OKLAHOMA CITY — A rare late summer tornado smashed into a shopping district of Tulsa early Sunday just hours after it was packed with people, sending about 30 people to hospitals including two with life-threatening injuries, many of them from restaurants that were either preparing to close or were still open.
No deaths were reported from the tornado that struck shortly after 1 a.m. in the midtown area of Tulsa, according to city of Tulsa spokeswoman Kim Meloy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Teague said the tornado was rated an EF2, with wind speeds of 111-135 mph.
One of the most severely injured was in TGI Fridays and the other was inside a Whataburger, Bruer said.
The timing of the storm was fortunate, according to Meloy, because hundreds, if not thousands of people were in the area only hours earlier.
“It’s a highly commercial area with a lot of people normally in there. There’s a mall, there’s a movie theater,” in addition to the restaurants, Meloy said.
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