Tornado destrói cidade nos arredores de Oklahoma | Número de mortos ainda por confirmar

[Arnold]

Shawnee, Oklahoma (CNN) -- A powerful tornado blasted an area outside of Oklahoma City on Monday, ripping roofs off buildings, leveling homes and leaving a massive band of destruction in its wake.

In the desperate seconds and minutes after the storm passed, the human toll was not yet clear.

 

Survivors emerged from shelters to see an apocalyptic vision -- the remnants of cars twisted and piled on each other to make what had been a parking lot look like a junk yard. Bright orange flames roaring from a structure that was blazing even as rain continued to fall.

 

At least one school was in the tornado's devastation zone in Moore, Oklahoma. Lance West, a reporter for CNN affiliate KFOR, said that rescuers were searching for students trapped in debris at the elementary school. There were no immediate reports on the condition of the children.

 

There were 75 students and staff at the school when the storm hit, KFOR reported.

"Our worst fears are becoming realized this afternoon," Bill Bunting, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center, told CNN soon after the tornado struck.

 

"We certainly hope everyone heeded the warnings, but it's a populated area and we just fear that not everyone may have gotten the word," he said.

The tornado was estimated to be at least two miles wide at one point as it moved through Moore, KFOR reported.

 

The preliminary rating of damage created by the tornado is at least EF4 (winds 166 to 200 mph) -- the second-most severe classification on a scale of zero to five -- the National Weather Service said.

Lando Hite, shirtless and spattered in mud, told KFOR about the storm hitting the Orr Family Farm in Moore, which had about 80 horses.

"It was just like the movie 'Twister,'" he said, standing amid the debris. "There were horses and stuff flying around everywhere."

The tornado damaged several barns and he was worried many of the animals were killed.

Hite said he did not hear any warnings or sirens.

 

"It was real windy and everything stopped. Being from Oklahoma, I knew that was not right."

Moore Medical Center in Oklahoma was evacuated after it sustained damage, a hospital spokeswoman said.

All patients were being evacuated to Norman Regional Hospital and Health Plex Hospital, and residents injured in the storm were being told to go to those centers as well.

Interstate 35 in Moore was closed as a result of debris from the tornado, Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesman Cole Hackett said. Crews were heading to the north-south highway to start the cleanup process.

 

"People are trapped. You are going to see the devastation for days to come," said Betsy Randolph, spokeswoman for Oklahoma Highway Patrol. She did not say how many people were trapped.

As authorities and rescue workers struggled to get handle on the damage, NOAA's Bunting warned the worst may be yet to come.

"These storms are going to continue producing additional tornadoes. They'll also produce some very, very large hail, perhaps larger than the size of baseballs. We're also concerned that there may be an enhanced and widespread damaging wind threat with storms as they merge together," he said.

 

"As bad as today is, this is not over yet."

The severe weather came after tornadoes and powerful storms ripped through Oklahoma and the Midwest earlier Monday and on Sunday.

Forecasters had said that the destructive weather, which killed at least two people, was perhaps just a preview.

 

Even before Monday afternoon's devastation, residents in areas hard hit by weekend storms were combing through rubble where their homes once stood.

"My mind is, like, blown, completely blown," said Jessie Addington, 21, who found that few pieces of her childhood home in Shawnee, Oklahoma, were still standing Monday.

Addington, who now lives in a nearby town, said her mother huddled in the mobile home's bathroom when the weekend storm hit. But the tornado still tossed her around like a rag doll, leaving her bruised and battered.

When Addington arrived, she was shocked to find the neighborhood where she had lived for 17 years reduced to ruins.

"I'm feeling cheated, to be honest," she said, "like, it's just all gone."

 

An estimated 300 homes were damaged or destroyed across Oklahoma in weekend weather, Red Cross spokesman Ken Garcia said.

Viewed from the air, the extent of the damage was staggering, said John Welsh, a helicopter pilot for KFOR. "Like you took the house, you put it in a gigantic blender, you turned it on pulse for a couple minutes and then you just dumped it out."

And that was before the monster tornado moved in Monday afternoon.

Oklahoma resident: 'It's just devastating'

 

Two men, both in their 70s, were confirmed dead as a result of an earlier tornado that hit Shawnee, said Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office.

When Kimberly Graham returned to the spot near Shawnee where her mobile home once stood, her 7-year-old son's orange bicycle was one of the only items that remained.

"Home, cars, garage, everything -- gone," she told CNN on Monday. "It's just devastating. Everything that you've worked for. Everything that you've built."

As many as 28 tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois and Iowa, according to the National Weather Service, with Oklahoma and Kansas the hardest hit. Some of those reports might have been of the same tornado.

 

More tornadoes were spotted in Iowa, near Earlham, Huxley and east of Dallas Center, according to the National Weather Service.

The agency also confirmed a twister in the northwestern Illinois county of Carroll.

A combination of factors -- including strong winds and warm, moist air banging against dry air -- means severe weather could continue sweeping across a wide swath of the United States for days, Petersons said.

"Keep in mind we have all the ingredients out there that we need," she said.

Tornado watches were in effect for portions of southeastern Kansas, western and central Missouri, northwest Arkansas, central and eastern Oklahoma and northwestern Texas until 10 p.m. (11 p.m. ET).

