Thunderstorms pounded Oklahoma with heavy rain, large hail and wind up to 90 mph Wednesday, knocking out power to thousands of customers and contributing to two traffic deaths.
Oklahoma City firefighters were sent to rescue people who became stranded in their stalled cars after driving into high water. Maj. Brian Stanaland said flooding had affected several main thoroughfares through the heart of the city.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric reported nearly 10,700 customers without power in central Oklahoma. Most of the outages were in Guthrie and Oklahoma City.
Wind up to 88 mph was reported at Guthrie, just north of Oklahoma City. Power lines and trees were blown down, some on top of cars, said Michelann Ooten, public information officer for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Guthrie officials asked for emergency generators to run water and sewage plants, Ooten said.
More than 4 inches of rain fell in Guthrie, in the town of Spencer just east of Oklahoma City, and in Shawnee, the National Weather Service said.
A woman was killed in Tulsa when she was hit by a van while she examined damage to the car she had been riding in, which had hydroplaned on wet pavement and hit a retaining wall, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
In southwestern Oklahoma, a man died when his pickup truck ran off the road and hit a concrete culvert, troopers said.