Tornado Update: 1 Dead, As Many As 36,000 Without Power, After Storm Hits Oklahoma

A series of tornadoes descended upon northeast Oklahoma Wednesday evening, leaving at least one person dead. Several others have been injured as flooding and power outages continue to affect the surrounding area.

The first tornado formed over Westport, Oklahoma, before moving east toward Tulsa, where one person was killed and several others were injured at a Sand Springs mobile home park. The tornado touched down at approximately 7 p.m. local time, according to ABC news.

At least two other tornadoes were spotted in the area Wednesday night after an intense storm system that made its way across the state brought -- in addition to the tornadoes -- strong, damaging winds, thunder and hail. The storm system will continue to move through Arkansas Wednesday night, but it will be much weaker in strength before it reaches Little Rock, according to Accuweather.

As many as 36,000 Oklahoma residents are without power -- according to local news outlet KFOR -- and vehicles have been reported overturned on highways. In Tulsa, a gym with over 60 people inside partially collapsed from the strong winds, but no injuries were reported. Crews have already been dispatched to get to work restoring power to the thousands of homes currently in the dark.

Despite the damage, County Sheriff’s Captain Billy McKelvey -- in Tulsa, which received the brunt of the storm -- was relieved that the area had not been hit harder.

“It could have been worse,” McKelvey told Yahoo News.

The storm comes at the unofficial beginning of tornado season across much of the Midwest. Tornado warnings continued until the late evening and strong winds are expected to persist until the morning.