Search-and-rescue crews worked through the night after a monstrous tornado barreled through the Oklahoma City suburbs, demolishing an elementary school and reducing homes to piles of splintered wood. At least 24 people were killed, including at least seven children, and those numbers were expected to climb.
As the sun rose over the shattered community of Moore, the state medical examiner’s office cut the estimated death toll by more than half.
As the sun rose over the shattered community of Moore, the state medical examiner’s office cut the estimated death toll by more than half.
Spokeswoman Amy Elliot said she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos of the storm. Downed communication lines and problems sharing information with officers exacerbated the problem, she said.
Authorities initially said as many as 51 people were dead, including 20 children.
Teams were continuing to search the rubble in Moore, 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, after the Monday afternoon tornado.
The residents of Moore are unfortunately used to this. This is the fifth tornado to devastate that neighborhood since 1998. When the last big storm hit, officials and experts claimed this wouldn’t happen again for a 100 years, but they were wrong.
John Jones was one of those residents who didn’t believe that it wouldn’t happen again. Now, living on the North Side, Jones came to Pittsburgh to escape Tornado Alley.
“The fear you get when you hear wind come up, and you see a thunderstorm, and now to see this happen, it’s just awful,” Jones said. ”You can’t imagine what it’s like to go through that, because you lose everything.”
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