[Assauraarguck]

Maybe it's this Il Nino system that's come in this year. You expect to see the stories of the trailer homes upturned. Leveling considerable sized portions of a town, or even the entire town is another matter. Haven't seen it this bad, & it's early yet.

Monster tornadoes rip through Okla.; demolish houses, cars

At least 2 people dead, numerous injuries; extensive damage reported


NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 10 minutes ago 2011-05-24T23:55:03

OKLAHOMA CITY — Powerful tornadoes tore through parts of Oklahoma on Tuesday, obliterating houses, splintering trees and tossing cars off highways. At least two people were killed and numerous others injured.
Television footage in the aftermath of the storms showed remnants of homes and buildings strewn across roads and fields. One car wound up wrapped around a tree.
In Canadian County in western Oklahoma, Emergency Management Director Jerry Smith confirmed to msnbc.com that there were at least two fatalities and "numerous" injuries when the storm hit El Reno and Piedmont west of Oklahoma City.
He said the twister flipped over several vehicles with people inside.
“We have damage and we have people out doing surveys to get a handle on where the damage is,” Smith said. “We are in the process of trying to make arrangements for shelters and to get people some assistance.”
Two storms raked the southern side of the city — in the same area hit May 3, 1999, by the strongest tornado ever recorded.
Spokeswoman Lara O'Leary of the region's Emergency Medical Service Authority said three children suffered major injuries at Piedmont. She said there was a report of a gas explosion near El Reno and that emergency workers were dispatched.
The tornado caused "extensive damage" in El Reno, a town of about 15,000 people, said Rick Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.
"There are numerous trucks and cars overturned along Interstate 40," he said.

A helicopter from NBC station KFOR of Oklahoma City tracked one storm as it slammed the McClain County town of Goldsby, south of Norman, and plowed across farmland beyond.
As the copter’s camera zoomed in on one obliterated house, a family emerged from a storm shelter. The foundation was the only thing recognizable, with a debris field spreading away from it. A large propane tank in the middle of the debris could be seen hissing gas. An overturned vehicle lay nearby.
Pilot Jim Gardner set the chopper down at the scene to make sure the family was OK. He reported that they suffered only minor injuries.
Tornado sirens went off in Oklahoma City and nearby towns as residents hunkered down. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier since severe weather had been expected.But the mayor's office told msnbc television that the city proper seemed to have been spared.
The storms began about 3 p.m. in western Oklahoma and followed tracks greater than 40 miles into the state capital. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier so they could be out of harm's way.
Interstate 40 was closed west of the city as the storm crossed the roadway near El Reno.
Another tornado touched down in the rural Oklahoma town of Canton, and search dogs were called out to find survivors.
Canton city employee Linda Hisell said police reported a twister moved through the area around Canton Lake, about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. A trailer park there was "leveled," the Weather Channel reported an emergency official as saying.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 14 counties due to tornadoes, severe storms and flooding that began Sunday.
In neighboring Kansas to the north, homes were destroyed and at least one person injured east-northeast of Great Bend, by an apparent tornado, The Weather Channel reported. A twister was also reported near Hugoton, Kan.
The outbreak follows the deadly twister that hit Joplin, Mo ., on Sunday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43159213...her/?GT1=43001