Saturday May 10th, 2008: The tornado touched down 2.5 miles southwest of Chetopa, KS near the Oklahoma/Kansas state line.
At 5:40 p.m., it continued eastward into the southern portion of Picher, OK where extensive and widespread damage occurred to numerous residential structures.
This EF-4 Tornado caused extensive damage in the town of Picher and resulted in 6 fatalities.
The tornado continued southeast across the northern edge of the city of Quapaw. A 2nd tornado occurred in parallel with the Picher tornado. The two merged and crossed Interstate 44 near mile marker 325.
The tornado moved into southwest Missouri. At approximately 5:57 p.m. it was located just north of Iris Road and Stateline Road in Newton County. It continued east into the unexpected area, as the tornado was thought to have been in the area of Interstate 44 and Stateline Road.
Several homes and businesses were destroyed as well as cars carried off the roadway at the intersection of Highway 43 and Iris Road.
There were 15 fatalities and 200 injuries from just west of Highway 43 to Highway 86 in Newton County.
One of the fatalities was Volunteer Firefighter Tyler Casey. Tyler was storm spotting on behalf of the Seneca Area Fire Protection District. He was aware of the approaching tornado and was warning citizens traveling on 43 Highway to seek shelter.
Unfortunately, Tyler was caught in the path of the tornado and suffered life threating injuries. He was transported to a local hospital and succumbed to his injuries on May 12th, 2008.
In addition to losing a fellow firefighter, one of our firefighter’s grandmother passed away due to injuries sustained in the tornado. A current board member lost his mother and three other family members.
Altogether, the tornado was on the ground for 98 minutes, with a path length of 77 miles, affected a total of four counties over a two-state area, claiming 21 lives and caused $61 million in damage.
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