1993: Large tornado hits Interstate 44

A large tornado slammed into a section of I-44 east of Tulsa during the early evening hours of April 24, 1993. The Washington Post reported that the storm blew cars and trucks off the interstate highway and damaged dozens of homes that evening, killing at least 10 people, injuring at least 50 and leaving hundreds homeless. "This was not a storm that stayed down and then went back up. It stayed down for several minutes and totaled the area," said Jerry Griffin, an inspector for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department. That area was about a mile wide and two miles long, he said. At least 80 mobile homes were demolished at a trailer park in a Tulsa suburb. Two major truck stops on Interstate 44 were scattered piles of rubble. Sheets of metal were wrapped around whatever poles were left standing. Families who escaped from their vehicles at one truck stop walked around dazed, clinging to pillows, blankets and other possessions.

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