Tulsa Police Focus On Repairing Areas Hit Hardest By Storms

A tornado shut down the 41st and Yale shopping corridor.

About half a mile east of the Promenade Mall there are some down power lines and even some damage to buildings .

"It's really difficult to get a really good perspective of it, because this thing spans for what? Five or six miles," said Demita Kinard, Tulsa Police Officer.

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Sunday morning's tornado sent a donation box flying, spilling clothes, toys, and shoes all over the side of the road.

But that was the least of TPD's worries.

AT&T and Panera are just a few of the businesses police say suffered major damage.

"I couldn't even begin to estimate. I can tell you it's going to be a lot. It's going to be a lot of time, it's going to be a lot of blood, sweat and tears," Kinard said.

Pet Smart had to transfer many of its pets to another Tulsa location.

Kinard says they're just thankful it was early in the morning at a time when this part of Tulsa wasn't brimming with people.

"It's absolutely incredible. But I think you also have to look at it, that it happened at 1:30 at night," Kinard said. "This isn't what you would call a usual party area. So if it had been in a place where there might have been more clubs or something, we might have seen more people out."

With that being said, Kinard says she worries for the employees who would have been working at places like TGI Friday's.

"Someday they're going to have to come back there. Some people will return, some will be too traumatized to return," Kinard said.

Now, Kinard says the department is just focused on helping this section of Tulsa find its way back to normal.

"Until the power's back on there's really not a lot more we can do," Kinard said.