If Pastor Shane Bennett could tell the people of Hennessey First Baptist Church one thing, it would be this: “We’re going to have church this Sunday.”

Thunderstorms made their way through Kingfi sher County last Friday night causing sporadic damage in various locations.

Turns out that was just a warm-up. Much heavier and damaging storms formed Sunday evening and developed wind gusts up to 90 miles per hour near Hennessey and left in their wake hundreds without power and much more severe damage.

Most notably the roof being blown off a portion of Hennessey First Baptist Church.

The church sits at the corner of East First Street and Cherokee Street just east of Main Street.

The roof, including its steel beams, flew east over Cherokee Street, over the Pioneer office and landed on the house directly east of Pioneer.

There were reports of other damaged structures, downed trees and other effects of the storm, which had one gust of 94 miles per hour recorded at the Mesonet station in Marshall.

“Fortunately, we don’t have any injuries reported,” said Kingfisher City-County Emergency Management Director Steve Loftis.

However, pockets of Hennessey, all of Dover and hundreds in the rural areas surrounding those towns remained without power well into Tuesday as OG&E had several poles knocked down from the storm.

Dover School did not hold classes Monday or Tuesday.

Hennessey students, however, weren’t as unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on perspective).

Hennessey was able to have classes, even on Monday.

“I think the school lost power for just a little bit, but it is fed from a line from the north,” said Superintendent Jason Sternberger. “So everything that happened with the poles south of us didn’t affect the school.”

Other portions of Hennessey and the county haven’t been so fortunate.

As of Tuesday morning, OG&E still reported more than 1,100 customers without power in the area.

OG&E reported a peak of more than 17,800 customers without power from the storms, which caused damage to its equipment from Shattuck to Kellyville and several points in between.

It was estimated that some in Hennessey and Dover wouldn’t have power restored until 10 p.m. Tuesday night, according to a media advisory released by OG&E.

( Editor’s note: As of Tuesday morning, Cimarron Electric Cooperative reported no outages in its service area.)

Loftis said the two storms on Friday and Sunday nights combined to cause damage to multiple outbuildings and barns in the county.

Trees were uprooted, some of them falling on structures and vehicles, he said.

The assessment of the damage continued into Tuesday, Loftis added.

As for the church in Hennessey, Bennett said while there is some extensive damage, things “could have been much worse.”

For starters, the lost roof only covered the children’s ministry wing.

“Most all of the church is fine,” Bennett said. “It’s one area that we’ve had to shut down.”

That portion included three children’s classrooms upstairs and the nursery downstairs.

“We’ll have to move all the ministries from there to other places,” Bennett said.

While the roof from that wing is gone, it was water that caused the most damage inside the church.

The metal pitched roof covered what used to be the structure’s flat roof (which still remained in place).

Damage from this storm combined with previous issues with the roof allowed water to rush, leak and seep into the church below.

“We did have major water damage,” Bennett said.

The water made its way from the roof to the second floor and then eventually to the first floor.

“We had a pond in the nursery,” he said.

Church patrons worked throughout Monday to pull out carpet, vacuum out water and install dehumidifiers and fans to dry out the building as much as possible and keep mold from growing.

Bennett said he was meeting with insurance adjusters later Tuesday to further assess the damage as the church begins the process of repair and restoration.

The portion of the roof that landed on the home was removed Monday afternoon by Liberty Lift of Hennessey. Bennett said the local company did the work for free.

He said he toured in the inside of the home with the homeowner.

While the amount of structural damage - if any - wasn’t yet known, Bennett said there were only “a few holes in the roof” of the house, which is also the reported damage to the Pioneer building next door.

“I was shocked it wasn’t worse,” Bennett said.

As for the church, after dealing with insurance, it’s the church membership that will ultimately decide the plans for repair and restoration.

It’s a process that could take several months, Bennett said.

But there will be church this Sunday and the midweek activities will resume this week.

“It could have been so much worse,” Bennett said, noting the church has multiple other facilities on its campus. “Really, it’s going to be fine.”