'We Just Pray': Hundreds Of Washington Co. Homes Damaged, Debris Scattered From Tornado

People in Bartlesville are cleaning up after a tornado tore through part of the are on Monday night.

Several people said this storm was one of the worst things they've experienced since a tornado hit the town back in 1984.

The Washington County Emergency Management Director said as many as 1,200 homes have some sort of damage. An estimated 300 of those homes have structural damage.

Leaders plan to get a better assessment Wednesday when they can start processing all of the paperwork and photographs of homes.

The storm also damages a number of businesses off Highway 75, including the Hampton Inn. Power lines, sheet metal, and pieces of wood are all tangled together outside the hotel.

One resident, Louise Christy, said she hunkered down in a computer room with her husband and her dog. She said she could hear debris hitting their house.

"I was just thanking God that we were OK. And of course, we're down here looking at Hampton Inn and this stuff. I didn't have any clue it was this bad, and it's really bad," Christy said.

Another resident, Karen Kretzer, also had some damage from the storm. She described Monday night as scary as she helped get her husband to safety.

"We just hovered together. And we just prayed for the neighborhood and prayed for our safety and our family, because we have children and grandchildren in this area. So that's what we do. We just pray and just thank God that everything turned out as good as it did," Kretzer said.

Relief groups like the Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief are in town with a feeding unit. Chainsaw teams are expected to be in Bartlesville to help with cleanup efforts.

The City of Bartlesville has a drop-off site open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday for any tree debris. it's on West Highway 60, just east of the Green Country Rodeo Arena near the airport.