The city of Coweta is left picking up the pieces nearly 24 hours after an EF-1 tornado tore through the area, late Sunday night. Those pieces are already coming together thanks to friendly Green Country neighbors.
"We've been called all around the Coweta area," DeWayne Corvin of Decor Roofing and Restoration in Bixby, Oklahoma said.
"One thing I can say about Northeast Oklahoma is this is one big family," Coweta Police Chief Mike Bell said. "You call out and you say, 'I need help,' and boy, your front doorbell is ringing in a heartbeat."
Bell said his phone was also ringing off the hook at the tornado touched down in town, Sunday night.
"I had people from all around the state, actually, calling me up saying, 'Hey, let me know if you need anything and I'll be there.'"
That offer for assistance continued into Monday's full day of recovery.
Corvin and his crews boarded up broken windows and blown out doors and patched up holds in the roof at Coweta Manor, an assisted living home.
"We were able to come out and here and secure it. Fix and tarp in the roof," Corvin said. "Take care of the damages that they had.”
Bell said the American Red Cross and Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief volunteered their time and efforts to assess and assist families dealing with extensive damage. The chief even got calls from his peers offering to send their own officers so Bell and Coweta Police could go home and catch up on rest interrupted by the tornado.
"It meant a lot," Bell said. "It really did."
Bell said extra officers were are patrolling damaged properties to keep an eye out for looters, this week.
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