Oklahoma Tornado Death Toll Rises To 24 With Nine Children Included

After the storm…

Oklahoma Tornado Death Toll Rises To 24 With Nine Children Included

An update on the massively destructive tornado that ripped through Oklahoma City yesterday….

via CNN

Amid downed power lines, hissing gas pipes and immense devastation, rescuers searched “board by board” Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the Oklahoma City suburbs.

It was a daunting task. The Monday afternoon storm carved a trail through the area as much as two miles wide and 22 miles long, officials said. Hardest hit was Moore, Oklahoma — a suburban town of 40,000 and the site of eerily similar twisters in 1999 and again four years later.

The state medical examiner’s office said 24 people were confirmed dead, including nine children. Earlier reports of at least 51 deaths were erroneous, said Amy Elliot, chief administrative officer for the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

At least 100 people have been pulled alive from the rubble by rescuers.

Terri Watkins, the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman, who described Tuesday’s search as “board by board,” said it was far too soon to account for the devastation of the storm.

“This is a massive tornado and it’s a large area that has been struck,” she said.

The scene — block after block of flattened homes and businesses, the gutted remains of a hospital and hits on two elementary schools — left even seasoned veterans of Oklahoma’s infamous tornadoes reeling.

So many people were showing up to volunteer that authorities had to plead with would-be rescuers to stay away.

Mother nature has really been ripping through the world something serious over the last few months. Our thoughts are with the citizens of Oklahoma City as they deal with the aftermath.

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