Sulphur slowly rebuilds 2 years since EF-3 tornado

SULPHUR, Okla. — It’s been two years since an EF-3 tornado ripped through Sulphur, leveling homes, destroying businesses and claiming one life.

The city is slowly coming back to life, though the community is still struggling to rebuild 732 days later.

“It still hurts,” said resident Laura Carter. “It hurts to drive through and remember what it used to be.”

Sulphur is and has been home to Carter her whole life.

We first met Carter two years ago in the first few days of cleanup.

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“It’s hard driving the streets,” she said. “I can’t even come down here. It took me almost two months to drive downtown after the tornado because it was so devastating and it hurt my heart. It broke my heart, because it’s like what happened to my small little town.”

While much has stayed the same since April 2024, Carter said she is starting to see signs of new life.

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“This is now new opportunity,” said Carter. “It’s something new that has the possibility of becoming even greater than what we were.”

The pulse is slowly returning to the small town in southern Oklahoma.

The Mix Mercantile is one of the few businesses that rebuilt, taking about 17 months to get back on its feet.

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“We did lose our business, but we were fortunate that we didn’t lose our homes,” said co-owner Yevon Bowlles.

Bowlles and her daughter, Christy, opened The Mix Mercantile in 2012. Their boutique was one of many downtown businesses that took a direct hit.

“We were here Sunday morning about 1 o’clock,” said Bowlles. “It was pouring down rain and we had to walk in from the end of this next block because we couldn’t drive in and our alarm system was on a battery backup so it was still going off. It was a real eerie feeling and it was hard to see the extent of the damage until the next day and then it was pretty devastating to see everything gone. Everybody in three blocks, just destroyed.”

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While many businesses are still in ruins downtown, about five or six have come back to life.

Just three weeks after the tornado, Bowlles and her daughter cleared their lot off. They started working on their new building after about six months later, and were ready for business by September 2025.

“Our first day open was crazy insane the amount of people that were in here,” said Bowlles. “I mean we loved it. Most of them were locals and they just came back and supported us, and still are. The people of Sulphur are just really good down-to-earth people.”

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Bowlles said she’s hopeful that other business can find their way back downtown too.

Looking at what’s left of her town, all Carter can see is possibility.

“Our town was beautiful once and it can, it will be beautiful again,” said Carter. “Just think about what this could be… It’s exciting, it’s exciting to see what it could be and what it will be one day, because it will be something outstanding.”

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