Four-state tornado outbreak kills 1

[Vikrant]

(CNN) -- At least one person was killed and around a dozen injured Sunday when a string of tornadoes tore through four states, ripping roofs off homes, downing power lines and tossing trees like matchsticks.
The death happened at a trailer park in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, said Sheriff Mike Booth. He had no details, other than that the deceased was an adult male.
Booth said that two others are missing from that same park, where a number of people were also injured, two seriously.
Rescue crews were picking through the mangled metal remains of mobile homes as darkness fell Sunday.

...

Four-state tornado outbreak kills 1 - CNN.com

 

[Missourian]

Spent some quality time with the family in the basement myself today.

Sirens wailed for about 10 minutes.

 

[waltky]

Moore Oklahoma gets devasted again...

Massive tornado rips through Oklahoma City suburbs
20 May 2013 - A gigantic tornado has ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, destroying a school, sparking fires and flattening homes across whole neighbourhoods.

The "mile-wide" storm came on the second day in a row that twisters hit the Midwestern state of Oklahoma. Rescuers are searching for survivors as scores of primary school children are believed to be trapped under debris. On Sunday, at least two people died and 21 more were injured by the tornadoes that also razed a mobile home park. The twister struck about 16:00 local time (22:00 BST) on Monday in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of about 55,000 people just south of Oklahoma City.

'Long recovery'

Early in the evening, children were being pulled alive from the wreckage of Plaza Towers Elementary School there. There have been no reports of children injured or killed. Volunteers and rescue workers could be seen picking through the rubble in aerial news footage, which shows that along entire streets houses have been levelled to their foundations. The National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday's tornado generated winds of up to 200mph (321km/h). "It's going to take a while to recover from something like this," Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole told CNN.

The funnel of a tornadic thunderstorm almost touches the ground near South Haven, in Kansas May 19, 2013.

The storm has been given a preliminary classification of EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale. The town of Moore was hit by a severe tornado in May 1999, which had the highest winds ever recorded on earth. But Betsy Randolph of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol told local news station Skynews 9 that the damage on Monday appeared to exceed that of the last devastating tornado. Tornadoes, hail and high winds also hit Iowa and Kansas, part of a storm system stretching from Texas to Minnesota.

'Not clear yet'

On Sunday, a tornado smashed a trailer park on Highway 102 near Shawnee, Oklahoma. Oklahoma's state medical examiner confirmed on Monday that two people had been killed near a trailer park there: Glen Irish, 79, and Billy Hutchinson, 76. Both lived in Shawnee, but it was not immediately clear if either or both lived in mobile home park. The Oklahoman newspaper reported that five people were brought to Norman Regional Hospital for injuries, with three injured critically. Thousands of residents in the affected areas have been left without power.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in 16 counties in order to send aid to the worst-hit parts of the state. At least four tornadoes ravaged the state on Sunday, part of a storm system that was moving north-east across the Midwestern states and Texas. "Right now we're in a rescue and recovery stage," Gov Fallin said. "We're still not in the clear yet." Presenters of a local afternoon news programme were forced to evacuate during a live broadcast as the tornado touched down on Sunday.

BBC News - Massive tornado rips through Oklahoma City suburbs

See also:

Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51
May 20,`13 -- A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise.

The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people south of the city. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside. The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 70 children. Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage center. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with search-and-rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers. Fallin also spoke with President Barack Obama, who offered the nation's help and gave Fallin a direct line to his office.

A woman carries a child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile wide with winds up to 200 mph roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.

Many land lines to stricken areas were down and cellphone traffic was congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said. In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, pieces of insulation, awnings, shingles and glass all over the streets. Volunteers and first responders raced to search the debris for survivors. At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal. Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage center in the parking lot.

James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching tornado and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there. "About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart," he said. The students were placed in the restroom. Douglas Sherman drove two blocks from his home to help rescue survivors. "Just having those kids trapped in that school, that really turns the table on a lot of things," he said.

Tiffany Thronesberry said she got an alarming call from her mother, Barbara Jarrell, after the tornado. "I got a phone call from her screaming, `Help! Help! I can't breathe. My house is on top of me!'" Thronesberry said. Thronesberry hurried to her mother's house, where first responders had already pulled her out. Her mother was hospitalized for treatment for cuts and bruises. Search and rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night. Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system.

MORE

Related:

Small suburban Oklahoma City hospital damaged
May. 20`13 — Officials say a tornado hit a small hospital in suburban Oklahoma City, but all the 30 patients inside survived.

Moore Medical Center spokeswoman Kelly Wells says the hospital was "pretty much destroyed" after Monday's tornado.

She said all of the 30 patients survived, as did all of the staff members at the 46-bed acute care hospital, which is southwest of Oklahoma City.

Wells says 13 patients were transferred to other facilities, though it wasn't clear if they were moved because of injuries sustained in the tornado or because of existing medical conditions.

Wells said all of the patients "amazingly" survived, but the rest of the building didn't.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/small-suburban-oklahoma-city-hospital-damaged

 

[Katzndogz]

A third grade classroom was buried. All 24 kids are dead.

 

[t_polkow]

(CNN) -- At least one person was killed and around a dozen injured Sunday when a string of tornadoes tore through four states, ripping roofs off homes, downing power lines and tossing trees like matchsticks.
The death happened at a trailer park in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, said Sheriff Mike Booth. He had no details, other than that the deceased was an adult male.
Booth said that two others are missing from that same park, where a number of people were also injured, two seriously.
Rescue crews were picking through the mangled metal remains of mobile homes as darkness fell Sunday.

...

Four-state tornado outbreak kills 1 - CNN.com

Trailer parks are not the place to be but since most of the south is trailer park heaven where can people go?

 

[t_polkow]

A third grade classroom was buried. All 24 kids are dead.

All trailer parks should have a mandatory deep root cellar for people to go to in each trailer park. schools also should not be trailer houses as I have seen many while traveling down south

 

[Vikrant]

A third grade classroom was buried. All 24 kids are dead.

It is so sad. My prayers are with victims.

 

[Vikrant]

Spent some quality time with the family in the basement myself today.

Sirens wailed for about 10 minutes.

I used to live in Oklahoma but due to some divine intervention I managed to avoid both ice storm and tornado. Each time I was out of Oklahoma visiting family.