Monster tornado flattens suburb of Oklahoma City

BREAKING: State medical examiner's office: 37 killed in Oklahoma tornado; death toll expected to rise -RJJ Monster tornado flattens suburb of Oklahoma City Mon, May 20 20:46 PM EDT 1 of 2 By R.J. Young MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - A huge tornado with winds of up to 200 miles per hour devastated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday, ripping up at least two elementary schools and a hospital and leaving a wake of tangled wreckage. At least four people were killed, KFOR television said, citing a reporter's eyewitness account, and hospitals said dozens of people were injured as the dangerous storm system threatened as many as 10 U.S. states with more twisters. Television video showed tracts of homes destroyed, cars tossed about and piled atop one another, and at least one building on fire. Rescue workers pulled third-graders from the devastated Plaza Towers Elementary school in Moore, a KFOR television reporter said from the scene, and aerial video showed first responders sifting through the rubble left behind. "I have never seen anything like this in my 18 years covering tornadoes here in Oklahoma City. This is without question the most horrific," said Lance West, a reporter for KFOR. Briarwood Elementary School, which also stood in the storm's path, was all but destroyed. On the first floor, sections of walls had been peeled away, affording clear views into the building, while in other areas, cars hurled by the storm winds were lodged in the walls. While the school was a wreck, nearby playground equipment stood undamaged, though littered with rubble. Across the street, people picked through the remains of their homes, looking for any possessions they might salvage. The National Weather Service assigned the twister a preliminary ranking of EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, meaning the second most powerful category of tornado with winds up to 200 mph. At least 45 people were injured, according to officials of four hospitals. "They (injured) are coming in minute by minute," said Integris Southwest Medical Center spokeswoman Brooke Cayot. Of the 19 injured there, seven were in critical condition, seven serious and five listed as fair or good, Cayot said. The University of Oklahoma Medical Center had received at least 20 injured. St. Anthony Healthplex South in Oklahoma City said it received four patients and Midwest Regional received four. Moore Medical Center sustained significant damage. "The whole city looks like a debris field," Glenn Lewis, the mayor of Moore, told NBC. "It looks like we have lost our hospital. I drove by there a while ago and it's pretty much destroyed," Lewis said. The massive twister struck at the height of tornado season, and more were forecast. On Sunday, tornadoes killed two people and injured 39 in Oklahoma. Witnesses said Monday's tornado appeared more fierce than the giant twister that was among the dozens that tore up the region on May 3, 1999, killing more than 40 people and destroying thousands of homes. That tornado ranked as an EF5, meaning it had winds over 200 mph. The 1999 event ranks as the third-costliest tornado in U.S. history, having caused more than $1 billion in damage at the time, or more than $1.3 billion in today's dollars. Only the devastating Joplin and Tuscaloosa tornadoes in 2011 were more costly. OTHER STATES THREATENED The National Weather Service predicted a 10 percent chance of tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. It said parts of four other states - Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa - have a 5 percent risk of tornadoes. The area at greatest risk includes Joplin, Missouri, which on Wednesday will mark two years since a massive tornado killed 161 people. The latest tornado in Oklahoma came as the state was still recovering from a strong storm on Sunday with fist-sized hail and blinding rain. Two men in their 70s died in the storm, including one at a mobile home park on the edge of the community of Bethel Acres near Oklahoma City, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management. Thirty-nine people were injured around the state as storms toppled trees and tore up rooftops, she said. Several hundred homes and buildings were thought to have been damaged or destroyed and approximately 7,000 customers were left without power in Oklahoma. "There is definitely quite a bit of damage," Cain said. