Oklahoma towns hard hit by tornadoes begin long cleanup after 4 killed in weekend storms

SULPHUR, Okla. (AP) — When a monster nighttime tornado came roaring into the southern Oklahoma town of Sulphur, Sheila Hilliard Goodman, a grandmother and casino worker, hunkered down inside Raina's Sport Lounge with about 30 other customers in the popular downtown hangout.

The roof of the bar collapsed Saturday as other brick buildings down the block crumbled. Family members who arrived Sunday to search for her learned she was the only one inside who didn’t survive.

“She loved her family, loved to cook,” said her cousin Wes Hilliard, who confirmed Monday that Goodman was one of the four people in Oklahoma, including an infant, who lost their lives in the storm. “She lived a good life. She was an amazing person who loved big.”

The storms, part of an outbreak of severe weather across the middle of the U.S., also left at least 100 others injured, authorities said. The deadly weather in Oklahoma followed dozens of tornadoes that raked Iowa and Nebraska on Friday, killing one person.

At least 22 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, the most powerful of which ripped through Holdenville, Marietta and Sulphur, said National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith.

Those tornadoes were rated as EF3 or higher, meaning they were powerful enough to uproot or snap large trees, remove roofs and knock down walls of well-built homes and easily toss cars and heavy vehicles. They were particularly dangerous because they hit after 10 p.m.

“It's human nature to want to see the tornado before you take action,” Smith said. “And you're not going to be able to see these tornadoes at night.”

In Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people south of Oklahoma City, a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses, and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

“We live less than a mile away, but last night it took us more than an hour to get here,” said Kathy John, the publisher of the local weekly newspaper, the Sulphur Times-Democrat, who spent Monday helping her staff move equipment from the downtown newsroom to her nearby home.

The paper hasn't missed a printing in 82 years, she said, and “we're not going to now.”

Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. A baby was among those killed, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.

At least 17 tornadoes touched down Friday in Iowa, the National Weather Service in Des Moines said in a preliminary report issued Monday. The agency said damage to homes was reported in several counties. Crews are continuing to evaluate damage and a final count may take weeks.

Several tornadoes also were reported in Kansas and Missouri over the weekend, but crews were still determining how many.

In Sulphur, a 1930s natural springs fountain continued to pump on Monday, but the landscape around it was devastated. Giant trees that shaded the park were uprooted and splintered, with branches scattered across the forest floor.

In town, the sound of chainsaws echoed through neighborhoods as residents cut up fallen trees that blocked entry to their homes. A creek that runs through the center of town was filled to its banks with muddy water churned up during the weekend storms. The area also was battered with heavy rain, and many residents spent the day Monday sifting through soggy belongings or pumping standing water from basements.

“How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation,” said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong Sulphur resident as she surveyed the damage. “It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?”

Farther north, a tornado near Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma community of Marietta, state officials said.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Gov. Kevin Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government. Stitt declared a state of emergency in 12 counties.

On Monday, Vicki Combs sat on a pink trunk of records that a first responder salvaged from her consignment store while her husband, Larry, pulled up his truck to help load what was left inside the crumpled building. The retired couple moved to Sulphur a few years ago to start their business, which they hope to eventually reopen.

“We're just devastated, like it can't be,” said Larry, a retired pastor. “All my life I've ministered to people who have gone through stuff like this, but it never really hits home until it happens to you.”

Associated Press journalists Sean Murphy and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Mo., contributed to this report.

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

A car lies on its side after being knocked over during a tornado that tore through downtown Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A school bus lies on its side after being knocked over during a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A row of buildings is left damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A man walks past tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

Tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., is pictured on Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

People look at tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

A man is surrounded by tornado damage after severe storms moved through the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

Charlie Schwake walks past his property in Sulphur after a tornado hit the area the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows a crew working on clearing debris caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows buildings destroyed by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

People remove items from a building damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A row of buildings is left damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A car lies knocked over on its side after a tornado tore through Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — It took Naval Academy plebes two hours, 19 minutes and 11 seconds Wednesday to accomplish the ultimate in upward mobility: scaling a greased obelisk and swapping out a cup with a cap.

The annual grueling, slippery ritual marking the completion of the plebe year ended with 20-year-old Californian Ben Leisegang standing victorious on the shoulders of scores of classmates and placing an upperclassman’s hat atop the Herndon Monument.

The Class of 2027 worked together to scale the 21-foot (6-meter) obelisk covered in vegetable shortening to replace a white plebe “Dixie cup hat" with the upperclassman’s hat. There are about 1,300 plebes in the class, according to academy spokesperson Elizabeth B. Wrightson. After the climb is complete, they’re called fourth class midshipmen, not plebes.

It's said that the person who gets the hat to the top of the monument will be the first admiral in the class.

Plebes linked arms around the monument’s base to build a pyramid, clearing grease from the monument’s surface, enduring a constant soaking spray from hoses.

Around the two-hour mark, one plebe finally got close enough to place the upperclassman’s hat near the obelisk’s pinnacle, but the Dixie cup remained in place. Minutes later, the same plebe whipped the top of the obelisk, still lathered white with shortening, with a waterlogged shirt, knocking down the upperclassman’s hat.

The hat was handed back up, and he finally slid the upperclassman’s hat into place, knocking down the Dixie cup hat and prompting uproarious cheers from the crowd below.

Academy Superintendent Vice Adm. Yvette M. Davids congratulated the class and introduced Leisegang, a midshipman fourth class from Rancho Santa Margarita, California. He is in the 4th Company.

“All I have to say is: We went out there. We executed on the controllables, and that was working together,” Leisegang said. “Let’s Go!”

Noting that they are a link in a chain, Davids passed on messages from the class of 1977, urging them to never forget what it’s like to be a plebe and asking them to give “fair winds and following seas” to the class of 2077.

“You represent so much, not just the past but the future,” Davids said.

The climb began in 1940, and the placement of an officer’s cap atop the obelisk to show they had conquered the plebe year came seven years later, according to a history of the event by James Cheevers, the former senior curator at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. Upperclassmen first smeared grease on the monument to increase the difficulty in 1949. They first put the Dixie cup atop the monument before the climb in 1962.

Records of how long it took each class to scale the monument aren’t complete, but the shortest time is believed to be 1 minute, 30 seconds in 1969, a year the monument wasn’t greased. The longest was more than four hours in 1995, when upperclassmen glued down the Dixie cup.

Cold Plebes embrace during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Plebe Ben Leisegang, of California, attempts to place an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Plebe Ben Leisegang, of California, places an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Plebe Ben Leisegang, of California, celebrates after successfully placing an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Class of 2027 Plebes celebrate after completing during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Plebes climb the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Plebe Ben Leisegang, of California, places an upperclassman's hat atop the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Attendees watch Plebes climb the Herndon Monument at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Class of 2027 plebes climb during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minutes and eleven seconds. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

The "Dixie Cup" and an upperclassmen's cap sit together atop the 21 foot Herndon Monument during a failed attempt by "Plebes" to remove the cup, during the annual Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minsters and eleven seconds to complete. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Class of 2027 plebes climb during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minsters and eleven seconds to complete. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Class of 2027 plebes climb during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minsters and eleven seconds to complete. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

Class of 2027 plebes climb during the Herndon Monument Climb at the U.S. Naval Academy, Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Annapolis, Md. Freshmen, known as Plebes, participate in the climb to celebrate finishing their first year at the academy. The climb was completed in two hours, nineteen minsters and eleven seconds to complete. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)