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Monday 20 May 2013

Schools flattened and hundreds of homes destroyed after massive TWO-MILE tornado touches down in densely populated suburb of Oklahoma City [Photos]


Destruction: Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out by the storm, which was on the ground for around 30 minutes, with deaths expected
Destruction: Entire neighborhoods have been wiped out by the storm, which was on the ground for around 30 minutes, with deaths expected
Wiped out: Aerial images taken moments after, show businesses entirely wiped out. Residents heard a tornado warning around 30 minutes before it hit
Wiped out: Aerial images taken moments after, show businesses entirely wiped out. Residents heard a tornado warning around 30 minutes before it hit
Aftermath: Fires have also broken out at buildings after the monster storm thanks to exposed power lines, CNN reported
Aftermath: Fires have also broken out at buildings after the monster storm thanks to exposed power lines, CNN reported
Destroyed: Other aerial images reveal vehicles destroyed among the debris as rescuers begin to head to the fallen buildings
Destroyed: Other aerial images reveal vehicles destroyed among the debris as rescuers begin to head to the flattened buildings
Damage: Piles of destroyed cars can be seen in Moore, Oklahoma after the storm passed through on Monday afternoon
Damage: Piles of destroyed cars can be seen in Moore, Oklahoma after the storm passed through on Monday afternoon
On the ground: Residents began sharing photographs on social networking websites revealing the damage near to their homes
On the ground: Residents began sharing photographs on social networking websites revealing the damage near to their homes

'Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals.'
At least four separate tornadoes touched down in central Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon, including one near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that laid waste to much of a trailer park.
Two men, 79-year-old Glen Irish and 76-year-old Billy Hutchinson, were found dead after the tornado wrought its devastation on Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Irish's body was found out in the open after the storm passed through, while Hutchinson was taken to Norman Regional Hospital, but later pronounced dead, according to the medical examiner.
'You can see where there's absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up,' Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said after surviving damage in the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park. 
Emotional: Alli Christian, left, helps Jessica Wilkinson as she looks for her dog Bella after Wilkinson returned to find her home in Norman, Oklahoma destroyed by a tornado on Sunday
Emotional: Alli Christian, left, helps Jessica Wilkinson as she looks for her dog Bella after Wilkinson returned to find her home in Norman, Oklahoma destroyed by a tornado on Sunday
Reunited: Christian hugs Wilkinson after they find Bella among the wreckage of Wilkinson's home shortly after a tornado struck on Sunday
Reunited: Christian hugs Wilkinson after they find Bella among the wreckage of Wilkinson's home shortly after a tornado struck on Sunday
Destruction: Marlena Hodson walks out of her home as her grandsons, Campbell Miller, 10, and Dillon Miller, 13, at right, help her sort through belongings after a tornado damaged her home in Carney, Oklahoma
Destruction: Marlena Hodson walks out of her home as her grandsons, Campbell Miller, 10, and Dillon Miller, 13, at right, help her sort through belongings after a tornado damaged her home in Carney, Oklahoma
Recovery: Nancy and Jason Townsend sort through belongings after their home was hit by a tornado in Carney, Oklahoma
Recovery: Nancy and Jason Townsend sort through belongings after their home was hit by a tornado in Carney, Oklahoma
Nothing left: Leah Hill, pictured left, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, is hugged by friend Sidney Sizemore, as they look through Hill's scattered belongings from her home which was wrecked by a tornado
Nothing left: Leah Hill, pictured left, of Shawnee, Oklahoma, is hugged by friend Sidney Sizemore, as they look through Hill's scattered belongings from her home which was wrecked by a tornado
Picking up the pieces: June McFarland reacts to the first sight of storm damage in rural Osage, Iowa after the powerful weather system moved through the area
Picking up the pieces: June McFarland reacts to the first sight of storm damage in rural Osage, Iowa after the powerful weather system moved through the area
Blown away: Friends and neighbors help out a resident in Lyon County after a tornado ripped the roof off a home just south of Emporia, Kansas
Blown away: Friends and neighbors help out a resident in Lyon County after a tornado ripped the roof off a home just south of Emporia, Kansas
'It looks like there's been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.
'It's pretty bad. It's pretty much wiped out,' he said.
Across the state, 21 people were injured, not including those who suffered bumps and bruises and chose not to visit a hospital, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
Booth said six at Steelman Estates were hurt.
On Interstate 40, tractor-trailers were blown off the road, and one was seen hanging over the highway's overpass.
Dozens of homes were damaged by the other tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma, but emergency officials had no immediate reports of injuries caused by any of them, including the first of the afternoon that hit Edmond, a suburb north of Oklahoma City, before making its way toward Tulsa, 90 miles to the northeast.
Dramatic: Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas strikes at an open field
Dramatic: Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas strikes at an open field
Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas
Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm passing over Clearwater, Kansas
Powerful: The gray sky was lit up by flashes of the light as a tornadic thunderstorm passed over Clearwater, Kansas 
Dark skies: A tornado thunderstorm passes over Clearwater
Dark skies: A tornado thunderstorm passes over Clearwater
Tracking: A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s mobile doppler radar mounted on the back of a truck tracks a tornadic thunderstorm
Tracking: A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s mobile doppler radar mounted on the back of a truck tracks a tornadic thunderstorm