 

 

@ http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/20/us/severe-weather/index.html

[Carson Wentz]

Ao contrário do que é costume em que se consegue avisar as populações com uma hora de antecedência da passagem do tornado, neste caso, pelo que se fala o aviso só conseguiu ser feito a menos de 10 minutos do impacto.

[jmgv]

Fdx as imagens são devastadoras...

 

Ao contrário do que é costume em que se consegue avisar as populações com uma hora de antecedência da passagem do tornado, neste caso, pelo que se fala o aviso só conseguiu ser feito a menos de 10 minutos do impacto.

 

aqui nem houve avisos

[Carson Wentz]

 

A tal escola onde se pensam estar crianças nos escombros.

 

 

 

 

btw, a Euronews avança com 37 mortos confirmados até ao momento.

[Carson Wentz]

Agora avançam que já serão 51. De qualquer das formas irá ultrapassar os 50 mortos do último grande tornado em Oklahoma (1999). :|

[Perdigas]

Foi o Westbrook.

[JC3]

Fds ver as coisas pelas quais trabalhámos a vida toda (casa, carro, bens dentro da casa etc) serem destruidos e nao podermos fazer nada para evitar. Já para nao falar nas vitimas mortais. :(

 

É muito triste mesmo. Nem conseguia imaginar se fosse comigo.

 

Já vai em 91.

Editado 21 Maio 2013 por JC3

[Guest fiasco]

O que me deixa mesmo revoltado é que e uma zona apetecivel para catastrofes deste genero e teimam em construir as casas sem o minimo de condições de segurança.

Parece um pais do 3º Mundo.

 

De resto, RIP. :\

[kewl]

:|

[El Shafto]

f*da-se

[Vinyard]

Senhora descobre o cão subterrado enquanto dava uma entrevista

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n

[Naitch]

Parece que 20 desses mortos eram algumas das crianças que estavam na escola. Vi à pouco na RTP :-|

[Khaddafi]

Parece que 20 desses mortos eram algumas das crianças que estavam na escola. Vi à pouco na RTP :-|

 

morreram afogadas.

[Wembanyama]

#PrayForOklahoma.

[kewl]

Parece que 20 desses mortos eram algumas das crianças que estavam na escola. Vi à pouco na RTP :-|

 

Tocou-me bastante quando ouvi isso

[BrunoTS94]

O que me deixa mesmo revoltado é que e uma zona apetecivel para catastrofes deste genero e teimam em construir as casas sem o minimo de condições de segurança.

Parece um pais do 3º Mundo.

 

De resto, RIP. :\

 

Estas casas são feitas para construir, caírem e construírem de novo

[Mesut Ozil]

Nem o tornado Grizzlie deixou esta mossa.

 

RIP às vítimas. :-|

[Guest fiasco]

Estas casas são feitas para construir, caírem e construírem de novo

 

Não sei o que hei-de dizer.

É preciso é que quem lá vive não fique debaixo dela. Se não não há ninguém para a construir de novo.

Estas casas são feitas para serem baratas, grandes e rapidas de construir. O resto sa f*da.

 

Um gajo quando vê o Extreme Makeover até se benze com o potencial de incêndio de algumas construções que eles apresentam.

E depois vês o preço da hipoteca e é igual a uma vivendazorra aqui em PT.

[xicantonio]

Senhora descobre o cão subterrado enquanto dava uma entrevista

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n

Pareceu-me tão encenado

 

Há mais fotos?

[jmgv]

O que me deixa mesmo revoltado é que e uma zona apetecivel para catastrofes deste genero e teimam em construir as casas sem o minimo de condições de segurança.

Parece um pais do 3º Mundo.

 

De resto, RIP. :\

 

Procura a peça do jornal do almoço em que falaram sobre isso e o motivo de ter que ser assim.

[Guest fiasco]

Procura a peça do jornal do almoço em que falaram sobre isso e o motivo de ter que ser assim.

 

Faz lá isso por mim, por favor :(

 

Eu "compreendo" a construção, mas acho que não é o caminho a seguir. :)

Editado 21 Maio 2013 por fiasco

[Nappa]

Em Portugal é uma pouca vergonha, só sabem investir dinheiro em escolas em vez de fazer tornados destes. Isto é uma vergonha, eu enquanto cidadão sinto-me revoltado com isto! EM PORTUGAL NÃO HÁ DESTES ESPETÁCULOS!

[SAS_Robben]

Em Portugal é uma pouca vergonha, só sabem investir dinheiro em escolas em vez de fazer tornados destes. Isto é uma vergonha, eu enquanto cidadão sinto-me revoltado com isto! EM PORTUGAL NÃO HÁ DESTES ESPETÁCULOS!

 

[Quillbeast]

"There were horses and stuff flying around everywhere." Literalmente :medinho:

[jmgv]

Faz lá isso por mim, por favor :(

 

Eu "compreendo" a construção, mas acho que não é o caminho a seguir. :)

 

Não fui à procura, mas do que me lembro está relacionado com todo o processo durante e pós tornado.

 

é muito mais fácil limpar, edificar, procurar nos destroços, desobstruir vias, etc etc... Pq com estes tornados não interessa muito se é madeira ou betão, os estragos são avultadissimos na mesma