Tornadoes slam central US, killing 2 people in Oklahoma
Source: Agencies |
May 21, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
SEVERAL tornadoes ravaged parts of the American heartland, reducing portions of a mobile home park to rubble and killing two elderly men.
The storms concentrated damage in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma. The National Weather Service was forecasting more of the same for the area, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, warning of the possibility of tornadoes and baseball-sized hail.
The worst of the damage on Sunday appeared to be at a mobile home park located near Shawnee among gently rolling hills, southeast of Oklahoma City.
"It took a dead hit," resident James Hoke said. Emerging from a storm cellar where he sought refuge with his wife and two children, Hoke found that their mobile home had vanished. "Everything is gone."
Oklahoma's state medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliot identified the two people who were confirmed dead as 79-year-old Glen Irish and 76-year-old Billy Hutchinson.
Forecasters had been warning of bad weather since last Wednesday and on Sunday said conditions had ripened for powerful tornadoes. Wall-to-wall broadcasts of storm information spread the word on Sunday, leaving Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth grateful.
"There was a possibility a lot more people could have been injured," Booth said.
Tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma as part of a storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota.
Emergency officials traversed the neighborhoods struck in Oklahoma in an effort to account for everyone.
A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado left the earth "scoured" at the mobile home park. At the nearby intersection of Interstate 40 and US 177, a half-dozen big trucks were blown over, closing both highways for a time.
Governor Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties because of the severe storms and flooding. The declaration lets local governments acquire goods quickly to respond to their residents' needs and puts the state in line for federal help if it becomes necessary.
In Wichita, Kansas, a tornado touched down near Mid-Continent Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 pm local time, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city. Golf ball-sized hail slammed homes in the area.
In Oklahoma, some outbuildings have been leveled, and some homes' roofs or walls had been knocked down.
The storms concentrated damage in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma. The National Weather Service was forecasting more of the same for the area, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, warning of the possibility of tornadoes and baseball-sized hail.
The worst of the damage on Sunday appeared to be at a mobile home park located near Shawnee among gently rolling hills, southeast of Oklahoma City.
"It took a dead hit," resident James Hoke said. Emerging from a storm cellar where he sought refuge with his wife and two children, Hoke found that their mobile home had vanished. "Everything is gone."
Oklahoma's state medical examiner's office spokeswoman Amy Elliot identified the two people who were confirmed dead as 79-year-old Glen Irish and 76-year-old Billy Hutchinson.
Forecasters had been warning of bad weather since last Wednesday and on Sunday said conditions had ripened for powerful tornadoes. Wall-to-wall broadcasts of storm information spread the word on Sunday, leaving Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth grateful.
"There was a possibility a lot more people could have been injured," Booth said.
Tornadoes were reported in Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma as part of a storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota.
Emergency officials traversed the neighborhoods struck in Oklahoma in an effort to account for everyone.
A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado left the earth "scoured" at the mobile home park. At the nearby intersection of Interstate 40 and US 177, a half-dozen big trucks were blown over, closing both highways for a time.
Governor Mary Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties because of the severe storms and flooding. The declaration lets local governments acquire goods quickly to respond to their residents' needs and puts the state in line for federal help if it becomes necessary.
In Wichita, Kansas, a tornado touched down near Mid-Continent Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 pm local time, knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city. Golf ball-sized hail slammed homes in the area.
In Oklahoma, some outbuildings have been leveled, and some homes' roofs or walls had been knocked down.
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