Oklahoma tornado recovery operation begins - Family Survives Direct Tornado Hit in Oklahoma

Death toll expected to rise after 20 children, 31 adults die in massive storm

 

Rescue teams searched through the night hoping to find people alive in the tornado-whipped devastation 16 kilometres south of Oklahoma City after a killer storm flattened two elementary schools and many homes.

By dawn, however, the effort was increasingly becoming one of recovery rather than rescue, as military and civil authorities and focused on piles of construction material.

The storm killed at least 20 children and 31 adults, demolishing Briarwood and Plaza Towers schools in Moore, Okla., and reducing homes to piles of splintered wood. Those numbers were expected to climb, officials said, as some reports put the death toll as high as 91 today.

Family Survives Direct Tornado Hit in Oklahoma