornado on the ground near Humphreys at 6:51 p.m. However, sheriff's deputies and storm spotters in the county along the Texas border did not see any tornadoes touch down, said Clay Farrington of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department.

The only damage that had been reported was one downed power line in Blair, Farrington said.

``We got lucky on this one,'' he said.

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