Channels

Photo: AP
Tornado in Oklahoma
Photo: AP

Monster tornado devastates Oklahoma town; at least 24 dead

2-mile-wide tornado tears through Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, destroying homes; death toll lowered from 51 to 24; Obama declares major disaster

Authorities lowered the death toll from a massive tornado that devastated a town outside Oklahoma City, saying Monday it killed at least 24 people, down from 51, according to the state medical examiner's office. Rescuers continued to search the rubble for survivors.

 

US President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma after deadly tornadoes struck the state on Sunday and Monday and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts, the White House said on Monday.

 

The White House said aid can include grants for temporary housing, home repairs, uninsured property losses and other recovery efforts.

 

Related stories:

 

Obama spoke by telephone with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin earlier on Monday, the White House said. 

 

A two-mile-wide (3-km-wide) tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday, destroying entire tracts of homes and trapping school children beneath rubble.

 

Rescue teams raced against the setting sun and worked into the darkness in search of survivors as the dangerous storm system threatened several southern Plains states with more twisters.

 

Area hospitals reported at least 230 people injured, including at least 45 children.

 


הטורנדו באוקלהומה נע במהירות של יותר מ-300 קמ"ש (צילום: AP)

Tornado (Photo: AP) 

 

Emergency crews searched the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary School to look for two dozen missing children, Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb said. The school took a direct hit from the tornado, Lamb told CNN.

 

Police and fire crews pulled some school children from the devastation, a KFOR television reporter said from the scene.

 

"I have never seen anything like this in my 18 years covering tornadoes here in Oklahoma City. This is without question the most horrific," KFOR's Lance West said.


(צילום: AP)

(Photo: AP) 

 

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center provided the town with a warning 16 minutes before the tornado touched down at 3:01 pm local time (2001 GMT), which is greater than the average eight to 10 minutes of warning, said Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the center in Norman, Oklahoma.


(צילום: AP)

(Photo: Reuters) 

 

The notice was upgraded to emergency warning with "heightened language" at 2:56 pm, or five minutes before the tornado touched down, Pirtle said.

 

Television media measured the tornado at more than 2 miles wide, with images showing blocks of homes leveled by the twister, cars piled atop one another and buildings on fire.

 

The National Weather Service assigned the twister a preliminary ranking of EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, meaning the second most powerful category of tornado with winds up to 200 mph (320 km per hour).


תושבים בעיירה מור בין ההריסות  (צילום: AP)

(Photo: AP) 

 

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed a temporary flight restriction that allowed only relief aircraft in the area, saying it was at the request of local police who wanted quiet to search for buried survivors.

 

Oklahoma activated the National Guard, and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency activated teams to support recovery operations and coordinate responses for multiple agencies.

 

School in twister's path 

Briarwood Elementary School, which also stood in the storm's path, was all but destroyed. On the first floor, sections of walls had been peeled away, affording clear views into the building, while in other areas, cars hurled by the storm winds were lodged in the walls.

 

While the school was a wreck, nearby playground equipment stood undamaged, though littered with rubble.


הרס בכל מקום. העיר מור באוקלהומה (צילום: רויטרס)

(Photo: Reuters)

 

Across the street, people picked through the remains of their homes, looking for any possessions they might salvage.

 

The number of injured as reported by several hospitals rose rapidly throughout the afternoon.

 

Oklahoma University Medical Center alone was treating 65 patients, 45 of them children, though it was no longer expecting a further mass influx of casualties, spokesman Scott Coppenbarger said.


(צילום: רויטרס)

(Photo: Reuters)

 

Moore Medical Center sustained significant damage.

 

"The whole city looks like a debris field," Glenn Lewis, the mayor of Moore, told NBC.

 

"It looks like we have lost our hospital. I drove by there a while ago and it's pretty much destroyed," Lewis said.


(צילום: רויטרס)

(Photo: Reuters)

 

Fire, rescue and emergency medical teams from across the state converged on Moore, said Terri Watkins, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

 

"They are going to going to go house to house, building to building to determine whether anyone is trapped," Watkins said.

 

The massive twister struck at the height of tornado season, and more were forecast. On Sunday, tornadoes killed two people and injured 39 in Oklahoma.


(צילום: AP)

(Photo: AP)

 

Witnesses said Monday's tornado appeared more fierce than the giant twister that was among the dozens that tore up the region on May 3, 1999, killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes. That tornado ranked as an EF5, meaning it had winds over 200 mph (320 kph).

 

The 1999 event ranks as the third-costliest tornado in US history, having caused more than $1 billion in damage at the time, or more than $1.3 billion in today's dollars. Only the devastating Joplin and Tuscaloosa tornadoes in 2011 were more costly.

 

The National Weather Service predicted a 10% chance of tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. It said parts of four other states – Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa – have a 5% risk of tornadoes.

 

The area at greatest risk includes Joplin, which on Wednesday will mark two years since the tornado that killed 161 people.

 

Reuters, AP contributed to the report

 

 

  • Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.21.13, 07:13
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment