New Tulsa Residents Get Wild Welcome As Neighbor’s Tree Falls In Yard During Storm

A couple who moved to Tulsa just a few days prior got quite the surprise when their neighbor's tree landed in their yard during the Nov. 3 storms.

They say they are grateful their home is not damaged and have a story to remember once they are settled in.

The Heringers said it was more exciting than they were expecting, but they are grateful it was not any worse.

The Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency said that is also the consensus around Tulsa County.

Weston Heringer has had quite the welcome to Tulsa.

"We're still a house full of boxes,” said Weston Heringer. “The moving truck came on Wednesday."

Weston and his wife moved from Oregon to be closer to their daughters, who also recently moved to Tulsa.

Weston said his first taste of Oklahoma weather came Sunday morning.

"Looked outside and definitely saw some kind of a flash or some kind of a boom," Weston said.

Their neighbor's big tree fell on their fence and damaged it. Thankfully, their house is fine.

Still, Weston said what happened did not change his mind about moving here.

“No, not at all,” he said. “Every place has its own issues, I guess, or own excitement, so this is just one of Tulsa's I think."

There has also been plenty of excitement for the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency, which is in charge of sounding the weather sirens.

"A lot of long hours monitoring for potential tornadic threats, as well as watching the rainfall totals and how they're impacting area creeks and streams and watching for any potential flooding situations,” said Joseph Kralicek, director of TAEMA.

He said Tulsa County had no major damage, and the 43,000 customers without power had theirs restored quickly.

"We had power outages throughout the county, we had down lines and limbs everywhere; heavy rain event throughout the county,” said Kralicek.

Both Kralicek and the Heringers said it could have been worse, and they look forward to the calm after the storm.

"I'm ready to just finish unpacking and moving into Tulsa and enjoying all Tulsa has to offer without some of the excitement that Tulsa has to offer,” Weston said.

He said one of his daughters moved to Tulsa this year and experienced an earthquake her first week here.

The Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency said drought conditions lowered water levels, so thankfully, even with a lot of recent rain, the levels are below flooding.