Storms Leave OKC Residents In Dangerous Heat For 2 Days

Energy companies worked through the weekend to restore power to homes across Oklahoma City. 

Thousands were left in the dark after severe weather hit Friday evening. 

Several down bursts in neighborhoods on the city’s southeast side left behind widespread damage. Many homes there didn’t have lights on until Sunday night. No power often meant no relief from dangerous temperatures. 

It’s said history is the best teacher, though some lessons can be painful. For Clifford Rollins, one of those lessons gave him his lifeline during that powerless stretch. 

“When I looked out here, I just shook my head. This is just unbelievable,” he says, describing the moment he saw the damage. “I’m glad I had that generator. I don’t know what I would have done.” 

He refers to a generator he bought after losing power for nearly a week during the 2020 ice storm. He knew he’d likely face a similar situation again. 

For 48 hours, it was all he had to keep him cool. His peaceful Friday evening listening to the rain turned in a different direction. 

“The wind got so high,” he recalls. “It went from going west to east to south to north then west to east then all of the sudden everything just broke loose.” 

Block after block on the south side, the split trees, snapped poles and bent street signs fell to the ground. 

By 7 p.m. Friday, thousands across the city were without power. 

Clifford knew he had his generator, but it was in the shed. The shed that was now buried under a fallen tree. 

“All I had was a hand-saw and it wasn’t a tree-saw, so I had to hold it and cut it.” 

It was painstaking work in the dark. All of it done as Clifford works to recover from a major artery surgery in his leg. 

“It was something else,” he describes. “You got to do it. You know what I mean? I couldn’t put it off because of the heat, which has got all of us.” 

For that reason, he knows he likely had it easier than most. 

“A lot of these people, I don’t know what they did.” 

History may be an effective teacher, but with cleanup underway this lesson may be one that many on the south side could do without.