Crews comb devastation in Oklahoma: Confirmed death toll lowered to 24
Rescue teams combed through pulverized buildings and splintered homes early Tuesday after one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history blasted through Oklahoma City and its suburbs, killing at least 24 people, including nine children.
The confirmed death toll from the Oklahoma medical examiner was lowered from an earlier figure of 51, illustrating the confusion in what was left of the shattered city of Moore. Authorities cautioned that the toll could change again.
In Moore, where police said 19 people had been killed, entire blocks appeared as though they had been razed, and cars were mangled beyond recognition. Piled up where houses once stood were scraps of wood, shredded clothes, glass and metal.
At least 120 people were injured in what President Barack Obama called “one of the most destructive tornadoes in history.”
Children were among the many missing after the tornado struck Monday afternoon and delivered a direct hit to two elementary schools. Seven children drowned in a pool of water at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was all but leveled, officials said. The twister also laid waste to a hospital.
“It’s absolutely huge. It’s horrific,” Gov. Mary Fallin said on NBC’s TODAY. “It looked like somebody set off something that destroyed structures. Not blocks, but miles.”
The threat was not over: Lightning flashed over rescue and cleanup crews, and forecasters warned that more “large and devastating” tornadoes were possible,with Dallas and other big cities in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas also at risk.
Two satellite views show Moore, Okla., before (Top) and after (Bottom) the passage of a powerful EF5 tornado, which passed through the town on May 20, destroying homes, schools and businesses and killing 24 people, including 10 children.
The death toll was revised after authorities determined that some people had been counted twice in the chaos after the storm, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner.
The dead included the 19 in Moore and five in southern neighborhoods of Oklahoma City, said Moore police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis. The children killed included the seven at Plaza Towers and one at Briarwood Elementary School, he said.
Terry Watkins of the Department of Emergency Management said 101 people had been found alive by search teams. Survivors described a tornado of remarkable size and power — weather authorities said it packed wind of up to 200 mph — and marveled that they had made it out alive.
The twister cut a path similar to a tornado outbreak that ravaged Oklahoma and Kansas on May 3, 1999, killing 46 people and damaging or destroying more than 8,000 homes. Wind in that outbreak was clocked at 318 mph, the fastest ever recorded.
The twister was a mile wide at its base, according to The Weather Channel. A reporter for KFOR said the tornado kicked up a cloud of debris perhaps two miles wide. The National Weather Service initially classified the storm as an EF4, the second-strongest type, with winds of 166 to 200 mph.
A man salvages items from what is left of a bedroom of his home on May 21 in Moore, Okla.
US Air Force Airman First Class Justin Acord sifts through the rubble of his father-in-law's home in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 21.
Destroyed vehicles lie in the rubble outside the Plaza Towers Elementary school in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 21, after the school was destroyed by a massive tornado on May 20. Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital in an Oklahoma town hit by a powerful tornado.
An aerial view shows homes damaged by Monday's tornado as others appear untouched, on May 21, in Moore, Okla. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, on Monday afternoon.
Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home, on May 21, in Moore, Okla.
Austin Brock holds cat Tutti, shortly after the animal was retrieved from the rubble of Brock's home, which was demolished a day earlier when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., on May 21.
An aerial view shows Tower Plazas Elementary school in Moore, Okla., on May 21, as rescue workers make their way through the structure.
A girl rides her bike through a destroyed neighborhood the day after a tornado hit Moore, Okla., on May 21.
AT&T employees sort through tangled phone lines as they clean up in a tornado-ravaged neighborhood, on May 21, in Moore, Okla.
Members of Nebraska Task Force 1 search a destroyed building the day after a tornado hit in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 21.
People recover belongings from the rubble of a home in Moore, Oklahoma, on May 21.
A mangled highway sign rises along Interstate 35 as traffic slowly moves along the stretch the day after a tornado hit in Moore, Oklahoma, May 21.
Oklahoma National Guard soldiers and airmen working with emergency crews as they look for survivors from a devastating tornado that ripped through Moore, Okla., on Monday, May 20. President Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma after a powerful tornado tore through parts of the state.
A child calls to his father after being pulled from the rubble of the Tower Plaza Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla., on May 20.
Tornado oklahoma 2013
An aerial photo shows damage to Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., after it was hit by a massive tornado on May 20.
Two girls stand in rubble after a tornado struck Moore, Okla., on May 20.
A massive twister near Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, May 20.
Tornado Moore Oklahoma May 20th 2013
Raw: Aftermath of Massive Tornado in Oklahoma
An aerial photo shows the remains of homes hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla., on May 20.
