Storms slam Sallisaw, hospital hit hard
A brief but destructive storm ripped through the heart of Sallisaw just before 5 p.m. Tuesday, raking the downtown area and tearing the roof off Northeastern Health System Sequoyah.
In addition to damage to the hospital, tree limbs littered Cherokee Avenue and adjacent streets, and widespread power outages were reported.
No injuries were reported in what may have been straight-line winds or a microburst rather than a tornado, and the hospital took the biggest hit. A dozen patients were evacuated from the hospital, and Pafford EMS is providing a mobile ER unit to enable hospital personnel to continue to care for the community.
“We had 12 current patients on our floor at the time that the roof got blown off, so we put together a team to evacuate [those] who needed evacuated, who need to be discharged home,” said Eric Carter, director of operations at NHS Sequoyah. “We were able to discharge 10 of the 12, and two went to local hospitals.”
Carter said crews are working around the clock to enable to hospital to resume operations.
“Pafford EMS deployed a mobile ER coming out of Hope, Arkansas. It depends on the weather, but it should be set up at midnight tonight, and we’ll be able to do labs, X-rays and take care of our community that way,” Carter said.
Cleanup began almost immediately, and continued around the clock until power is restored.
Sallisaw City Manager Brian Heverly said the storm lasted only a few minutes, causing extensive damage.
Police, firefighters and first responders swarmed the East Redwood Avenue area, but the full extent of the destruction will probably not be known until Wednesday.
“We had little to no notice whatsoever. The storms were forming and would pop up and hit us,” Heverly said, pointing out that the worst of it was at the hospital. “Across town, we’ve got trees down. So we’ve got a lot of power outages. We’ve got some trees on properties.
“We’ve got great partners, several different fire departments out here helping us. Again, we’re just moving debris off roads trying to make sure that the emergency services have a way to get through and to people if they need it.”
After word spread about the damage to the hospital, Carter said some 500 phone calls were received from members of the community regarding ways they could help.
