News Every Day | 09 May 2024, 02:57

'We're going to see him again': 81-year-old man missing after EF4 tornado demolishes his Barnsdall home

BARNSDALL, Okla. (KFOR)- Days after an EF-4 tornado ripped through the small city of Barnsdall Monday night, 81-year-old Kenneth Wayne Hogue is still unaccounted for.

Kenneth Wayne Hogue. Photo courtesy: Osage County Sheriff's Office.

The National Weather Service Tulsa has been surveying the Barnsdall area for damage and preliminary reports classify it as a low end EF-4 as of Wednesday night.

Law enforcement officials say 30 to 40 homes were damaged or destroyed, including a Barnsdall nursing home. Those who were staying in that facility have been transported to other healthcare facilities.

About 25 people, including children were rescued out of debilitating homes Monday night, according to officials.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) confirmed one fatality as a result of the storm. Seven to eight people were also injured.

The search for Wayne is still ongoing as of Wednesday.

Wayne's home was located on the west side of Bird Creek. His home was demolished and his family says what they believe to be the trailer framework of his home was found on the east side of the creek.

The west side of Bird Creek where Kenneth Wayne Hogue lived. KFOR photo.

"Wayne is a man of God. Plain and simple. Just a man of God. He was caring and honest. [An] 81-year-old man who lived a simple life," said Wayne's daughter-in-law, Tamara Hogue. "Wayne was in the hospital up until last week. While he was in there, I was waiting for my husband, and it was just him and I. We were talking about his favorite Bible verses."

Hogue said Wayne's faith was "everything."

"He didn't care who you were. If you gave him five minutes of your time, he was going to tell you about Jesus. That man loves God. There's no doubt that God's with him. Wherever he is, God's with him," added Hogue.

Hogue said her husband was on the phone with Wayne minutes before the tornado blew through on Monday.

"That's about a seven-minute-long conversation. He said, 'Son, you just put your trust in Jesus' and he was going to sit in his room and listen to the gospel. And he said, 'If the good Lord is ready for me, then that's where I'm going,'" explained Hogue. "Strangely enough, we've had a peace. I mean, there's a peace in our hearts. I know a lot of people won't understand that, but that's how God works."

Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden told KFOR his department along with several other agencies have been searching for Wayne all over Barnsdall. So far, the Osage County Sheriff's Office confirms it has been a part of five searches for Wayne.

"It's unpredictable as far as location. We're trying to go off of what we would think scientifically would be the search area. But with that, we've had debris reported way, way, way away from the area. We know that some of the material from the tornado reached as high as 20,000 feet. We certainly hope he wasn't involved in that. We hope we get good information. We don't want the family to not have answers. We're going to keep looking until we find something," stated Sheriff Virden.

Sheriff Virden added some of the debris from where Wayne's home once stood flew into the Bird Creek. The creek sits right behind Wayne's residence.

"We're going to look until there's no place else to look," said Sheriff Virden. "Those people coming together and aiding us - they were here within just hours of when the impact was. Those numbers gave us the ability to sweep this large damage area and look for poor injured people, trapped people and coordinate. I can't say enough the gratitude we have for all the people that came together."