managing editor

“It’s not over - we are just in recovery now,” said Emergency Management Director Loyd Colston about the storm that hit Altus a week ago today.

The storm did millions of dollars in damage to both businesses and residences in Altus as well as on Altus Air Force Base and in surrounding areas and communities.

On Altus AFB, numerous trees were damaged or destroyed, the commercial electrical service was interrupted, some buildings received roof damage and the flightline was covered with foreign object debris. No aircraft were damaged, but total damage estimate to Altus AFB is $5.5 million.

Preliminary damage to Altus estimates that 179 homes were damaged in the storm. Two were destroyed, five have major damage, 43 received minor damage, and 129 were “affected.”

Early projections on the cost of this disaster are $20 million, of which at least $11.5 comes from the City of Altus. These figures do not include the City's infrastructure damage.

Currently the damage assessment continues. As a guess, assuming $50K per home and nine homes would equal $450K.

Additionally, 17 businesses were damaged, including two that were destroyed, four that had major damage, eight with minor damage and three that were affected.

Although Colston said that power has been restored to all areas of town, not all homes are out of the dark. There are still some residents who have damage to their homes that has hindered power being restored.

Other damages have left some businesses doing what they can to carry on. Drive Smart’s building was blasted with dirt and debris as high winds knocked out their windows and left the place in disrepair. Luckily they were able to move into the adjacent building to conduct business. 3KB Construction is now able to do business by using someone’s house as a homebase. Other businesses on East Broadway were not so fortunate, literally being blown away.

One question that keeps coming up after this storm, being dubbed a “downburst,” is why sirens were blown on Altus Air Force Base and not within the city of Altus.

“We have a different protocol than Altus Air Force Base,” said Colston. He explained that he has spotters out in the field that tell him what they see. He also stays in touch with the National Weather Service, and makes observations of his own to determine the severity of weather conditions.

“Some rotation was being reported, but my radar did not show the signature vortex movement associated with a tornado,” Colston said. “That’s why the sirens were not blown.”

Colston said that he can blow the sirens at any time, not just when a tornado is spotted, but doesn’t want to blow them so often it becomes a case of “the boy who cried wolf.”

“There was a tornado watch and severe weather watch in place, so people knew the possibility of this kind of weather.

“In retrospect, I would have sounded the sirens, but we didn’t know at the time that the storm was going to build over Altus and then collapse,” Colston said.

He did say that there is an Emergency Management Planning Committee meeting coming up in July and that protocols for sounding the alarm will probably be addressed at that time.

The meeting is set for noon at the Friendship Inn on July 10. The public is invited to attend the Dutch treat meeting.

“We want to make corrections to our process so something like this doesn’t happen again,” Colston said.”

Although many people have said they saw tornadoes last Thursday, Colston stands by the explanation of a downburst.

“The photo (inset) sent in by an Altus Times reader would look like a tornado to untrained eyes, but it was a downburst,” Colston said.

Also known as microbursts, downbursts are defined as powerful downdrafts associated with thunderstorms.