At least 51 people, including seven children at an elementary school, were killed Monday by a massive tornado in an area just outside Oklahoma City.
The tornado was estimated to be at least two miles wide at one point as it moved through Moore, in the southern part of the Oklahoma City metro area.
Videos showed a huge funnel cloud stretching from the sky to the ground, kicking up dangerous debris. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise.
Emergency personnel were scouring the school's rubble Monday evening, reports indicate. Footage also showed a number of other leveled buildings.
The casualties may be even worse than are being confirmed at this time:
- Twelve adults and eight children are being treated at the Oklahoma University Medical Center and The Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City.
- The Norman Regional Hospital and the Healthplex in Norman, Ok., are treating an unspecified number of people for "trauma, lacerations and broken bones."
- Thirteen patients have been moved from Moore Hospital to other hospitals, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management officials said.
Keli Pirtle, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., said the tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m. and traveled for 20 miles.
It was on the ground for 40 minutes, she said, striking the town of Newcastle and traveling 10 miles to Moore, a populous suburb of Oklahoma City.
Pirtle said preliminary data suggested that it was a Category 4 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which measures tornado strength on a scale of 0-5.
Television on Monday showed destruction spread over a vast area of the region, with blocks upon blocks of homes and businesses destroyed.
Residents, some partly clothed and apparently caught by surprise, were shown picking through rubble, while several large structures were on fire.
Cars were upended, flipped and stacked on top of each other.
The deadly storm system continued to churn through the region on Monday afternoon, and forecasters warned that new tornadoes could still form.
An earlier storm system also spawned several strong tornadoes across Oklahoma on Sunday. Several deaths were reported then as well.
Russell Schneider, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, said the area's tornado risk is still high.
Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.
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