Officials said Monday evening that they would work all night to find survivors. "It affected shopping centers, a theater, two schools that we know of.'' "It went through an area and demolished complete subdivisions,'' he said. He said the funnel cut a path one and a quarter miles wide, traveling the entire width of the city. Lojka said emergency management officials were working from an underground command center in Oklahoma City and did not yet know how many students were in the two elementary schools in Moore that were destroyed. "We can only imagine that there are still many others there that are unaccounted for,'' he said. Rescuers were "going house to house and block to block to try and find any survivors that are out there and trapped,'' said state emergency management spokesman Jerry Lojka. The National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., said a tornado warning was in effect Monday afternoon for 16 minutes before the twister developed. The storm killed 36 people, injured hundreds and caused about $1 billion in damages. On May 3, 1999, a record-setting EF-5 tornado obliterated the city of 55,000 with winds measured at 318 mph, the highest ever on the earth's surface. ET) was put at EF-4, which means wind speeds from 166 to 200 mph, the National Weather Service said. The preliminary rating of the tornado that hit Moore at 3:17 p.m. Staff had to relocate 30 patients to nearby Norman and another hospital.Ī water treatment was knocked offline, and residents and businesses in southeastern Oklahoma City were advised to stop using water. The twister heavily damaged Moore Medical Center, ripping off its roof but causing no injuries. She is doing fine, but hospital officials have been unable to locate her parents. One patient was 9-year-old Kaileigh Hawkins, who was at one of the schools destroyed by the twister, Wells said. More than 60 patients were being treated at Norman Regional Medical Center, some in critical condition, spokeswoman Kelly Wells said. The OU Medical Center was treating 20 patients, including eight children. The hospital was treating five children, including two rescued from the elementary school. Tom Cole, who has lived in Moore for more than 50 years, told CNN the school did not have an underground shelter, just interior rooms with no windows.Īt Integris Southwest Medical Center, 10 of 37 patients were in critical condition, a spokeswoman told the Associated Press. KFOR-TV reported that seven of the dead were children from Plaza Towers, where 75 students and staff members were huddled when the tornado struck. About a mile away, the walls tumbled down at Briarwood Elementary. Several children were pulled alive from the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary, but some of their classmates were killed. Two elementary schools were destroyed, including one that took a direct hit. And search-and-rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night.Ĭatastrophic damage was reported in Moore, which was flattened by another killer tornado that tracked the same path 14 years ago. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children. USA TODAY could not independently confirm those reports. Multiple media outlets are reporting that at least 20 children are among the dead. The state medical examiner's office confirmed the number of deaths and said the toll was expected to rise. Watch Video: Oklahoma gov.: 'Hearts are broken' after tornadoĪ massive, mile-wide tornado with winds up to 200 mph killed at least 51 people Monday afternoon during 40 terrifying minutes of destruction across southern Oklahoma City and its suburbs.
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