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared 16 counties disaster areas. More than two dozen tornadoes were spotted in Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and local news reports. Hail stones, some as large as baseballs, were reported from Georgia to Minnesota, NOAA said. The tornado season in the United States had been unusually quiet until last week, when a tornado struck the town of Granbury, Texas, killing six people. (Additional reporting by Lindsay Morris, Carey Gillam, Nick Carey, and Brendan O'Brien; Writing by Greg McCune and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Jim Loney) ================== May. 20, 2013 8:07 PM ET Oklahoma twister tracked path of 1999 tornado By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo) Small suburban Oklahoma City hospital damaged May. 20, 201310:25 PM ET Hospitals treat more than 140 after Okla. tornado May. 20, 20139:54 PM ET Oklahoma officials: Tornado search, rescue ongoing May. 20, 20139:10 PM ET 51 killed in Oklahoma tornado; death toll to rise May. 20, 20139:07 PM ET More tornado alerts in wake of deadly twister May. 20, 20138:34 PM ET Buy AP Photo Reprints NEW YORK (AP) — Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. The National Weather Service estimated that the storm that struck Moore, Okla., on Monday had wind speeds of up to 200 mph, and was at least a half-mile wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph, according to the weather service website, and it destroyed or damaged more than 8,000 homes, killing at least two people. Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it's unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path. The May 4th, 1999 twister ( 4 / 5 / 1999 The conversion result is: Tuesday 18 MuHarram 1420 A.H.) was part of a two-day outbreak sweeping mostly across central Oklahoma — similar to the past two days. The weather service has tentatively classified the Moore twister's wind speeds as an EF4 on a 5-point scale. Angle said less than 1 percent of all tornadoes reach EF4 or EF5. The thunderstorm developed in an area where warm moist air rose into cooler air. Winds in the area caused the storm to rotate, and that rotation promoted the development of a tornado. The most destructive and deadly tornadoes develop from rotating thunderstorms. The biggest known tornado was nearly 2 1/2 miles wide at its peak width, which the weather service describes as near the maximum size for a tornado. It struck Hallam, Neb., in May 2004. The deadliest tornado, which struck March 18, 1925,Wednesday 23 SHa`baan 1343 A.H. , killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. The city of Moore has been damaged by significant tornadoes on October 4, 1998(4 / 10 / 1998 The conversion result is: Sunday 13 Jumaada al-THaany 1419 A.H. ) , May 3, 1999=Monday 17 MuHarram 1420 A.H. , May 8, 2003, =Thursday 7 Raby` al-awal 1424 A.H. May 10, 2010,=Monday 26 Jumaada al-awal 1431 A.H. and May 20, 2013=Tuesday 11 Rajab, 1434 The May 3, 1999 tornado that hit Moore, that was rated an F5 on the Fujita scale, was the strongest tornado in world history. The tornado, which occurred during the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak, had an approximate recorded wind speed of 318 mph (512 km/h), the highest speed ever recorded from a tornado. It left a swath of destruction over 1 mile (1.6 km) wide at times, and 38 miles (60 km) long. It killed a total of 36 people in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. This was the deadliest F5 tornado recorded since the Delhi, Louisiana tornado in 1971 until this mark was eclipsed by several tornadoes in 2011 and the devastating 2013 Moore tornado. Deaths from twisters have been declining in recent years because of improved forecasts and increased awareness by people living in tornado-prone areas, especially in smaller and rural communities. 28 / 10 / 2012-Hurricane Sandy The conversion result is: Sunday 12 Thw al-Hijjah 1433 A.H. Most of Tornados and Twisters hit US Coasts in Zilhaaj, Moharram, Saffar, Rajab, Shabaan. 21 / 5 / 2013: Tuesday 11 Rajab 1434 A.H. Huge tornado hits Oklahoma City suburb, kills 51 May 4th, 1999 twister ( 4 / 5 / 1999, Tuesday 18 MuHarram 1420 A.H.). The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph, according to the weather service website, and it destroyed or damaged more than 8,000 homes, killing at least two people. March 18, 1925,Wednesday 23 SHa`baan 1343 A.H. , killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. It was almost Eid Day, the anniversary of Saddam's Execution, when Sandy concentrated all energy to wreck NY, NJ.http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#ec=xha3JkNDob-DtufEX1a5Rh4EkV6gVnRW&pbid=61ad5ff4ba57488ab20328b38b5a6f05, 23 / 8 / 2005, Tuesday 18 Rajab 1426 A.H. Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane. its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas. 23 / 8 / 1992, Sunday 24 Safar 1413 A.H., After turning westward, Andrew entered a stage of rapid intensification, strengthening into a destructive Category 5 hurricane near the the Bahamas on August 23, 1992. Associated Press ==============