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AM NewsBrief: June 20, 2023

This is the KGOU AM NewsBrief for Tuesday, June 20, 2023.

Weekend Storms Leave Thousands In The Dark

Strong storms producing at least two tornadoes over the weekend ravaged Oklahoma, knocking out power and leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

As of Tuesday morning, nearly 155,000 customers across Oklahoma are still without power—most of those outages persist in and around the Tulsa area where 100 mph winds were recorded.

PSO spokesperson Wayne Greene says the company is working to get power restored to Tulsans over the next couple days.

"We think the majority of our Tulsa customers will be restored to power by 5 p.m. Saturday. That doesn’t mean no one gets their power back by 5 p.m. Saturday. We’re going to be making incremental progress along the way," said Greene.

Greene said PSO plans to restore service to several transmission lines today.

Excessive Heat Expected Across The Region

Tomorrow is the first day of summer and it appears that Mother Nature is bringing on the heat nearly on cue.

A Heat Advisory has been issued for the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas for Tuesday. According to the National Weather Service, heat index values up to 108 are expected for portions of western, central and northeastern Oklahoma. Meanwhile, an Excessive Heat Warning has been issued for counties near and along the Red River, where heat indices could climb up to 115.

Oklahomans are urged to limit strenuous outdoor activities, drink plenty of fluids, and stay in air-conditioned areas, if possible.

OKC Zoo To Reopen Pachyderm Building

After a $10 million renovation, the Oklahoma City Zoo’s historic Pachyderm Building is reopening this summer.

The renovation included upgrades such as air-conditioning but kept the distinctive architectural design the Pachyderm Building is known for. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021 and is one of the few remaining examples of mid-century modern architecture at the zoo.

The Pachyderm Building was built in the 60s and was used to house popular zoo residents Judy the elephant and Matilda the hippopotamus.

The building will now be used as an event space.

ORU In College World Series

The Oral Roberts baseball team will fight to stay alive at the College World Series today, as they face the TCU Horned Frogs in an elimination game.

The Golden Eagles previously beat TCU by a score of 6 to 5 in the opening game of the series on Friday, but fell to the Florida Gators on Sunday evening by a score of 5 to 4.

ORU coach Ryan Folmar says the game plan in the rematch with TCU is simple.

"Everybody here's good, everybody here's playing well at the right time of year, so I think more than any scouting report or matchups or anything you want to cover: we gotta play well. If we play well, we're going to have a chance. And if we don't, we're probably going to come up a little bit short," said Folmar.

The game starts at 1:00 this afternoon on ESPN.

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