OKLAHOMA CITY – The storm that hit near I-35 and S.E. 44th St. destroyed a local hotel and a storage facility next to an RV park. At least 13 people from the RV park were taken to area hospitals with injuries.
At the hotel, many visitors rode the storm out in their rooms.
“I’m just thinking, oh my gosh, this is the real deal,” said Dusty Martin, who was staying at the hotel.
It was a frightening experience for Dusty as he rode out the storm in a bathroom of the now destroyed hotel.
“You could just hear a lot of crashing,” he said.
He ran for cover, riding it out in the bathroom of his hotel room.
“I decided I needed to go sit on that toilet in the bathroom. I wrapped myself in a blanket and got a pillow for my head,” Martin said.
Once it passed, Martin could see from his room that the hotel wasn’t the only victim of damage. Across a field, a storage facility was also destroyed.
Thursday afternoon, Carol and Jim Bresee were out with family sifting through what’s left of their storage unit.
“Just going through salvaging what we can and the rest goes to the dump,” Jim said.
The family recently moved, temporarily keeping precious memories in the storage unit.
“It’s just devastating to see all your stuff scattered,” Jim said.
“I’ve never been through one of these though,” Martin said.
It was an experience Dusty Martin hopes to never go through again.
“This one got my attention,” he said.
Many were showing up to the hotel in hopes of collecting their belongings, but most were unable to get in due to the damage.