'I knew it was coming,' said Randy Grau, who huddled with his wife and two young sons in their Edmond home's safe room when the tornado hit. 
He said he peered out his window as the weather worsened and believed he saw a flock of birds heading down the street.
The destruction in the wake of the punishing storm led Oklahoma Gov Mary Fallin to declare a state of emergency for 16 counties.
The National Weather Service in Wichita put in place tornado warnings for East Central Kingman County, Southern Sedgwick County and Northwester Sumner County in the state. 
A massive twister touched down near Wichita Mid-Continent Airport just before 4pm local time.
Response: At least 21 people were injured across Oklahoma as the storm tore through the region on Sunday
Response: At least 21 people were injured across Oklahoma as the storm tore through the region on Sunday
Wiped out: A residential area near Shawnee is pictured after a tornado tore through the area, destroying several homes
Wiped out: A residential area near Shawnee is pictured after a tornado tore through the area, destroying several homes
Damage: Residents of Edmond, Oklahoma survey storm damage from a tornado that hit their neighborhood
Damage: Residents of Edmond, Oklahoma survey storm damage from a tornado that hit their neighborhood
Loss: Jerry Dirks, at right, hugs her friend Earlene Langley after a tornado hit Dirks' home just south of Carney Oklahoma
Loss: Jerry Dirks, at right, hugs her friend Earlene Langley after a tornado hit Dirks' home just south of Carney Oklahoma
Mighty: A barn's roof and siding is torn off after a tornado swept through west of Shawnee
Mighty: A barn's roof and siding is torn off after a tornado swept through west of Shawnee
Damage: Vehicles are seen amongst storm debris, which is what is left of a mobile home park destroyed by a tornado, west of Shawnee
Damage: Vehicles are seen amongst storm debris, which is what is left of a mobile home park destroyed by a tornado, west of Shawnee

!!

A severe thunderstorm, capable of becoming a tornado, happened at 3:30pm and moved Northeast at 35mph, bringing ping-pong ball sized hail, according to weather.com
Those who live in mobile homes were warned that there was extreme risk of their properties being destroyed. 
Residents were warned to take cover in an interior room on the lowest floor of a solid building and stay back from windows. 
People were warned to take care because flying debris could be deadly as was the risk of falling trees. 
It comes just days after devastating Texas tornadoes which killed six people and injured dozens.
Raging: High winds and thunderstorms with the threat of tornadoes hit Kansas this weekend
Raging: High winds and thunderstorms with the threat of tornadoes hit Kansas this weekend
Terrifying: Those living in mobile homes were warned to take shelter in sturdier buildings
Terrifying: Those living in mobile homes were warned to take shelter in sturdier buildings
Wild: The tornado was ripping across the plains of Kansas
Wild: The tornado was ripping across the plains of Kansas
Monster: Two tornadoes hit Kansas on Sunday as severe weather warnings were issued across the Plain states
Monster: Two tornadoes hit Kansas on Sunday as severe weather warnings were issued across the Plain states
Extreme weather: Two tornados were spotted in Kansas on Sunday with residents warned to take cover in sturdy buildings
Twister: A tornado touches down southwest of Wichita, Kansas near the town of Viola
Extreme weather: Two tornados were spotted in Kansas on Sunday with residents warned to take cover in sturdy buildings
On record: Storm chaser videographer and photographer Brad Mack records a tornado
On record: Storm chaser videographer and photographer Brad Mack records a tornado
The National Weather Service says 15 tornadoes touched down in north Texas on Wednesday.
Initial estimates put that number at 10, however the NWS added five more throughout Thursday afternoon.
In its preliminary findings, the National Weather Service rated the tornado that hit Hood County Wednesday night an EF-4, which is labeled 'devastating' by the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
The scale ranges from from FO, defined as a gale, to F5, defined as incredible.
The Storm Prediction Center had been warning about severe weather in the region since Wednesday, and on Friday, it zeroed in on Sunday as the day the storm system would likely pass through.

'They've been calling for this all day,' Edmond resident Anita Wright said after riding out the twister in an underground shelter.

She and her husband Ed emerged from their hiding place to find uprooted trees, downed limbs and damaged gutters in their home.

In Katie Leathers' backyard, the family's trampoline was tossed through a section of fence and a giant tree uprooted.

'I saw all the trees waving, and that's when I grabbed everyone and got into two closets,' Leathers said. 'All these trees just snapped.'
Solitary: A flag flies in the debris of a mobile home after a tornado struck a mobile home park near Dale
Solitary: A flag flies in the debris of a mobile home after a tornado struck a mobile home park near Dale
Overturned: A damaged mobile home is pictured amid the debris after a tornado swept through Shawnee
Overturned: A damaged mobile home is pictured amid the debris after a tornado swept through Shawnee
Rallying around: Residents help repair the roof of their neighbour's house which was damaged by a fallen tree in Shawnee
Rallying around: Residents help repair the roof of their neighbour's house which was damaged by a fallen tree in Shawnee
Fierce: A destroyed truck was blown off the 40 freeway after a tornado swept through Shawnee, in Oklahom
Fierce: A destroyed truck was blown off the 40 freeway after a tornado swept through Shawnee, in Oklahoma

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