Cindy Wilson texts friends after her home in Moore was destroyed in the tornado. Cindy and her husband took cover in their bathtub when the tornado hit. Cindy received a deep gash to her forehead and her wound was treated by first responders at the scene.
The remains of homes hit by a massive tornado are seen in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20.
A teacher hugs a child at Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City on May 20.
Children wait for their parents to arrive at Briarwood Elementary school after it was struck by a tornado on May 20.
A fire burns in the Tower Plaza Addition in Moore, Okla., after a tornado hit on May 20.
A man looks through the remains of a home after a huge tornado struck Moore, Okla, Monday, May 20.
Parents reunite with their children at Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school on May 20.
Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school on May 20.
A fire chief coordinates rescue workers at Briarwood Elementary school on May 20.
Yesterday afternoon, a monster tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City. The twister, with winds of at least 200 mph, traveled for 20 miles, leaving a two-mile-wide path of destruction, flattening homes, smashing vehicles, and killing at least 24 people. This is a developing story, and the photos will be updated later today. (This entry previously stated a death toll of 91 -- that number has been officially downgraded to 24, as of 9 am)
Gene Tripp sits in his rocking chair at the spot where his home stood, before it was destroyed by a tornado in Oklahoma City on May 20.
A couple searches for belongings after a tornado struck Moore, Okla., May 20.
Members of the American Red Cross distribute food at a command center, May 21, 2013, the day after a killer tornado hit in Moore, Okla.. The storm, estimated to contain winds up to 200 miles per hour flattened homes and schools, killed dozens of people and injured many others.
The remains of homes hit by a massive tornado are seen in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20.
Overturned cars are seen after a huge tornado touched down in Moore, Okla. on May 20. The huge tornado was given a preliminary rating of at least EF4, or the second highest strength level, with winds of up to 200 miles per hour.
Two men attempt to pry open a door on a car to check for victims in a business parking lot west of I-35 south of 4th Street in Moore, Okla., on Monday, May 20.
Rescue workers help free one of the 15 people that were trapped at a medical building at the Moore hospital complex after a tornado tore through the area of Moore, Okla., May 20.
A man looks at a boulder that hit a car after a tornado struck Moore, Okla., May 20.
Rescue workers help free one of the 15 people that were trapped at a medical building at the Moore hospital complex after a tornado tore through the area of Moore, Okla., May 20.
Rescue workers dig through the rubble of a collapsed wall at the Plaza Tower Elementary School to free trapped students in Moore, Okla., following a tornado Monday.
People watch and wait in front of the Towers Plaza Elementary school in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20.
A boy is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla. on Monday.
A woman carries an injured child to a triage center near the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., on May 20.
Lightning from a thunderstorm passes over Clearwater, Kansas, in an open field on May 19. A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City.
Earlene Langley, left, and Jerry Dirks, hug following a tornado that struck Dirks' home just south of Carney Okla., on May 19. Dirks was in her cellar at the time the tornado hit.
Wesley Little looks through the large opening in the roof of his home's family room after a tornado swept through the area. Little and his wife, Barbara, have lived in this home for 25 years and took shelter in the basement with 6 other people and four dogs.
A tornado touches down southwest of Wichita near the town of Viola, Kansas, on May, 19. The tornado was part of a line of storms that passed through the Central Plains states.
Residents walk down a street in Carney, Okla., after a tornado swept through the area on May 19.
Leah Hill, of Shawnee, Okla., is hugged by friend Sidney Sizemore, as they look through Hill's scattered belongings from her home which was destroyed by a tornado, west of Shawnee, on May 19. A tornado half a mile wide struck near Oklahoma City on Sunday, part of a massive storm front that hammered the central United States.
An aerial view of the damage from tornadoes that touched down near Shawnee Twin Lakes, Okla., on May 19.
Residents help repair the roof of their neighbor's house which was damaged by a fallen tree when a tornado swept through Shawnee, Okla. on May 19.
Seven-year-old Katrina Ash, right, holds a doll as she waits in the back of a truck with her grandfather, Michael Bowen, left, after a tornado ripped through their neighborhood near Dale, Okla., on May 19. Residents are not being allowed back into the neighborhood as search and rescue efforts take place.
The funnel of a tornadic thunderstorm almost touches the ground near South Haven, Kansas, on May 19.
Debris is seen at a mobile home park which was destroyed by a tornado on Sunday, west of Shawnee, Okla. on May 19
A semi-tractor trailer lies on its side against the guard rails on Interstate 40 as another trailer lies broken open on the road below after falling from I-40, following a tornado strike near Highway 177 north of Shawnee, Okla., on May 19.
Damaged cars on May 19 after a tornado swept past I-40 at the junction with US 177 on the west side of Shawnee, Okla.
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