Massive tornado rips through Moore, Oklahoma; 24 killed, officially

WoodysGirl

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By Dylan Stableford, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 40 mins ago

A devastating, mile-wide tornado touched down near Oklahoma City on Monday, killing at least 51 people and decimating homes, businesses and a pair of elementary schools in the suburb of Moore.

According to the state's medical examiner, the death toll was expected to rise.

The schools—Plaza Towers Elementary and Briarwood Elementary—were leveled by the tornado. It was unclear how many children were in them at the time the twister hit, but according to KFOR, at least seven children died at Plaza Towers, and as many as two dozen more were feared to be trapped inside the rubble. An Associated Press photographer saw rescue workers pull several children out alive. A makeshift triage center was set up in the school's parking lot.

"This is war-zone terrible," Jon Welsh, a helicopter pilot for KFOR who lives in Moore, said while surveying the damage from the air. "This school is completely gone."

Emergency officials urged people to remain off the roads so rescue workers and first responders could reach people potentially trapped in rubble, as the National Guard was called in to help in the search for victims.


Read the rest: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/tornado-oklahoma-city-moore-205548879.html

NewsBreaker ‏@NewsBreaker 48m
NEW: @KFOR reporter says Plaza Towers elementary school in Moore, OK, filled up with water during the tornado, causing 7 kids to drown
 

revospeed

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Terribly sad deal. It's really weird that Moore always catches the brunt of the tornado's destruction. It's almost as if it skips over Edmond, Yukon and Norman and goes straight for Moore. Awful situation.
 

JohnnyTheFox

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I live about 15 miles north of Moore and have family there who were luckily underground when it passed.
The devastion is very much like a war zone and as of right now the death is around 90 or so but is expected to rise.
Those around a TV or Radio only had about 15 mins notice as the tornado formed abruptly on the west side of the metro. Sadly a lot of people were caught off guard or out on the highway.
[youtube]fo8Zbp2vMpo&hd=1[/youtube]
 

DFWJC

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The toll is over 100 now.

I had a hard time sleeping last night thinking of those families.
Just had to go over and stare at my sleeping 5 year old.
I can't begin to imagine the heartbreak.
 

ABQCOWBOY

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It is terrible and my heart breaks for the parents of those children. However, I know Oklahomans and they are strong. They are tuff minded and they will overcome this.

Just hate to see it is all.
 

erod

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I lived in Moore in second and third grade back in the 70s. And I can't imagine the terror those children felt, and it brings me to tears to think of my own children facing that, with me and their mother nowhere in sight.

This town, a suburb barely to the south of OKC, gets hit over and over like this, while OKC seldom gets more than an F2 or F3. There's something to this, that I hope they can figure out and understand.

In '99, Moore experienced a tornado that is said to be the highest wind ever recorded on the face of the earth. And yesterday....this.

Today, we face a similarly developing situation in DFW, just a few days after another massive tornado struck Granbury and another in Cleburne, just south of Fort Worth. Later promises to be bad, but hopefully, nothing of the magnitude of these.

It's a numbing, guilty, and helpless feeling watching people experience the unimaginable, especially when it involves kids and parents of those kids.

So painful.
 

gambit187

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Dont know what to say, feeling hurt....my prayers go out to Oklahoma and if any of my Zoner family have people affected my prayers go out to you also.

United We Stand
U.S.A.
 

Jerruh

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I've been in Moore on leave since Thursday. I was about 2 miles away from the path of the tornado when it hit. Our neighborhood is the one that got hit in 1999 and 2003. It's insane the destruction that this one caused.
After the tornado passed, we were able to get ahold of all of the family and friends except my cousin and her family. Their house is on 4th and Santa Fe directly in the storm path. My wife and I made our way over there to make sure they were ok. Now I've been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as lived through two monster tornados and the images that I saw were unimaginable.
My cousins kid goes to plaza towers elementary school and when we heard it was hit my wife and I freaked and tried our hardest to get ahold of Becky and Vic to make sure they picked him up and got the hell out of dodge. Thankfully they did.
It is an absolute miracle that children survived in that school. My heart goes out to those that lost love ones but I can't help but feel a great sense of relief that Isaiah wasn't in that school when it hit. It is going to be a long recovery for my home town but people are strong here and this isn't our first rodeo. I only hope that the families that have been separated are reunited soon.
 

WV Cowboy

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Having grown up in West Virginia, and living most of my life there, we don't have tornados, hurricanes, or earthquakes to speak of. Something little now and then but not much.

We do have flooding, which can be devastating if you live near a major river.

But I ask this because I don't know the answer.

Would it be possible, .. or would it even help with such a powerful tornado such as this, .. to have bunkers, or storm shelters built below/under schools?

The power of these storms seem to obliterate anything above the ground.
 
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