Reporting from Lone Grove
We sent Tanner Herriott to Lone Grove earlier this morning. His mission to report from the scene and send back video. He caught up with The Oklahoman’s Steve Sisney, who left last night to shoot photos and video. Tanner reports the town is in bad shape. He drove to a nearby Burger King where residents were still in their pajamas trying to sort through their plans. Tanner used the wifi to file a video (below) and spoke with me via phone for a quick recap (above).
Here’s how we did that. Obviously he used his cell phone to call into our studio. We have a RemoteMix C+ JK Audio box that feeds the calls into our board which sends the audio to Final Cut Pro. We taped in front of the plasma screen. Covered the video with Sisney’s photos from the scene in post-editing and created a full screen graphic to show who I was talking with. Very simple stuff.
I just spoke with Tanner about 12:30 pm. Gov. Brad Henry is expected to be in Lone Grove at 2 pm for a tour and press conference. We have two more videos to post before then. Also the trailer park residents may be let back in this afternoon to tour their homes, properties and damages.
Bad accident this morning in OKC
A bad accident in SE OKC this morning. A woman was driving a car when she collided with a passenger van carrying about a dozen people. Two people are dead and six are injured. The accident happened about 7 a.m. near Winfield Lane and SE 94.
Several people were thrown from the vehicle, described as a work van.
Police are investigating the death a person whose body was found about 5 a.m. today in west Oklahoma City. The body was found in a front seat of a small, dark-colored foreign-made car near a park on the south side of Lake Overholser. Police are searching for the person who may have driven the car. They are also checking hospitals for anyone who may have been injured this morning in a vehicle accident.
Oklahoma County voters narrowly approved the latest Tinker Air Force Base bond issue proposal Tuesday. With all precincts reporting, approval of the plan to buy the abandoned General Motors plant and lease it to Tinker was carried by about 53 percent of the vote, according to the Oklahoma County Election Board.
Thunderstorms will develop this morning over southwest Oklahoma, expanding to most of Oklahoma during the day and early Wednesday night. Today: Cloudy. Highs in the lower 70s. Northeasterly winds 10 to 15 mph. Seventy percent chance of thunderstorms.
Ride your bike to work week. The Oklahoman’s Don Mecoy did just that yesterday. And we followed him with cameras. His fellow business reporter Jim Stafford rode the bus. See their rides to work online at NewsOK.
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China death toll rising; Picher residents face new challenge.
It’s Tuesday, here are some headlines for you…
Today’s Oklahoma County bond issue election is mostly about Tinker Air Force Base. County leaders want to buy the abandoned General Motors plant on the south border of the base and lease it to Tinker. The county has negotiated a $55 million purchase of the plant from GM should voters approve the proposition.
Other bond propositions would pay for fixes to flood control, the county courthouse and county records retention, as well as a new county extension building.
You can find your Oklahoma County polling places online at NewsOK.com.
Ok turning to international headlines, in China, the toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through flattened schools and homes today in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China’s worst earthquake in three decades.
In Oklahoma… As Picher residents searched Monday for their lost belongings in the rubble left by Saturday’s tornado, they faced a unique barrier to recovery: They can’t go back. With a federal buyout in progress, many storm victims don’t know what the future holds, but they know it won’t be in Picher. They say rebuilding would be foolish.
More severe weather is predicted to return today to Oklahoma.
A slight risk for severe thunderstorms will be east of a line from Medford and Enid to Lawton. Today: Mostly cloudy. Highs about 80 and windy. Thirty percent chance of thunderstorms, with some turning severe, in the late afternoon. 40 percent chance tonight.
The price of a first-class stamp rose to 42 cents Monday. But folks bought Forever stamps at 41 cents can still use them without extra postage. New Forever stamps went up to 42 cents.
NewsOK is free, be sure to check it out all today for the latest news and information.
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Search and rescue over, clean up begins in Picher
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Oklahoma Focus – Picher
I grabbed a few of the photos The Oklahoman shot in Picher, Okla., today and put them into this video. They do great work.
The Oklahoman’s photographers tell the story through their lens.
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Picher death toll at six
The death toll in Picher is at six after yesterday’s outbreak of
tornadoes, the deadliest outbreak of tornadoes in Oklahoma since 1999. The
seven dead includes an infant.
The infant died at a Tulsa hospital. Identifying those killed could take up
to a week, according to
officials.
Several Picher residents told authorities they had no warning before the
tornado, which destroyed the south end of the city.
There are many people missing, but authorities could not give an estimate
given the extent of the damage. Crews and search dogs are going through the
town today.
At least 150 people — from scratches to more serious problems — were injured
in the Picher tornado, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the state
Emergency Management Department.
Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency late Saturday. He is expected
to tour the area this afternoon.
There will be official press conferences this afternoon. We will cover those
and provide video from them. Also, there are photo galleries from The
Oklahoman’s Matthew Strasen online at NewsOK.com. NewsOK.tv’s Tanner
Herriott is in Picher today as well and will be filing more video from the
scene.
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