[August 12, 2011] Storm brings rain, pain Tweet Aug 10, 2011 (Muskogee Phoenix - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Many area residents may have thought they were getting a reprieve after 1.23 inches of rain fell in the area overnight Tuesday and Wednesday. But instead they awoke to uprooted trees, roof damage and lack of electricity Wednesday morning. And, despite the rain, the drought is not coming to an end any time soon. "The burn ban is still in effect," said Michelle Finch-Walker, Oklahoma Forestry Service spokeswoman. "It's going to take a significant amount of rainfall over a longer period of time to get us out of this situation." Record heat and lack of rainfall since early June has caused many fires, problems for farmers and ranchers, and anyone who works outdoors. Wednesday saw cooler temperatures, but also downed trees, power lines and other damage from high winds after storms rolled through the area. Lake Region Electric Co-op reported more than 2,000 people without power spread throughout Wagoner, Cherokee and Muskogee counties at about 2 p.m. Wednesday. Many of those had been without electricity since about 3 a.m., said an LREC spokeswoman. "We have downed power lines, broken poles and lots of lightning damage," the spokeswoman said. City of Wagoner crews were out clearing trees and debris off roads as early as 3 a.m., said Emergency Management Director Larry Morgan. "We've got some damage in our park with trees down, nothing real enormous, though a tree did fall on a police car," Morgan said. "It's kind of spread out through town." A large portion of roof was blown off Bill's Bottle Shop on Cherokee Street and city electric service was out to about 800 homes for a large part of the day. In Fort Gibson, a utility pole was knocked over near the car wash on Poplar Street, said Fire Chief Larry Dale Cooper. "We had a lot of tree limbs and power lines down," Cooper said. "OG&E is still working on power outages around town." The Fort Gibson Fire Department was called to two early morning fires -- a utility pole at one location and a tree at another, both of which had been struck by lightning. All 77 counties in Oklahoma remain under a burn ban and the National Weather Service reports 100 percent of the state is in moderate-exceptional drought conditions. Reach Wendy Burton at (918) 684-2926 or [email protected]. To see more of the Muskogee Phoenix or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://muskogeephoenix.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]