About a third of Claremore businesses sustained damage from May 25 tornado

Jun. 22—Several Claremore businesses remain closed more than three weeks out from the May 25 tornado.

Homespun Early Learning Center, Darnell's Barber Shop and Cafe Flores are a few of the businesses still reckoning with the damage sustained. Others, like Freckled Finch, the Pink House or Claremore Tag Agency, had to close temporarily due to damage and lost power, but have reopened.

Meggie Froman-Knight, executive director of Claremore Economic Development, said her organization has visited more than 300 Claremore businesses since the storm. Of those 300, about 22% had taken some damage and 11% had suffered major damage.

"Some damage" means a smashed window here or a broken sign there; it might take a couple of weeks, but no more than a month, for the business to operate again, Froman-Knight said.

Freckled Finch falls into this category, said Ashley May, communications director for the Claremore Area Chamber of Commerce. On the night of the storm, its big shop window facing Will Rogers Boulevard shattered, littering the floor and some inventory with glass shards. The store reopened Monday, June 10, though the window is still boarded up.

Another business that has reopened with some exterior damage is the Claremore Tag Agency, which signals it's no longer closed with a big "OPEN" spray-painted in black on a plywood panel.

The panel covers the agency's two front windows the storm blew in. Owner Jennifer Bickel said the panel is deterring customers, but it will take about eight weeks to replace the windows.

The roof also needs repairs, and Bickel said the agency would likely temporarily close while it's fixed. She said she'd post on Facebook when she knew the agency's closure date. But she said engineers have determined the building is structurally sound.

The agency reopened May 30, though Bickel said it wasn't running at full capacity. It was using slower AT&T internet because the Cox internet wasn't working, and Bickel was powering equipment with generators. Just one driver's license system and two computers were online, and a spotlight illuminated the office.

The power came back June 4, and Cox restored its internet June 11, allowing the agency to hook all of its equipment back up.

Froman-Knight said most of the seriously damaged businesses are still closed.

"Major damage are those that are going to have to significantly rebuild a portion of their building or their roof, or they're going to have to completely demolish what remains of their building and re-erect what's there," Froman-Knight said.

Homespun Early Learning Center is among that number; the tornado laid waste to both of the property's buildings and playgrounds.

The storm uprooted or snapped about 10 trees. One smashed through the auxiliary building's awning, blocking the exit, and another punched a giant hole through a wooden fence. The trees that didn't break anything left behind big root balls and stumps, which owner Savannah McDonald said she needed help to get rid of.

The wind also scattered playground equipment everywhere, tore the electric meter off the side of the main building, and sent debris flying at the columns holding up the building's porch, knocking it off-balance and making it unsafe to host children inside.

McDonald said she had been having "massive trouble" getting insurance to understand the severity of the tornado; she said the agent she had been put in touch with kept calling it just a "wind storm."

"We have potentially 150 parents who are currently ... trying to figure something out because we are not able to provide care for our kiddos right now," McDonald said. "...The building is not secure yet... because I don't have the capital to go ahead and pay out of pocket."

About 800 homes were damaged by the tornado, according to the Claremore Emergency Management Team.

Barby Myers, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said damage to homes also affects businesses. Most people whose homes were damaged also work, Myers said, and they're likely having to scale back as they make repairs.

McDonald said some in the community have helped her. She said Caitlyn Ngare, who works for Claremore Economic Development, reached out and asked if she could help McDonald find a temporary place to host her kids. McDonald said C&A Roofing & Construction fixed the side of the building, and the city and her electrician repaired her electric meter.

May, from the Chamber of Commerce, said no business in Claremore has had to permanently close due to storm damage, though it might be a while before businesses like Homespun can operate again.

"I'm just glad everyone was able to stay in business and get back up and running," May said. "It is really amazing to see how the community has come together during this time. Everyone has stepped up and is pitching in and offering their resources, and we're just trying to wrangle all of those so we can get all that information out."

May said they're serving as "connectors" at the Chamber. Apart from sourcing volunteers from energy company Baker Hughes, much of how the Chamber assists member businesses involves assembling disparate resources and sending them to business owners.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency declared the May 25 tornado a disaster Friday, June 14. That allows the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide aid to small business owners. FEMA has set up a field office at Northeast Tech, 1901 State Highway 88, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays.