OWASSO, Okla. – A likely tornado barreled through the northeastern Oklahoma town of Owasso on Wednesday morning, leaving behind a trail of destruction.
Photos and videos taken after the storm show homes and other structures with their roofs destroyed or missing completely, as electric poles were left standing at an angle from having been blown by powerful winds.
nextImage 1 of 13Likely tornado damage in Owasso, Oklahoma on April 2, 2025. (Kathyrn Piotrowski )
The suspected Owasso tornado was produced by a line of severe thunderstorms, running from Oklahoma up to Kansas and Missouri, that marched across the central U.S. on Wednesday morning.
The system also produced a possible tornado near Salina in central Kansas.
Lightning flashes as severe storms move over Salina, KS April 2.
As the storm moves eastward, it is expected to produce a life-threatening tornado outbreak throughout parts of the lower Mississippi Valley into the mid-South and lower Ohio Valley.
This forecast has put areas of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi in a rare Level 5 out of 5 “high risk” of severe weather by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
The last time a Level 5 threat was issued was on March 15, when the National Weather Service confirmed 13 tornadoes, with six of them being EF-3s. During that tornado outbreak, seven people lost their lives and 12 were injured.
