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US rescue teams scoured a shattered suburb for survivors yesterday after a giant tornado tore through the outskirts of Oklahoma City, killing at least two dozen people, including nine children. |
State medical examiner’s office spokeswoman Amy Elliott told reporters 24 victims had been confirmed dead, scaling back from a previous count of 51 that she attributed to possible double reporting.
Seven of the dead youngsters were found at a school, she added.
Meanwhile, at least 101 people have been pulled alive from under debris, said Terri Watkins of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, and local broadcasters said more than 200 people have been injured.
Some of the children killed by the mid-afternoon twister were buried when the two-mile wide funnel of wind - that lasted about 45 minutes - demolished an elementary school in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.
US President Barack Obama declared a “major disaster” as crews combed the wreckage of the shattered community, where even residents with long memories of past storms were shocked by the devastation.
In televised remarks from the White House, Obama made special mention of the young victims as he mourned those lost and promised to provide survivors with the help they need to find their footing.
“The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild,” Obama said.
“There are empty spaces where there used to be living rooms and bedrooms and classrooms and in time we’re going to need to refill those spaces with love and laughter and community,” he added.
The killer system - packing powerful winds of up to 200mph (322kph) - flattened block after block of homes, set off fires, downing power lines and tossed cars.
Stunned weather forecasters described an epic 2-mile (3-km) wide mid-afternoon storm, as news helicopter footage showed a dark twister plowing through densely packed suburbs.
“To me, this is this is bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. It’s absolutely huge. It’s horrific,” Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin told NBC’s Today Show early yesterday.
“It looked like somebody just set off something that just destroyed structures, not blocks, but miles of areas, and major buildings from hospitals to schools to banks to shopping centres, movie theaters.”
Local television footage on Monday showed children as young as nine being pulled out of the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, a residential community of 55,000 just south of Oklahoma’s state capital.
“I had to hold onto the wall to keep myself safe,” one little girl said.
The Moore Medical Center was evacuated after it sustained damage, and state authorities called out the National Guard to help rescue efforts as Obama ordered federal aid to supplement local recovery efforts.
Rescue operations already hindered by the mounds of debris and fallen power lines could be further disrupted by more foul weather.
On Twitter, the National Weather Service gave the tornado a preliminary rating of EF-4, indicating that it packed winds of 166 to 200mph - more severe than a category five hurricane.
In downtown Oklahoma City, tornado sirens went off at least three times and the Interstate 35 highway - a busy north-south artery through the American heartland - was closed to all but emergency vehicles.
In Moore, live images from KFOR television showed people wandering among the debris and even a couple of un-tethered horses from a local stable that managed to survive the punishing storm.
“I had no idea it was coming,” said a stable worker, who told how he survived the “unbearably loud” twister by taking cover in one of the stalls.
Monday’s tornado followed roughly the same track as a May 1999 twister that killed 44 people, injured hundreds more and destroyed thousands of homes.
Tornadoes frequently touch down on Oklahoma’s wide open plains, but Monday’s twister struck a populated urban area and raised fears of a high casualty toll.
Because of the hard ground, few homes are built with basements or storm shelters in which residents can take cover.
Oklahoma City lies inside the so-called “Tornado Alley” stretching from South Dakota to central Texas, an area particularly vulnerable to tornadoes.
But Moore’s residents were shocked at the sprawling moon-like landscape left behind by the massive twister.
“There’s nothing left of my house,” an unidentified woman told CNN. “We’ve lost animals. We’ve lost everything.”
Some 29,000 people remained without power early yesterday, according to OG&E, the local utility.
In a sign that more chaos may be to come, the National Weather Service forecast the development of more tornadoes later yesterday, with parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas most likely to be affected.